Ethan is HOME!!!

Hello blog followers. Ethan has been home for almost three months now and I thought I would share a few thoughts about his home coming.
It was an honor to maintain this blog while Ethan was serving his mission. In a small way, it helped me stay connected to Ethan. I felt like I could serve him while he was gone. I always enjoyed reading Ethan's emails and I especially enjoyed the pictures he would send. At times it was very difficult not to be able to call him and hear his voice and see how he was doing. At times I knelt in earnest prayer and petitioned Heavenly Father to bless my dear younger brother and let him know that his family loved him very much and were thinking of him constantly. I see a change in Ethan and I am so proud of him.
Here are a few excerpts from my journal that should paint a picture of what his home coming entailed.

05/13/15
"Ethan is officially home and has been released from his mission. It's bizarre. He actually doesn't look any different except...his facial hair has come in.
I spent the morning at the Cook's house. I exercised, read my scriptures, did a little bit of thesis work, then went over to my mom's house and got ready. Alyssa was wonderful and did my hair and let me borrow a dress. Candyce, as per Alyssa's idea, had a huge picture of Ethan's face blown up at Walgreens. We glued it onto a poster and wrote, "Returned with Honor." The facial expression is a good one.

We Damron girls sped to the airport as nervous wrecks because we left later than expected and didn't want to mis him getting out of his terminal. We made it in plenty of time.
We had a pretty good sized group. My brother asked that it be only family at the airport so it was our immediate family, plus/including LeAnn, the entire Cook family (without husbands, but with new baby Eleanor), my Uncle Spencer, and then Kristie Godfrey to take pictures.

I was the first person to see Ethan and as soon as he came, all of us Damron girls started to sob! It literally came out of no where. I didn't think I was going to cry because I was feeling totally fine. But - I cried. So many tears.
Ethan hugged my mom first and then hugged the rest of us. Scott was hiding behind a pillar because originally Ethan was told Scott wasn't coming and it was all sorts of awkward.
Scott came out and Ethan just lit up. Their picture together was the best because they just HUGGED and looked super cheesy.

We ate lunch at Baja Joe's (immediate family, Scott, and Spencer) then went to the Mesa temple to do some family baptisms. It was pretty cool to see Ethan baptize Candyce and Scott baptize Ethan. I sat next to LeAnn and my dad as we witnessed the baptisms. LeAnn was just glowing. She reached for my dad's hand and said, "This is what it's all about." LeAnn truly has a passion for family history and I love it.

After the temple we went to my mom's stake center to have Ethan get released. Ethan and Scott actually went to the wrong church building, so we waited on them for a few minutes, then joined Ethan after his quick, private interview with the stake president.
When the stake president handed Ethan the certificate of his release, Ethan started crying. As we stood up to leave, Ethan paused at the door and just started sobbing. My dad went over and held him while he cried. Eventually we were all crying. Scott cried and [I handed my dad a tissue for Ethan.] Seeing Ethan cry like that was kind of heart breaking.
Ethan went to the bathroom and when we asked Scott if he cried, he said, 'I cried like a baby for 15 minutes.' Later on I heard Ethan say that when he was told he was released, he felts something and that really affected him. He still feels different."

I wanted to include that last part as a testament that missionaries are truly set apart by God to teach people about the gospel. It is a very special, unique, and powerful calling. I am blessed to be a member of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.