Elder Matthew Walker

Two years ago this January - my little brother Matthew left on his mission to Morristown, New Jersey. On his way to the MTC, my family stopped by Westlake High School where I just happened to be on my lunch break. I was very pregnant and sad that I couldn't go with my family to drop him off, but I knew that he was going to make an awesome missionary. Fast forward to today. Elder Walker was set to return home at 4:30 p.m. in the Salt Lake City Airport.  It'a amazing how quickly time seems to have flown, while at the same time - thinking about the fact that Lydia wasn't even born when he left makes it seems like lifetimes ago.

Lydia is 20 months old and was SO excited to meet her uncle Matthew for the first time. (Okay I might be projecting how excited I was onto her.)  We picked up David early from work and headed to the airport with my family to greet Elder Walker and welcome him home.

We were all so excited (which I expected) and nervous (which I didn't expect). The weather was pretty snowy and his plane had been delayed for a couple of minutes. I feel like we waited for him for hours - because it seemed to take so long!  Melissa kept Lydia occupied while we waited. Melis was a good sport and let Lydia drag her up and down the escalator like a million times. Up and down and up and down. I think Lydia would have been happy to do that for the rest of the day. She loved it! 

 

We were waiting with four other families whose sons were all coming home from the Morristown, New Jersey Mission. It was fun to talk to them and find several connections we had with them. We kept seeing men in business suits coming down the stairs and it was killing us. When he finally came down those stairs - we (and the other families greeting their boys) basically exploded. Then we had to wait for them to walk all the way down the stairs before we could run to hug them. 

He looked so good - and we were so happy to have him back. I don't know that he felt the same way. He loved his mission and over Christmas had expressed that he wasn't really ready to come home. Regardless, we were excited enough for him. I was so excited for him to finally meet Lydia - and they seemed to hit it off quite swimmingly. (I was worried for a little bit that all of the noise and excitement was going to scare Lydia - but she was smiling and laughing the whole time. She loved it.)

Welcome Home Elder Walker. We are so proud of you and your example and testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You've done a great work, and we are excited to see what else your future brings!