Bitter Sweet

Do you ever get tired of posing for pictures?  Chase and Jordan were clearly playing along.  This was a special week - and so lots of pictures had to be taken - my baby boy was going to be a missionary!

This morning, Chase was out of bed first thing in the morning, and dressed and ready for the day to begin.

The Best Western Cotton Tree Inn has been my home for many emotional events.  We have stayed here for college graduations, we have stayed here for visits, and mostly we have stayed here for every single MTC experience!  I have cried many bitter sweet tears at this location.

The day finally had come, and today was Chase's day.  The day that I would be shedding those bitter sweet tears over him.

Taking a missionary to the MTC has changed over the years.  No longer can you go into the MTC and watch all the Mormon Ads and cry every time that they tell you, "family, isn't it about time?"  Now, you take pictures from a distance, maybe the MTC thinks that mom's won't cry!  ha ha - good luck with that!

Note the thrilled look on Chase's face!  He was convinced that everyone was staring at him having to get his picture taken!

We spent the morning thinking of things to do to pass the time while we waited for our allotted time.  Poor Chase was trying hard to think our activities were fun, but truly he just wanted to say good-bye to us and hello to the MTC.

Finally, the time had come, it was time to say good-bye.  We were told that we needed to say our good-bye's before we got to the MTC.  Scott and Chase were giving each other one last hug!

Chase was making sure that all of his bags were in the van and ready.

For those of you who will have future missionaries, this is the new routine.  A nice older missionary meets you at the front gate, and welcomes you on the grounds.  The man assigns your car a number.

Along the sidewalk were numbers listed, and we needed to find our number.  It was so sad driving through this, there were parents and missionaries crying and giving each other one last good-bye hug.

Once we found our number we had elders come straight to our van.  They said to Chase, "Welcome to the MTC elder, what is your last name?"  From there it was, "Elder McKee do this, or Elder do that."  They came to the back of our van and said to Scott, "Dad would you like to help with his bags?"  Scott was more than happy to jump out of the car.

They also asked him where he was going, and continued to be bright and cheery.  Chase had a smile on his face the whole time, I think he was overwhelmed by this super awesome welcome!

They let me get out of the car and say one last good-bye - which was really quick!  One of the last things the Elders said to Scott was, "don't worry dad, your missionary is in good hands now!"

 
And then...I watched my baby walk away.  A true missionary.  It was bitter...It was sweet!

I allowed the tears to flow as we drove away, I felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to have yet another MTC experience.