Smile and Wave

I woke up this morning around 8. Joseph was down stairs finishing breakfast. He had gotten up at his missionary rules time (6:30) and was dressed with his badge on, ready for the day. I hadn't made any oatmeal. "What did you eat?" I asked. "Grape nuts, it was the only cereal in the cupboard..."

"Yeah, Dad has all the good cereal in his pantry." Joseph walked over to the sink, looked as if he was at a loss for a moment, and then stated "There's no sponge..." He needed a sponge to wash his dish out with. "It's okay, just put it in the sink, we'll load the dishwasher later." "Wow, a dishwasher...." I went for a quick walk and then when I got back at 8:30 we had everyone come for a morning devotional. We took a picture with our missionary for one last time.

I had Mel run up to get Peter out of bed so that the photo would be with all the kids. After that we all laughed at Peter's morning hair.

He looks like a baby chick with fuzzy down feathers on his head.

Hello little baby bird.

Joseph had a zoom call with our Stake President at 9:30 to be released. He said it was kinda anticlimactic. Yeah, I remember thinking that too. So, poor kid has no badge anymore, but he kept his white shirt and tie on almost all day. He started to get set up on a laptop so he can join the real world.

At 1:00 until 2:00. we invited neighbors to drive by and say hi to him. Like the Penguins of Madagascar say "Just Smile and Wave...." Here are Joseph and his good friend Talmage, who just got home from Ecuador - keeping a safe social distance as they visited.

More people came and joined the wide social circle.

From another angle.

More neighbors came by to welcome Joseph home, like a lady who Joseph did yard work for two years ago (Carolynn) and Mark. Mark and his wife kept Joseph and Ethan fed every Sunday when they were here in the US while the rest of us went to Brazil in 2015.

Hmm, it looks like people are relaxing a bit and getting a little too close to each other...

I guess we're still 6 feet apart. We are trying to be good citizens and but also help Joseph feel welcomed home to this strange new normal. Joseph jumped on the trampoline with his younger siblings, which they loved.

Day 1 of quarantine done. Hope we don't get sick, cause he's not staying isolated.
It's hard with the little kids who don't understand what's going on.