operation "my brother needs some snacks!"

the monday before thanksgiving we got my brother's email. and he sounded bummed. no one had invited them over for thanksgiving and it had been a tough week. he said they would just cook themselves something in their trailer.

uh... heck no. everyone was immediately stressed that spencer was sad and would have no thanksgiving dinner! i think my mom died inside. we want our brother to be happy! and it killed me to know that i was so close, yet so far away.

as we continued to read the email he told us he had a training the next day in franklin. which is only an hour and a half away from us. i knew the time. i knew the location. i knew the way. dagnabit, i was going to bring spencer a thanksgiving feast and no one could stop me!

so with a box filled with thanksgiving classics (instant style), pumpkin pie, candy, a poster that said "gobble gobble gobble!" and the crucial thanksgiving bingo cards, scott, brittany, jakey and i drove to franklin.

our hearts were all a flutter at the prospect of seeing him for the first time since he left on his mission over a year ago. (true, this was actually my second time seeing him since i stalked him at the temple and secretly filmed him. haha. he had no idea i was there. boy was he surprised when he found a note on his car!)

we pulled in to the church parking lot and saw a dozen or so missionaries by their cars. and i panicked that maybe he had already left. i ran out of the car and asked the closest missionary if the training was over. he said yes. then i asked if he knew elder cawley and was he still here. YES! i asked the missionary if we could give him the box to give to elder cawley. i felt awkward all of a sudden since i could see the mission presidents wife through the kitchen door and saw her look back at me. i didn't want to get spencer in trouble.

the kind missionary came to get the box from the car and then spencer walked out of the church. to heck with the rules...we all ran over to him. brittany left jacob in mid-feed. but he was good and stayed calm. i started snapping pictures all the while looking over my shoulder.

elder cawley felt suuuuupppper uncomfortable. haha. i think he was shocked. and he said, "i don't think i'm allowed to hug you." haha. we didn't hug him. we just stared at him with big, goofy smiles on our faces. scott gave him a handshake. it was joyously awkward. after a quick pic with jakey, elder cawley was off. i would have been offended if it was anyone else than my brother and he wasn't on a mission and trying to obey rules that we were so conspicuously flouting. hahaha. poor guy. such a good missionary.

but we all felt wonderful knowing he had some food. and over the next few days we would say to each other, "remember when we saw my brother?" good times.