From the Horse's Mouth

My eyes did not deceive me.  Elder Cox, and his two companions were not in the picture. We got it right from him with his Christmas phone call.

They are two and a half hours away from the mission home and I guess they didn't plan for the time or the traffic and got there late. One companion, Elder Banner, is fairly new, seven months out, and maybe his mom was as devastated as I was. His other companion, Elder Adkins, was going home after that meeting and his parents were picking him up in Florida, so likely, they knew right away he had missed the picture.

While I was sad that he was not in the picture, I was relieved to know that my instincts were correct  that he was not in it.  I really didn't think I couldn't recognize my own son.  But we pushed forward anyway, enlarging and trying to make one of those young men look like our Cameron.

The picture question was the first thing I asked in my phone call yesterday.  It was the first thing he was expecting me to ask him as he was already answering before I got the question out. He also wanted to know who we "picked out" as possibly him. I guess he will be getting back to us on who we picked out could be him and if we were even close at all in appearance.

Nevertheless, ninth from left, second row from front is NOT my Cameron.

So we anxiously await some new pictures of him.

And revel in the fact that we were able to talk to him for two hours yesterday on the phone. 

And we can know that it will only be 5 months until we talk again, then 4 months until he returns home!

This was my fourth Christmas in a row for missionary phone calls.

It does make the day these past four years.  Until that phone call comes, always in the evening for us, it is like the best gift is still wrapped in the box, waiting to be opened.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!