Over the Hump!!

So tomorrow, July 8, marks the exact one year date Tom started his mission. It's the day he set foot into the MTC. Words cannot express how proud I am of him! If you knew him before, and you knew him now, you would understand. He has grown sooo much and his testimony has strengenthed so much as well. It makes me sooo happy for him!

So, hitting the one year mark is a prett big deal. At least I think so, anyway. So I wanted to make him a big special package to celebrate and congratulate him on the big accomplishment. I sent him lots of sweets and goodies, and two of every candy so he could share with his companion. I also sent him a super sweet England soccer shirt, because, well let's face it, he can never have too many England soccer shirts. I made him this totally cool and awesome personalized calender for the last year of his mission too. It's got tons of pictures on it oh him with his family, friends, and me, and I put random scriptures on random days throughout the month for him to read, and words of encouragement on random days too. But the thing in his package I am most excited about (particularly because it took me forever to make and it's pretty creative for my standards), is the letter compilation. I wrote him twelve different letters, one for him to open each month. They are sealed in individual envelopes and numbered, and he's been instructed he gets to open each one on the first of every month. And on his calender, on the first of every month, a reminder is written (accompanied with a smiley face!) to open the numbered envelope for that specific month.

It was suuuper hard to come up with enough stuff to write about for twelve different letters. I decided to go with themes for each of the letters, which are:

1 - July - Explanation of letters and a poem about being a missionary (written by a previous missionary, not me)

2 - Aug - A recap of our last date, our goodbye date, before he left

3 - Sept - Why he's worth waiting for

4 - Oct - How our lives worked out so perfectly and how it's proof that we're meant to be
5 - Nov - How the mission has strengthened our relationship
6 - Dec - How much he consumes me every day
7 - Jan - 101 Things I miss about him
8 - Feb - How missing him so much means I love him so much
9 - March - List of date ideas for when he comes home
10 - April - Everything I love about him
11 - May - Our future together
12 - June - How proud I am of all he's accomplished and encouraging him to stay focused!

I figured that since we aren't ever lovey dovey in our letters, that for this special present, once  month for the last year, he could get little spurts of lovey dovey-ness...ha. Just sprinkles of reminders that he is the love of my life and I am still loving him and waiting for him to come back home to me.

I am soo proud of my missionary!! I miss him insanely, but when I look back on this past year, I truly am amazed at how fast it's gone by. Sure, the days themselves (and even the weeks) drag on like crazy, but in reality, looking back, it all does fly by. And now I am officially over the hump, and it is all downhill from here!! I get to start counting down the days instead of counting up to this moment! It is such a great feeling!

Happy Half-Way Day, my Thomas! We're over the hump!