**This Post Written by Mom**
Jake's mission is inching ever closer! The milestone event of his mission farewell came and went Sunday. It was such a perfect day! Church was at 9:00, so we had a pretty crazy morning of getting everything ready - at least as much as we possibly could - before we left for church. Portia had to be there at 8:30 to practice her song for the meeting. Luckily Jake and Zack were ready early and took her. Soon after, the rest of us ran out the door.
It was a fantastic meeting. It really was. Zack blessed the sacrament for his first time, Jackson was the youth speaker, and Portia sang "We Will Be What We Believe" with Hannah and Fynnley and a chorus of other primary kids. Jackson's talk was great, and it was crystal clear how much he looks up to Jake and is going to miss him! The song was beautiful and brought a lot of tears out in the chapel. And then there was Jake's talk. He knocked it out of the park! He gave a great talk about service and the Book of Mormon and his testimony. It was very heartfelt and moving. He thanked a lot of people for their influence in his life and bore a great testimony. When all was said and done, he spoke for 30 minutes and the High Council guy was out of luck!
There were a few competing farewells at 9:00, so we really weren't sure how many people to expect. However, whatever expectations we had were blown out of the water! The church was packed, and subsequently so was our backyard! There were about 125 people at our house. Thankfully it was the most spot on weather we could have hoped for! Everyone enjoyed cinnamon and orange rolls, strawberries and cream, bananas and grapes, doughnuts, bagels and cream cheese, and a cold cereal bar while they visited.
We also had some pretty awesome cookies! We had sugar cookies representing the England flag, the Union Jack, the Book of Mormon, a shirt and tie and one that said Elder Thacker. And then there were the little Jake cookies!
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| Grandpa Richard and Grandma Vicki |
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| Laura holding Aiden, Ken, Jim, Jan, Steve, Sue, Robby, Diane and Matthew in the front |
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| Jessica, Jim, Grandma, Grandpa, Todd, Amelia, Joni, Seth, Jake, Kristy, Rick, Grandma Willes, Shawn, Suzanne and Grandpa Willes |
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| Kent and Lynne even drove all the way from St. George for Jake! |
We aren't known for our large extended family, but you wouldn't have known it from all the people that came to support Jake! It was a great reminder of how many people love our family and how lucky we are to have them.
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| Jake, Kelsey, Sophie and |
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| Jake and Kelsey |
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| Jake and Sydnee |
There were so many family members, friends, teammates, coaches, cute girls and neighbors there I couldn't possibly name them all!
People were so generous to Jake through notes, money and gifts, like this two year supply of hair gel from Shannon!
We could not have pulled this event off without the help Shannon, Kristi and Emily (and Matt)! They saved me and I owe them. Now we're on to finishing shopping and getting Jake packed in the just over two weeks we have until he heads out.
