rex austen

a few times on this blog, i've posted about rex, chris' best buddy. rex is a fantastic guy with an amazing family. over the past three and a half years we've become really close with the austen family and tonight they had us over for dinner as a final hurrah before we leave. rex's family has been super supportive of all our efforts and they even wrote one of chris' letters of recommendation for his medical school application. every holiday we get a little surprise from the austens and they even remember our birthdays. they gave us a really neat book for graduation called "we believe" by rulon t. burton. it's a doctrinal book that is very detailed and will be perfect for giving talks and lessons in the future. rex has been having a bit of a struggle with the idea of us leaving utah valley and him getting a new best buddy. every time we have gotten together the past few weeks, rex gets a little teary when he remembers that our time together is running short. he's such a sweet spirit and has really touched chris and i. he will never enjoy some of the blessings and experiences most people do, but that has never gotten him down and that is something that we can all take. i am going to miss seeing him every week and watching his funny little quirks.