Weeks 28 and 29: Camarillo, CA

We have had a lot of joy these past two weeks. If you remember, we were scheduled to return from our mission on April 21. This would allow us to attend Emma's college graduation, Hannah's baptism, Amy's turn to go to Hawaii, and Rob's residency graduation. But our mission does not have any new couples to take our place or the place of the housing couple. Our mission president, who is very kind, was grateful for our willingness to stay longer, and he said that we could take these trips during our mission extension. Not all mission presidents allow trips, so we feel very blessed. And we are grateful to work here a little longer. We will probably shift from teaching with younger missionaries to taking over the housing responsibilities next month, and we will be happy to help however we are needed. 

So, yes, last week we watched Emma graduate from BYU with honors, and we were so proud! Emma gave a presentation on the effects of financial programs which help mothers with childcare in the workplace with huge statistical regressions that compared variables across states in the US. Of course, I LOVED it! It was very technical. And thanks to Dad and the Websters, we ate a couple of delicious meals and spent a little time catching up. Stacey went home to Arizona with the Websters, and Joshua and Emma put their furniture in storage, and they headed off to Wash DC for the summer. We're very proud of them.

This past weekend, we went to Morgantown for Hannah's baptism. We had so much fun. The baptism was beautiful, and we enjoyed celebrating two birthdays (Hannah and Evelyn), plus an early celebration of Nora. Dad was feeling very California-ish, and so he rented a Tesla for us on the trip. We needed to charge the car three times. Fortunately, the charging station shared a parking lot with a Dunkin Donuts. So yes, we celebrated the baptism with donuts. We also had some wonderful meals, and we LOVED seeing the Holdernesses. We're also very proud of them. 

Here in California, we have been eating the biggest strawberries we have ever seen! They just keep getting bigger! We had fun celebrating my birthday, and I posted a picture of the watch that Dad got for me, with "L Luvs J" engraved on the back. All in all, it has been a great couple of weeks.