Off to Nepal

 It's been hard to let Audrey go to the other side of the world.  I knew it would be.  I also knew that a 36 hr. flight would be way harder on her than she thought it would be.  It was also harder on Mario than on me this time.  Daddy's little girl--it's a real thing.  I'm mostly just excited for her to have such an experience.  I'm living my younger life through her in a way.
This 1 month seems to be practice for us all for when she leaves for 18.  I know and remember this from when AJ left.  When you're used to having a kid around and suddenly they're not, you look at the door every time it opens and for a second, you think it's them.  Or, you think you hear their voice in the other room, and it's someone else, or you wonder why there are so many apples in the bowl when they're usually gone in a day.
I started this thing with Audrey that we e-mail our random thoughts to each other.  I stole this idea but knew it would work well for us since we've always done that with each other anyway.  Here's a part of our letters that meant a lot to me.

From me: "My Nansy was a really cute little girl with a really cute little, unique run, grandpa’s right—it goes too fast, also lots of memories of your awkward 11 yr. old sassiness and eating way too much junk foods, and then realizing your gifts with people and watching that talent become huge.  Your wings are way too expansive to sit behind college desks.  I’m so happy that you’re doing something about that."

From her: "You are a much better writer than you think. I don't  think good writing is about vocabulary and finesse, it is about making an impact, and you write very simply but it stays in my brain forever. I believe it's what dad calls an "Emily?" Haha.

Wings are made to fly but you have to have someone teach you the courage to hop out of the nest. Thank you for believing in me. 

My college desk-crammed wings are feeling some beautiful new breezes here in pokhara. :) 

Coming here by myself really confirmed what dad said in his blessing about never truly being alone. There were quite a few hopeless times on the way here that I felt like I literally had no where to turn to. I felt so sad and lost and I missed you guys. But every time that happened, I remembered that blessing and Prayed so hard. Then it was the same feeling I get as when someone comes and sits next to me and just rubs my back, they don't have to say anything. I know that the Holy Ghost is an actual and real person, and God loves us so much. "

We're so excited for the amazing things she'll be doing in Nepal and the people she will effect.

 Alicia, Isaac and I took her down to the airport to see her off that night.  Her flight left at 10:45pm.  Mario spent a lot of time watching the laptop and tracking her planes.  It's was nice to be able to see exactly where she was and if she was on schedule to catch her next flight.  It's also been nice to have no mission rules that keep us from texting or calling her.  We can do that any time.

This is my favorite pic of Nans right now.  She looks like her little 3 yr. old self