I Don’t Know About You…

…But I’m totally feeling 22!!!!

Mike has officially been on his mission for 22 months!!! 22/24. That’s 92% done. Gone. Over with.That also means only two more months to go!! Actually less than that…1 month and 3 weeks :) I’m so nervous/excited/happy. I can hardly contain it! Thinking back to when Mike had only been gone 2 months and had 22 months left…I honestly thought that he was never going to come home. That time would just stop and that he would be on his mission forever. That was kind of a silly thing for me to think huh? But guess what? He is coming home… :) And soon.

Every morning I wake up around 4 in the morning and have a little email chat with Elder Raines. It’s honestly so amazing to be able to talk to that kid, and actually have a conversation with him. What makes me even more happy is that it feels like nothing has changed. We still talk and joke the same. It’s still effortless and natural to talk to him. It just makes me smile :) Also, the best part is I still get butterflies when I talk to him.

When I tell people how much time he has left, they always say “Wow that went fast!” Umm…no…no it didn’t. Haha. It has pretty much felt like he’s been gone for 22 months.

The closer it gets to the end, the harder it is not to talk about the future. Our future. We’ve now finally reached the point where there’s really not much left to talk about, except what’s going to happen in less than 2 months. We talk about what we’re going to do together when he gets home, and how excited we are, and that we honestly can’t wait to just be with each other. Oh and play Mario Brothers :) We’ve actually talked about a lot of things and we are very happy with how things are going. And when he gets home we decided that we need to get to know each other again.

Yeah…
We know that we love each other.
We know that we want things to work out.
But…
We also know that things and people can change.
We want to make sure that things are still awesome between us and that we have the same future goals.

I love that kid and honestly I’m not worried about us.
I have so much faith in us.
My favorite quote and the things I’ve lived by for the past 2 years is…
”Things Will Work Out” –Gordon B. Hinckley

Here’s to the last 8 weeks without him……AHHHHHHHH!!!!! Did I seriously just write that!?!?!

:D

Valentines Day Dates

Dates? Yeah, I had two dates Friday night.

These two little studs :)
(Sean has a slinky in his hand)

Well since I don’t have a significant other that’s even in the same country, I offered to watch my sisters boys so that her and her husband could go out and have a nice Valentines Day…well Valentines Night. I had to work Friday, and on the way home I picked up some food from our favorite place, La Fountain. Mmmm. Right when I walked in the door, Sean came around the corner with these…

How adorable is that?
And they gave me some M&M’s :)

The boys and I spent the night playing and also watched UP! :) It was a nice night. They were also super excited that I was sleeping over. Haha. I also found out that there’s a little girl in Sean’s class that has a crush on him.

Saturday after everyone got ready, we went to lunch where you might ask? La Fountain. Haha. Everyone else was jealous that I had it so Jamie, Tommy, Brad and the boys all went there for lunch. It was delicious. After lunch, Jamie and I pawned the kids off on the boys and we went shopping at the mall! It was great fun and I may or may not have bought too many clothes. Oh well. Haha.

Love my big sis

Also earlier in the week my dad came in the door and handed me a bouquet of flowers for me and my mother. It was adorable.

I would have to say that it was a pretty nice week.

p.s. T- 55 days :)

The Wall

I got this from the wall today…

In case you can’t read his handwriting…
”It doesn’t really look like me, but that’s how happy I will be to see you!”

He makes me laugh :)

TWO. MORE. MONTHS.

Until this journey is over.
Until I get to see my best friend for the first time in 2 years.
Until I can hug him and never let him go again.

And you know what? I am BEYOND excited about it!!!

This is completely unreal and honestly I’m speechless. I’ve been waiting so long for this moment. And now it’s here and it feels like a dream. I actually had a very vivid dream the other day about Michael coming home. It was quite disappointing to wake up and realize that he was still in Poland. But one of these days. (58 days to be exact). I will wake up and it won’t be a dream. He won’t be 5,436 miles away. In fact he will only be .3 miles away. 1 minute by car, 4 minutes by roller blading, and 8 minutes by walking. :)

This is the homestretch. The last lap of the race. Just gotta keep my pace and know that this crazy hard race will all be worth it. Because he’s my reward. And that’s all I could ask for.

I’ll see you soon Mike

He said YES!! ;)

He said YES!! ;)

"of course I am your valentine! there is no other way on this earth that it could be! looking really good girly. :) I can't wait to give you a big hug and just look you in the eyes again!!! :)"

 

Needless to say, I love him

Dear Mike,

pretty please??

Two years ago…

Exactly two years ago today, my whole world was turned upside down. Reality finally hit me and I knew in only two short months I would have to say “see ya later” to my best friend.

What happened February 8, 2012? Michael Christian Raines got a call from the Lord that he was needed to serve the people of Warsaw, Poland.

I remember that day so vividly…
    All of ours friends and family there.
    Trying to hold back all of the tears that I had been bottling up since Mike told
          me that he was going to serve a mission.
    My brother Brad and Kami meeting Mike’s parents for the first time. Brad farted
         and then walked away so Mike’s parents would think that it was Kami. Haha.
    Jamie giving me a plaque that said, “Missionary: Someone who leaves their family
         for two years so that others may be with their families for Eternity.” And
         just busting up crying.
    Watching my nephews give “Uncle Mike” the biggest hug.
    Keeping to myself a lot of the night because that’s how I needed to deal with the
         realization of him actually leaving.
    Looking through that book with Mike and realizing that we needed to get down to
         business. April 18th would come sooner than I wanted it to…
    Most importantly I remember how happy and excited he was to serve for two
         years of his life to completely strangers. I love him for that.

It’s crazy to think how fast two years actually goes.

Now in only 63 short days he’ll be home <3

Two years ago I will just trying to make the days count. And now, well lets be honest, I’m just counting the days ;)

I love you so much Michael.
I’ll see you soon