So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Szia!

Saying goodbye to family and friends was very hard. It started right before Christmas when we flew to Jenny's house in Homewood, AL. to attend her oldest daughter's (Ellie) baptism. We had a good visit with them, then we all piled into their minivan and drove to our Cromar family reunion at Justin's home in Spring, Texas, right outside of Houston. All of our family was able to come, except for two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Justin and Tamara were unbelievably gracious hosts to 34 people, with part of the group coming before Christmas and part staying after New Years. They pulled all their family into their bedroom and tucked each of the other families into their other bedrooms, a travel trailer and one motel room. We had a wonderful reunion which included: trips to the zoo and children's museum, a family 5k. race, a talent show, a ride to the observation deck of Houston's tallest office building, with a view of the Shell Oil buildings where Justin works. While packing up, we squeezed in a trip for Judy up to Issaquah, WA. to spend more time with Kara and Magan and their families. Then, a couple of weeks after she got back to Merced, Kara came and spent five days with us. She had a sewing project that she wanted to do for her high school friend, who was getting ready to have twin girls. Then, our good friends, the Nebekers, had an open house for us and the ward members. It was so nice to get to visit with all who came, and we were given a beautiful book of favorite Book of Mormon verses, with messages written from our friends.We also had some dinners with Ryan and Chelsea's families. And both of them helped us pack up. Ryan even went back to the house, after he took us to the airport, and cleaned out the fridge.We went to Utah a few days before we went into the MTC and stayed with Mike's family. They had a nice family dinner for us and we got to see all the Utah kids/grandkids/great-grandkids. While there, we attended Jenny's father-in-law's funeral and got to take them, and the rest of the family out for pizza. Then we had another surprise when Justin let us know that he had to fly in to SLC. for business. So the first day at the MTC, we got to leave and meet him for Chinese food. (Yes, the rules are different for seniors than for the elders.)Saying goodbye was bitter-sweet, and by the time we boarded the plane for Hungary; I was ready stop getting ready to leave, and just leave. Szia!