Bonjour

Off we went to the lovely country of France. I can't say that I was looking forward to this trip...y'all know me.........and the first day or two was horrific. I must have sworn a thousand times that I was not going to ever leave the country again and that I couldn't stand it and that I HATE overseas flights and that I hate.............well, everything. I do hate overseas flights and when we got to CDG airport, they don't pull up to a gate, they unload you on to buses and transport you to the terminal.....so......... you wait for two hours to leave from the US (overseas flights require early check in) and you sit for hours on the plane and then you wait to disembark and then you ride seemingly endlessly to get to the terminal and then you wait for luggage and then you wait in a line to get a taxi and then the taxi ride to our hotel was THREE HOURS LONG! Hence, the hate language. Fatigued and hungry, you try to navigate the currency and the room and lay down for a rest and decide where to eat. After resting, you can begin to appreciate the beauty of the city called Paris!

There are Events and then there are EVENTS!

We have had an eventful few weeks and an eventful day. I have been to Michigan in a Penske truck and off to Paris the week after; I returned home to our daughter and her cute baby being here to spend the summer and help us with the dog etc while we traveled; I am off to DC next week and the Caribbean the week after that and then seminary starts and then we head to Michigan again over Labor Day. We have a new Bishop tonight and that is eventful and there are other little events along the way (I hope to blog more about some of these individual items soon)but the thing I wanted to make note of (besides it being Corey and Kerry's birthday today...it really was a fun day 33 years ago when a cute little boy was born on his dad's birthday) Kerry told me this morning that it occurred to him that 40 years ago today he had been baptized. I had forgotten that he was baptized on his 18th birthday and I was impressed with the sense I had in that moment of the magnitude of that event. That is the event among all these events that has had and will continue to have the most lasting influence on the eternal wellness of our family. If he had not chosen the path of baptism, his life and mine and the children that we were blessed with would have an entirely different trajectory and it is a bit frightening to think what it would have been. So there are events and then there are events and as wonderful as the event of my son's birth is/was and as memorable as our little trek to Paris will be for Nan especially and as memorable a day as this will be for our new Bishop Dayhuff, I am most grateful for that event 40 years ago that allowed me to "date only those young men who honor their priesthood" and the influence for good it has had in my life.