Monday, September 5, 2011

Good-byes at the MTC

Today we drove Brian's parents down to the Missionary Training Center in Provo.  It was a neat experience for our children to spend a little bit more time with their grandparents as they are leaving for their mission. We spent quite a bit of time talking about it with them, explaining why Grandma and Grandpa are leaving and how proud and excited we are for them.


Poor Jake still had a rough time saying good-bye. He cried pretty hard as we drove away, which set the other two off. Soon we had a car full of sobbing children who couldn't even speak two words coherently.


 We finally got them calmed down when we said we would find them something they could use to help them remember Grandma and Grandpa and how important the work they are going to do is.


We found these neat bracelets that say Denmark and have the Danish flag on them. The kids can wear them to school and church and feel connected to their Grandparents. 

We spent most of the day in Provo. We went to lunch and then did a little shopping. Besides the bracelets we found a picture of the Copenhagen Temple, a Proclamation on the Family in Danish, and an 18 month missionary countdown calendar. I am going to use these to create a poster to hang in our house so that the kids, especially Lila, can have something that will give them a more concrete idea of where Grandma and Grandpa have gone and when they will be back. Grandma also left Jake her Danish cd's that she was using to study the language, because he loved to listen to them with her and was picking up quite a few words and phrases. I think the plan is for him to be able to talk in Danish with them when they get back. 

3 comments:

Amanda said...

Somehow, I don't doubt that Jake will be speaking Danish when they get home.

Dinee said...

That is so neat! I really think Jake will enjoy hearing their stories of what they are doing in Denmark. Cool bracelets-where did you find them?

Ryan W said...

I'd cry if I had to spend time in Provo too, just sayin'...