sent to Elder Russell!! In a short email he said some members were coming through from Nelson and would bring some stuff back for us!! I was so excited!!! I send Elder Russell one package a month!! And I have been very blessed to be able to have had to only mail 2 since he's been out!! Every other time I have been able to find someone that will take them to the mission home!! And I will be forever thankful for those sweet souls! So since I knew when they were coming I kinda saved a few months up!!
I sent his...
* September Package ~ Back-To-School
* October Package ~ Halloween
{I combined the 2 above into one big box}
and then I sent his birthday box so I knew it would be there for his birthday at the end of this month!!! Sad thing is he has to sit and look at it for the next 22 days!!! And
* One box of food/supplies ~
that I didn't get a picture of either but had some of his favorite foods and hair gel, toothpaste, deodorant, and stuff like that!!!
They were SO FUN to put together!!! Especially his birthday!!! I didn't get pictures cause even though I had everything I was stressed to get it all packed and forgot to take pictures!! I was a little bummed about one part of his birthday I didn't get pictures of, cause they were so cute!!!
But this was his "Back-To-School/Halloween" package...
His back to school package had some of the stuff ya'd get when head back to school ~ socks, underwear, pencils, pens, paper, binders, socks, underwear {G's}!! Pancake mix and syrup cause we always have pancakes the first day of school, Oreo's cause he's a "smart cookie", some football brownies, a Shelley Russet football shirt cause football is part of school {courtesy of sweet Bubba Ricker who asked that Elder Russell take a pictures wearing the shirt by a Canadian landmark and send it to him! He's trying to show everyone that the Russets have fans all over the world}, a Spuddy Buddy, and a back-to-school poem I wrote for Elder Russell!! And then some stuff to celebrate Spud Day....pictures of the Spud Day Parade and family and friends holding Elder Russell's missionary bear, some boats for him to eat his own baked potato in, some Idaho Spud Bars, and some Idaho pins to share with everyone in Canada...
And his Halloween one was full of spooky stuff ~ Halloween Ores, little 6-pack Halloween Root-Beer, Chex Mix, brownie mix, spiders, Halloween cups, and lots of candy....
{Hal saw this shield and thought he could use it as a costume, his "Armor of God"}....
and a little Holy Ghost poem I found {yes I misspelled words, just ignore that}...
and there were more family pictures!
We always do a regular one and a funny one!!
And some think it's funny to moon Elder Russell during these pictures that I have to set the timer too and RUN to get into them and not see them do these shenanigans!!
So I had to censor some butts and faces to protect their identities {and their butts}...
His Birthday package had 2 pairs of pants, since they changed the dress code he wanted some khakis and some light gray ones, 2 ties, 2 tie holders, a Steeler's lanyard, some foot balm for his sore feet, Kit-Kats, birthday banner, cups, plates, a Birthday Boy badge, frosting, cake mix, freeze dried ice-cream sandwiches, favorite pretzels, silly string, candles, a card with a note saying we'd put a few spending dollars on his home flow card the day of his birthday {it's easier to do that than send $$ in the mail}, balloons that everyone blew up and wrote a message on and then deflated, he'll have to blow them up to read the messages and I found some little tapes that we all recorded messages on and sang Happy Birthday to him...
And my dear sweet family still indulges me when it comes to picture taking!! I took their individual ones and printed them out in 4x6's and then they each filled out a card and I put it in a photo album for Elder Russell...
And this next part is the part I was bummed about!! It was so funny and I was so rushed I didn't get pictures!! So I begged Elder Russell to take some!! I sure hope he does!! But I had everyone in our family {24 of us} trace their full body on butcher paper and then decorate it just like them!! And then before Elder Russell opens his gifts he has to open this roll of paper and hang us all up on the wall!!! That way we are all there to celebrate his birthday with him!!! And this poem was on the front of them with very specific instructions....
I have the one picture my sis-in-law did {and did fantastic on by the way} so this is just a example of what Elder Russell will hang on the wall....
Isn't that AWESOME???
They are all full height of each of us, so yes, J's is like 9 feet of paper!!! And little Londyn's is like 2 feet!! They are just darling!!!! A small disclaimer....not one us can draw faces ~ eyes, noses, mouths!!! But you would just die if you saw them all!!! They were so great!!! I will constantly remind Elder Russell to take pictures of them in every email until his birthday cause I have to put them on here for everyone to remember!!!!
{sigh}
So why do I do this?? Does all this make Elder Russell homesick? Do I over do it? And why do I put it here on the family blog? Well to answer those question.......cause I want to and can! NO! Probably!!! And this is all for future reference for our future missionary{s}!
Elder Russell needs none of this!! It's more of a weird comfort thing for me!! I miss the little punk!! Miss him terribly!!! And I enjoy doing it so much!!! And it brings him SO much happiness!!! We've "talked" through email about me doing things like this and he said it actually does the opposite of making him homesick!!! He loves hearing and seeing and reading about everyone here!! I also made him promise that it wasn't a distraction!! He said no! It keeps him grounded and doesn't make him feel like we've forgot about him!! He loves his mission so much and as the months go on I can see that love of Canada growing!! How he's growing!! Everyone around me is growing!! And slowly leaving our little nest!! Exactly how it should be!! Thank goodness I have my John!! I really love him!!! And he must really love me to let me do all this!! All this crazy, crazy, stuff!!
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