Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Good News All Around

Sister Ortolani

Well, it’s been an interesting week!  Last Tuesday we sent Melissa off to Brazil.  It was an emotional day for us all.  I think it was worse on Cindy than anyone.  But, we got her off.  We were told that we would only hear from the MTC if there was a problem.  I did a little math and figured that Melissa should land about 3:30am our time.  So I predicted, and told Cindy, that she would wake up about then wondering if Melissa was ok.  Sure enough, I felt Cindy get out of bed about 3:30 am and go head for the computer.  She was up the rest of the night.  No news was good news so we figured she must be OK.  The next day, we received an email from the MTC saying that our missionary had arrived safely, had a companion, and was now working for the Lord.  Today we received our first email from Melissa (Sorry, Sister Ortolani).  It was great.  Very emotional for us just to read it.  I know Cindy forwarded it out, so you have probably all read it.  We are so proud of her for choosing to serve the Lord in this way.  We know she’ll be blessed for this.

Monday was another good day for us.  I received an email at work that my retirement has been approved.  Happy day.  Tuesday, I received about 50 different forms and clearance letters that need to be completed before leaving. Also, a copy of my retirement orders, stating that I will be released from active duty as of 30 September 2009, retired effective 1 October 2009.  I filled out one of the worksheets, did the backwards counting and determined that my last day of work, and my retirement ceremony, will be on 10 July 2009.  We are very much looking forward to it all.  It’s very exciting.  It’s also hard to believe that the last 20 years have gone by so quickly.  Seems like not that long ago I was a young 2nd Lieutenant in EWO school.  Now, here it is, 20 years later, my military career coming to a successful end.  Cindy and I both know that retiring is the right thing for us to do at this time.  We also know that we’ve loved the Air Force and wouldn’t trade the last 20 years for anything.  We are looking forward to moving back to Utah and being close to our family again.

2 comments:

Snyder-mom said...

We are all so proud of Melissa! She is such an amazing person and has such a sweet strong spirit. She will be an awesome missionary. Thank you for being such a good example and support to her.
Also, congrats on the retirement news. It will be nice to have you guys back in Utah! :)

Jodi said...

I love this post it gave me chills your blessings are so obvious right now. I am excited for all the Ortolani's right now so much wonderful stuff going on..