It's time to blast off!

The time has come and Joseph is ready to blast off!  We made the living room the staging ground for packing so Elder Johnson's bags were sprawled out on the floor for a few days.  Elder Johnson tried to pack Lucy, but I guess it's against mission rules to bring your little sister on your mission.  She wasn't super excited about being zipped up in a suit case anyway, so it worked out.  We will miss our Joey!  

                                                 

She fits!

It's happening!  Packing has commenced.

 

Why are there rubber bands around

that BOM?  When Joseph arrives in Paraguay he will need $160 in cash, but not just any cash, perfect cash.  So we went to the bank and sifted through a lot of money to find the best money we could find.  There was a slight creasing in the three 20 dollar bills, so we came home and ironed the bills until they were perfect.  Then we put the money in the middle of the BOM and sealed it with rubberbands (not how Moroni sealed it originally).  

Ya'll, this is what we have left on the list!  I'm a list person.

Now it's time to play one more time before it's time to blast off!

This is Joseph's home MTC room.  I don't think he ever cleaned it, but I thought it was cute how he had a mostly eaten package of cookies on the floor.  His life was in this room for 6 weeks and I am so excited that he finally gets to bust out.  We didn't have time to clean, so we just shut the door and walked away.  

 

Is it weird that I think this is the cutest thing ever?  And is it weird that I took a picture of trash?  I joked with Elder Johnson that he could probably fit one more can of buble before the trash was full!  Again, shut the door and walk away!

I'm so happy to see that Elder Johnson is making himself available!

Rolling out!

I gave Elder Johnson shot gun and these guys had such a good talk!  

Mr. David was able to come with us!  

Lucy took some time to write her brother a little note.

We made it to security! It's time to say goodbye.

Pops will miss his right hand man!

It's time for this little bird to fly out of the nest and this momma is so proud!  Go Joey Go!

Brothers and best friends.  

This was such a sweet moment!  

And he's off!

He made it to Paraguay!  4 airports, 5,000 miles, over 24 hours of total travel time.  I am so grateful for modern technology, cell phones, google hangouts, google travel and flight aware that made this momma's heart feel at ease. Ultimately, we know the very best technology is the gift of prayer.  

Elder Johnson left this sweet note on our bathroom mirror!  I love my thoughtful son!