We got this letter from our missionary son, Ryan, this week:
The letter was partially spurred on by him receiving some family photos we had taken before he left on his mission this summer. They finally came back from the photographer, so I sent them to him in a little album:
We were kind of surprised to have our letter addressed to us in such a way, "My Eternal Forever Family" - such an upgrade from the usual, "The Brenchley's." ;)
Then the content of the letter provided even bigger "revelations" to us:
"I am so grateful for what a great family I have! The pics are just too precious! Maybe it's the great color scheme or all our great smiles, but The Pictures just glows every time I look at it. I took the album to church with me Sunday to show to some families and it got passed around to a couple of the other sisters in the ward. Everyone who saw it was all, "Oh, what a Beautiful family you have!" The other missionaries around the house were all commenting how much younger my family was. (They're just jealous because their family grew up and isn't as cute as my family!) I love you all so much. You are all one of the main reasons I'm serving a mission. I KNOW the happiness I have knowing my family can be together forever and I want nothing more than to share this message with others, and have them have the same Happiness I have! I Love You all so much!"
(I think I want him to stay with this current group of missionaries who refer to us as the "YOUNG" family amongst the group! ;) In fact, when Ryan was telling his companion that his parents went on a 20th anniversary cruise, his companion pointed out that he's older than Ryan's parent's marriage! His companion was born a few months before we were married....and he's the 4th child in his family to give ya an idea of the age difference in their parents!)
So, basically, now Ryan thinks we really are great!
(That's why we send them away!) ;)
One child down, four to go!
