Another one bites the dust

Little bil Rusty received his mission call for our Church yesterday. Drum roll please...

And you know what? He guessed Australia before he opened his call! He may be soft spoken, but big things are always happening in that sharp spiritual mind of his. Just by being around Russell, you get the sense that he knows things.
Gosh. I love this kid. I've known him since he was 8 or 9 years old. He was painfully shy and just the cutest little Lego-loving punk you'd ever seen. When I'd come over to BD's house I'd always make an effort to say hello to Russell just to see his adorable reaction. Sorry Russ, I couldn't resist! If he would come into the room I would wink at his mom and say something like, "Hi Russ, I love your hair cut, it's soooo cute." He would blush the brightest shade of scarlet red and stare directly at his feet, squirming. His mom would wink back playing along, "Russ can you say Hi to Brad's cute friend?" No. He most certainly couldn't. And would turn around and politely dart out of the room as fast as he entered it. Then his mom and I would chuckle and comment about how he's so stinkin' cute.Fast forward 10 years. Russ is still a little shy, but just as adorable. He's smart, confident, sincere and steadfast with everything he does. The picture above is of him and his twin sis (she's the one totally freaking out in the video, although we all kind of were). They may be opposites in many ways, but don't let them fool ya...they are thick as thieves these two. Saying that we're proud of him doesn't even begin to cover it all. We love him so very much.
Russell reports to the Provo, UT MTC on August 6, 2008 to serve in the Australia, Adelaide mission. We're elated!