Brad's Homecoming!

Anyone who has had a family member serve a mission must know the feeling--that feeling that someone is missing at every family get-together. That feeling that some part of you is far away and must soon return. I had become accustomed to this feeling in the two years that Brad was on his mission, but as his return grew nigh, I could hardly contain my excitement.

 This is the day that he returned. We could hardly contain ourselves. Ok, so the kids had no idea what was going on...but I was entirely useless. Brad's flight out of Brazil had been delayed, and so by the time he finally flew home, a day late, we were out of our minds excited.

 

I was so so excited for Brad to meet Hudson. My mom made this cute sign for me to hold at the airport. Nearly all of the pictures in this post were taken by Cam. What a gift it is to have such a great photographer in our family. She caputres details beautifully and is a girl after my own heart.

Brad really made us wait for him. He was the last to get off the plane, and when he came around the bend, he held a Brazilian flag over his face. My mom got the first hug, of course. The must have hugged for 3 minutes straight. It was very sweet.

I'm pretty sure that a bunch of us cried. My heart was just so full to have my brother home, and I was so proud.

 

Sure enough, when Emme saw Brad for the first time, she said, "I'm his princess!" I was shocked that she remembered their conversation over Skype on Christmas when Brad told her she was his princess. She took a little bit to warm up to him, but before long, she was giving him hugs and kisses.

 Oh man, thank goodness I have a lot of hands to help me when I'm in public with my kids. In a sociable situation especially, Emme can be a handful. Steph bribed her with lipstick at the airport, and I'm pretty sure she ate half the tube. Bribery is becoming a trend these days, I'm afraid.

 Here is the whole crew. We're a lively bunch, it seems. The airport is such an unfriendly place to first welcome someone, it seems, but I guess you've got to do it somewhere.

That evening, we went to Mom and Dad's and had dinner together and laughed and talked for a few hours. Brad made us some strange hot herbal concoction tereré and told us lots of stories about his mission. I honestly felt like a little kid again, and was just so thrilled to all be together.

Sunday was an eventful day, to say the least. I woke around 5 to bake Brazilian cheese bread for Brad's luncheon, and I was so thrilled when at least some of the batches turned out well. Amy and I also sang a song "Oh How Lovely Was the Morning." We had barely had time to practice and were singing some of it in Portuguese, and I was pretty sure it was going to be a huge train wreck. Of course, there's just something about singing in church. I find that when my intentions are good that things work out, even when it has little to do with me at all. This was one of those times.

The luncheon that followed was wonderful. My parents slaved over the food, and it was so delicious! Emme played in the fountain outside and on "Nana's park" a ton. I'm grateful that nothing bad befell her. It's so hard to watch her and be cordial to people chatting with me in situations like this.

It was a wonderful day and a great end to an amazing week of having Brad back. He helped so many in his time in Denver and Brazil, and I know he'll build off of these experiences as he builds his life in the real world back home. We are such a blessed family--that's for sure.