Goodbye, Auntie!

Sister Johnson is in the Provo MTC right now! I wonder if she's on the top bunk. I wonder if she was able to eat the Cannon Center like food for dinner, or if her stomach was still too nervous. 

I got to see Lina and most of the rest of my family three days in a row this week before she went into the Provo MTC. It was so nice to see them. I miss them all already and am re realizing that I love them pretty intensely. Since Lina is the one who is just starting her mission, I'll focus on her in this post. 

On Monday was Lili's Bridal Shower. I offered to give her a shower months ago. When I offered, I was thinking about how much I love Lili and how it would be great fun for her to have a shower in Provo. I wasn't thinking about how, even though my family does this sort of thing all the time, I have never been the party planning type and actually have no idea what I'm doing. I also thought about but didn't realize the realities of have a 2 month old baby at the same time. Luckily, my family is made of angels. Mom financed everything and her and Desi helped me think through all the details and came early and stayed late to help put everything up and take it back down. And Carolina was my partner. When it comes to party planning, decorations are where I am most out of my depth. Months ago, we looked through Pinterest together and decided on a farmer's market theme. I told her that she is my Thelma-- the sister who comes to showers and makes them look amazing. She did not disappoint. I lost my phone for most of the party, so I don't have pictures, but you'll have to believe me that it was incredibly cute. I was also nervous that I'd be running this party and my baby would have a giant freak out of want to eat the whole time or have a diaper blowout. So Lina also MCed, partnering with Desi to do all the talking and announcing that makes me so nervous about being in charge of parties like this. She was just perfect at it, fun and assertive and not even nervous. 

Tuesday, Lina and my parents came over to my house to play Dutch Blitz with me. Which, first of, is so kind. It's my favorite card game, and playing it with my family made me so happy. I hadn't played much with Carolina since I was 10 and she was 5 and we were both designated "helpers" for the game-- sitting on stools perched over the game helping our partner. Since I was the oldest of the youngest half of the family, I helped whoever was losing. As the youngest, Lina always helped the winner-- a great honor Lina only recently realized was because she was so young and not quite as quick at the game. Those days are long gone. Lina is QUICK. She smoked us all while making jokes and giving Dad a pep talk. The game is half luck and half speed. In my defense, for much of it, I was feeding Parley at the same time and was relying heavily on the luck part. She held her little nephew after the game. He loves her. 

On Wednesday, Lina had wanted to go out to Eat Better, Feel Different but agreed instead on an Indian restaurant to please Hyrum and Nikki. She even said she would go to the Cannon Center for her special meal to make it easier for the Kepfords. What a selfless woman. She hardly ate anything, cried quite a bit, and hugged so tight. Starting a mission is a big deal, and it's scary. But she smiled through it all and said, "I love you" over and over as we hugged. Also, she looked DARLING with her new haircut. I'm obsessed. Parley did amazing and slept through the whole adventure. It's hard to see in the picture, but he's wearing his "Hello, Auntie!" shirt. He's going to miss her. 

Nikki and I talked for a long time about the MTC and our missions thinking about her. We spend a surprisingly large amount of time talking about our missions. It is a huge part of who we are as people and as disciples of Jesus Christ. Lina was crying big when she said goodbye to me, but I couldn't bring myself to cry because I am just ridiculously excited for her. I can't wait for her to get to know some lucky ladies in a special way by spending 24/7 together for months of the wildest experiences of her life. Or for her to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ with all her heart in the stinkiest house she's ever been in. Or to get unreasonably invested in Light the World. I might cry now after all thinking about it. Missions are such a blessing, and I just know Carolina is going to embrace it with all her heart.