My oldest best friend is HOME!!

Y'all I've been waiting 18 months for yesterday! Well, I've been waiting a little longer than that, I've been waiting since she got her mission call. I just couldn't imagine my life with out her and 18 months was going to be a long time. We've known each other since my first sunday in the Bradley Park Branch, or as the locals call it "The OTTC" which stands for The Only True, True Church. It was coined by a dear old man who has already joined the party upstairs and I'm a little jealous, but that's besides the point.

That first sunday I wore the best lands end dress that had a gardening pattern, that dress was the bomb! I loved that dress, I gave it away one day cause my young womens leaders made me so a girl would come to church, she never came back and I never forgave them. Okay, I did but I never gave away any of my dresses again. And again, besides the point. Riley wore some super fancy white dress that made me not like her. Her brother, Ian, wore a tux. I thought they were rich and snobby and I wanted nothing to do with them. That first impression couldn't have been farther from the truth. They were average and super nice.

My mom and her mom became fast friends, which meant our whole families became friends. We hung out all. the. time! We used to do this thing where we would hide in each other's cars when it was time to go. Our parents would try to get us to say goodbye and when the other was nowhere to be found they'd figure out and make us get out of the car. I'm pretty sure we never got away with it.

I remember this one summer when we pretty much spent the entire time at each other's houses. Like a couple days at my house and when she finally had to go home, I'd go with her and spend a couple days and then it would be back to my house. That was the best summer ever!

We weren't without our fights though, there were sometimes when we wouldn't talk for days. Like I would have been okay not talking to her ever again, then I would miss her or she'd miss me and we'd call each other and it'd all be back to normal. A couple months ago she sent me a card, on the front it said "I'm glad we locked down our friendship during childhood, since meeting each other today would be a total disaster." It's totally the truth though.

18 months ago, I sat in a room waiting for her to be given a blessing and set apart as a missionary. And then after realizing there'd been a mistake in scheduling, running over to the Stake President's house. It was so amazing to see my best friend transform into a set apart servant of the Lord.

I've hated her being on the other side of the country for 18 months but man I've loved her serving the Lord on the other side of the country for 18 months. I've loved seeing her testimony grown. I'm so proud of the woman she's become. I wouldn't have missed her getting off the plane last night for anything in the world! Love you Riley! Have since for forever, and always will!

Nathan

by Ashmae Holland

It started with an email, late at night, in a basement. This was back in the days when everyone had dial-up and color printing was just hitting the mainstream public and we didn't have one yet. The three of us, Mom, Dad and I, were huddled around a small computer in the corner of the basement.  We opened an email, on an AOL email account of course, and downloaded 5 pictures. It took what felt like eternity. It took so long that my dad decided to just go to bed.

The first picture loaded. It was a chubby little boy with blue eyes and blonde hair. Instantly I knew that was my brother. I told my mom and she said "You can't tell from a little picture." But I knew! I knew that he was my brother and that we would be best friends. We looked at the rest of the pictures one by one, and forwarded the email to a friend of my dad who offered to print them in color for us since he had a color printer. We still have that paper.

Fast forward about 9 months.

After lots of prayer and pondering and talking my parents decided to adopt three boys. They left in early June for Russia. As excited as I was to have siblings I hated that they left the day they did. They left the DAY OF my dance recital. I think it was then that I realized that I wouldn't be the center of their everything anymore, I'd have to share it, and strangely I was okay with it.

There was a mix-up with the luggage on the way to Russia and a couple of bags were lost. Including the bags that had pictures of our home, their rooms and the city we lived in. Couples are asked to bring those things to show the court so they can get a sense of the place they are going to. All they had was a paper "book" that I had made with our little computer about how excited I was to have my brothers. I guess that was enough, because they came home a few days later.

Provo, Utah

We lived in that same house for almost two more years. Then we moved to Georgia. Fast forward about 3 and a half years.

We had just celebrated Will's birthday and in two more days we would be celebrating mine. This was a great week, because we would be having Will's baptism on Saturday. We had stopped to give an invitation to the baptism to a friend. Nathan never made it back to our house that night. But he did make it home. He made it home to our Father in Heaven. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be his sister and to have him be a part of our family. Today my little brother would have been 18. He would have been getting ready to put in his mission papers! But he was lucky enough to start his mission almost 10 years ago.

I miss my brother every day. When people ask me about my family, I still say I have three brothers-and I always will! Happy Birthday little brother, I loved you so much and I always will!