Nathanael's first e mail home

I am going to copy and paste his e mail.  Hope you have a long time to read this, it will take awhile! 

Welp I'm pretty short on time, hope you liked my card I sent. I left my other gym shorts and I miss them dearly. other then that just pictures of Aarons truck and the guns and stuff I suppose. tell the Acostas that I was playing soccer and I kicked the ball in mid air like Marines Corps style and I accidently got another Elder in the hip too and sort of sent him flying a little bit too. It was funny.welp see you later
I am not sure what the welp is all about.  Here is a card he sent home that came in the mail today.  Kind of strange he is. 

This is the outside of the card.  Then the next one will be the inside.  He signed it Elder Lance Corporal Baths Arks.  The reason for that is because I was texting one of his friends after he was set apart and his name got spell check to that and I didn't notice until after I sent it.  We got a good laugh.  Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, it is not my birthday or anyone elses that I know of.  That's the weird part. 

He's Gone, #5 Missionary from the Dees Boys

This is a picture of Nathanael's suite case while we were packing.  He took this picture and put the caption something like, "my mom doesn't like the way I pack"  Look carefully, there is a gun on top of the tooth paste.  And no, he didn't take it with him.  :0)  I put that he is #5 of the Dees boys to go on a mission, but he is really #6 because his VerLynn went on a mission also. 

We were on our way to the Church for Nathanael to be set apart and this was the view from our window.  This picture does not do it justice.  This is a dust storm that was coming in, it was hugh and really tall.  Preston called on the cell on our way and he said "mom, I think my house is blowing towards us!  It was coming from the south and probably had hit his house pretty hard.  While we were in the setting apart it hit.  His blessing from the Stake President was awesome.  He is going to be a great missionary.  Wish you all could have heard his talk in church.  Pretty deep for a 19 year old boy.  Everyone mentioned that he sounded more like a returned missionary instead of one just leaving.  He is awesome. 

While we were waiting for the Stake President, I hurried and took some pictures.  This is of all of the boys in the family.  We will count Trevor as one of the boys, we adopted him in.  We will have to work on his last name though!  From left to right is, Deryk, Spencer, Aaron, Preston, Nathanael and Trevor.  Very pleased with all of my boys, they are awesome. Don't want to slight my girls, they are equally as awesome, but they are a lot prettier. 

This is of all of us that were there.  VerLynn was having to start his new hauling job and he was in Michigan at the time, so he missed this event.  Deryk is on the left with his son, Brandon, Spencer, then Briana (Aaron's wife) then Aaron, then big ol me with Preston behind, then Nathanael, Trevor and Lori. 

Nathanael and I outside the building when the wind was still blowing pretty hard.  You can tell by the way Nathanael's hair is blowing!  I don't know what the spots are unless it is the dust. 

He's on his way out the door.  I will sure miss him.  It is really weird to realize that you are done raising kids after 34 years of doing it.  I guess it is on to a new chapter in my book.  It has been pretty emotional, but he is doing what he was raised to do.  I asked him if he was nervous.  Ok, kind of dumb after he has been through boot camp already.  But his reply was with a tone like I was in sane "why would I be nervous to be able to study the scriptures every day and share the gospel with people?"  He will make an awesome missionary.  I am sure my dad is very pleased,  Nathanael is wearing his suite.  I think he likes that.  I miss you dad.