The Patxi and Jessica Waite family: May 2011

After the museum, it was nap time and they both actually took them, something I didn’t expect. So Patxi and I took that opportunity to go shopping. It was so fun because Patxi is such a crack up! I don’t think I laughed that much in quite some time. At one point I was literally bending over in laughter because Patxi had picked out a princess gift bag to put Petra and Mikey’s present in. After I said that I didn’t think Petra was into Disney Princesses anymore, Patxi said, “No, this is for Mikey. Who wouldn’t want a bag with five hotties on it.” Man, I’m still laughing about it.

We all went to the family dinner to meet Mikey’s family next. They were so wonderful and open to us and the food was great. After that, we drove to the church in Rexburg so Patxi could help set things up for the reception. To my absolute horror, I was going to have to put the kids to bed by myself, something I vowed I would not do during Patxi’s visit. I had had enough of that and I wanted to get my rightly earned break. But Sara’s need was so much greater. Things got pretty stressful, I hear, and Patxi didn’t get home until midnight.

As soon as we could the next morning, we went back to the church to help with more reception needs. There, I burnt my hand on the iron and watched how completely Valin’s candy detector worked. I walked into the gym to see Valin grabbing something from the food table. I saw that Sara had placed the bags of candy there. So I asked, “Valin, are you eating candy?” seeing that he is trailing wrappers. He exuberantly nodded he’s head and said, “ah, huh!” At least he didn’t lie about it, but we did have a quick lesson about taking things that weren’t ours. Once everything was beautiful, we left to get ourselves ready. I’m sad to say that we were almost late. But we did make it in time to see Dieter and Bridget leaving because their recommends were expired. I felt so bad for them, having just gotten there after driving all night.

The sealing was amazing and yet hilarious. The sealer, with his broken english, was very funny. Words cannot explain how happy I was to have Patxi there with me, to be reminded of the covenants we made together more than five years ago. I was so blessed to have that happen! It was beyond incredible to be there with him. It was great to be in the temple, celebrating Mikey and Petra’s love for each other and the hope of their new life together. Then, we witnessed a miracle because the sun came out for the pictures.

We all went to the reception to help with the finishing touches next. We stopped by my grandparent’s house first to grab a few things, stopped at subway, and then went to the stake center. By the time we parked, Valin had astoundingly fallen asleep and Patxi volunteered to stay in the car with him so I could go help. Later, when I got Boston to fall asleep and it grew close to the reception hour, I went out to get them and the car was empty. I thought that maybe Valin was awake and they went on a walk together. So I walked all over the church grounds only to find out that Tevye had forgotten to tell me that Patxi took Valin to the mother’s lounge to finish his nap (or so they both could nap). So then for a good hour I didn’t really know what to do because everyone I was responsible for was sleeping, and Sara’s flawless planning made me job less. Of, course, I stuffed my face with amazing cheesecake, pineapple, and candy. I wish my family had been awake because we missed taking pictures with Petra and Mikey. But they did make it to the cake cutting where Petra begged Mikey not to get her dress dirty. It turned out to be a very quiet exchange, mostly due to Petra’s death threats. Soon after that, the speedy take-down was on. What took days, week, and months to plan and produce had to be taken down in an hour. When we were done, everyone started to gather up their families. Bridget and Valin were in the hallway and Bridget said something about trying to find Leo. The next thing I see was Valin, bursting into the gym, yelling, “Leo! Leo!” at the top of his lungs. And when he spotted him, he ran straight to him and said, while pointing, “I found him!” It was pretty cute, I have to admit.

We took the opportunity to snag a family photo since were were all together and well dressed. These were the best we could get.

Next, we said our good-byes and headed to my grandparent’s to clean up after our quick morning and afternoon. They didn’t get home from their 14 hour drive from Arizona until 9:30. But since it was our only night to visit with them, we decided to play pinochle anyway. I won the first hand, and then, finally, Patxi won by quite a large margin. We left as soon as we could the next morning and we made it home for bedtimes. It was a great trip and we were happy to be there and see family.

These are pictures of Valin playing with Grandma's marti-gra beads.

The rest of Patxi’s visit was more informal. We did go up to Pilot Rock to watch Tice’s baseball game and have a family BBQ. Because of that, Patxi got to see everyone member of his family (since Dmitri and Nicki couldn’t make it to the wedding), which I know made him so happy. As always, we had so much fun. We left Sunday morning so that we could still go to our home ward for church. There are many people there who still thought that I was husband-less, plus I wanted to experience going to church in our ward as a complete family. I felt so good. Everyone was so happy to see him, and I’m sure I couldn’t hind my joyful glow either.

The days following were of us being a family at home. It was greatly needed because the kids and I got nasty colds (so yucky that’s I’m still getting over it). It was wonderful to have Patxi there to get up with the kids too or watch them while I slept in. I appreciate his help so much more since I’ve had to live without it. But the dreaded day of daddy’s departure did arrive. Because he had to be at the airport by five in the morning we decided to get a hotel room for that night.

Theses were at Olive Garden.

These are of Valin playing with Boston"s pants. What a funny boy!

We went out to eat, swam in the pool, and kind of had a “last hurrah.” I didn’t want Patxi to leave in secret or in the dark of the night because I thought Valin would handle it better if he knew what was happening. I’m sad to say that it didn’t really work out that way, and for days afterward Valin still asked where his dad was. Sometimes when the house would creak or when he would heard voices from the outside he would ask if it was Daddy. It was tough to keep the tears back, but each time I explained that he had gone back to Iraq and that he loved him here, there and everywhere. I miss him so much too.

it's been a little under a month since he left and it's gotten easier. Once I got s handle on things and got motivated, and humbled myself to ask for help from the Lord, everything seemed to get better. Hey we only have about 4 months left. I can handle that right?