THE CALL!!!!

Yeah!!!
So...... got up this morning, toddled to the gym, not once, but twice! Did some last minute shopping and then got ready for THE CALL!
We have some friends here in the neighborhood that have free international calling and were kind enough to allow us to indulge. We headed to their house and gathered in their office. Even Luke's besties, made it over.


Words cannot even begin to describe how it felt to talk to him! He is SO happy! Funny though, his accent is STRONG and he didn't remember a lot of English. Griff speaks Spanish from his stint in Puerto Rico, so they conversed a little, but later in the phone call, our neighbor's son who also served in Chile (Santiago), came and for about 5 minutes he and Luke just conversed in Spanish. THRILLING! Right down to my toes! We had a great talk, but he has this cough. I don't like it ONE BIT! We asked him about it, and he does have bad allergies here at home, but apparently, they are in full force right now. I'm not convinced and I think he is sick, but he won't admit it.....he doesn't want to worry us. TOO LATE!!

Splenda Daddy noticed that when he spoke English, he coughed all the time, when he spoke Spanish, he was totally fine. He did mention that when he tries to speak English, he can't make his tongue work right. SO AWESOME!
We were originally only supposed to get 30 minutes on the phone with him, but my sly little Lukie weaseled an extra hour so we got a total of 90 minutes on the phone. LOVED hearing him. LOVED talking to him. LOVED listening to his Spanish. HATED the news he gave us. So....... apparently when you have hit your year mark, the mission president gives you your leave date. Now, mind you, I PRAYED that he would leave right before Christmas so that he would come HOME right before Christmas. Seems that the first part worked out, but his release date is 12/30/2009! You heard me!!! The FREAKING 30TH!! WHY YES, I AM YELLING IN ALL CAPS!!!!
I thought he was just kidding and trying to be mean, but nope, it's true. So now, technically, we haven't even hit the one year mark! Good feeling gone, instead major depression. I held it in while talking to him, but have been pissed off ever since. Good thing I really believe my religion....Just saying.
Must redo count down on side bar. Must redo count down on manual calendar. Must self-soothe with caramel, chocolate covered pretzels, and then exercise purge. Must get new attitude befitting a true missionary mom.
Save your words of encouragement, I'm still pissed off and right now, I don't want to hear any blah blah blah about celebrating late next year, or that it's only 11 days later or any other kind of sunshine crap you might think about throwing my way.
Happy Bus - stalled.....