The night before, several of us stayed up to make signs. We even made him a 40 foot sign that we had to unroll for him to read.
His plane was scheduled to arrive at 11:55am. On the way to the airport I checked a flight tracker website and saw that his plane was going to be early - by over 15 minutes! I quickly texted everyone who was driving to the airport that his plane would be early. Most of us didn't think we were going to make it on time. My sister Kelly who was riding with our mom and dad secretly texted to me that my mom told my dad to "floor it". :D We all rushed as quickly as we could to make it their on time. Craig & Vanessa were the first ones there, followed by Chris and I and kids. The plane had landed and was starting to let passengers off. It seemed like each time I turned around I saw another one of my siblings or a parent. We quickly waved them over and told them to hurry so they wouldn't miss him! A few people exiting the plane asked if we were waiting for a missionary. One said, "don't worry he's coming. He's waiting on his luggage." He was one of the last people to exit the aircraft. Luckily, almost everyone made it on time to see him exit.
I love this picture of all of the kids (& adults too) waiting in anticipation for Uncle Eric! The 2nd picture is of the new nephews Eric hadn't met in person yet.
Here he is walking out of the gate. I thought he looked handsome and grown-up...and also tan. I like the one of him looking to his right to see the nieces and nephews peering through the glass watching his arrival. I couldn't help but start to cry.
Lots of hugs, hellos and tears followed. I'm sure Eric was a little taken aback to see all of the little ones having aged 2 years but he didn't let it show too much. Of course we tried to keep him up to date with emails and pictures but it's just not the same. He said Ashley and Adelle had changed the most. I like how in the third picture our dad took Eric away from the crowd to help him get his luggage.
After we had some time to get reaquainted we drove over to the site of the new Kansas City Temple that they are building. It will be finished in February of 2012 but as you can see they've done quite a bit on the exterior. After visiting the temple site, we headed to a favorite spot of many in our family and the restaurant requested by Eric for lunch - Jack Stack BBQ. We made our reservations for 1:30 which worked out great (other than the fact that many were starving - especially Elise who reminded me many times of how hungry she was - even with the snacks I gave her), because the lunch crowd had already cleared out. So we took our time and enjoyed the meal together as a family. This was the first time in two years that each of my parents' children and grandchildren had shared a meal together.I'll end this post by saying that I am so proud of my little brother. I know that he took his role as a missionary seriously, wanting to share and teach other about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He served a honorable mission and was successful at bringing many to Christ. I know that not only was Eric blessed for sacrificing 2 years of his time, away from family and friends, to share the Gospel, but the family he left back home was blessed as well. We all grew from reading his weekly letters about the many lives he touched.
Welcome Home, Eric! We are very proud of you indeed. Well done.
