Sunday in Colorado

April 12   Sunday

Morning came very early today.  The children were up wanting hugs from Grandma and Grandpa, and we were very willing to oblige.

Brian had early meetings to attend.  But before he left, he called all the kids into the front room to talk with them (Rachel was still in bed).  He started by telling them that there were going to be changes made today that will affect the family.  The first question was "Are we going to move again?"  The answer was no, much to their relief.  Brian then told them that he was soon going to be married to the Bishop's wife.  It was interesting watching as the kids tried to process this information.  I have since wondered what their thoughts were.  After a bit, Hailey blurted out, "You are going to be the Bishop?  No way, I don't accept that." 

After some discussion, Ben (with some concern in his voice) asked, "Does mom know about this?"  That brought a few smiles as Brian confirmed that Rachel knew and supported this new calling.  Brian then left for the church, a few minutes late; but he felt the discussion was a good thing and being late was okay.

Everyone is quite self sufficient here, and breakfast was prepared by the kids.  I mixed a couple of Tang juice packets, melancia (watermelon) and mango.  Everyone tried a little of each and liked them both.  I let the girls pick out their bead necklaces and gave Nathan his cap - which was a little small and went to Ben; we will now go shopping for a bigger size for Nathan.  Everyone got a chocolate bar from my favorite chocolate company, Lugano.

In the Meridian Ward, if you are not early, you sit in the back on folding chairs.  Brian's family likes to arrive early to get a long bench in the center of the chapel.  Because of the size of the ward, a decision was made to divide the ward into two wards, and move 63 members from the Black Forest Ward into the Meridian Ward.  The third ward is now the Woodman Hills Ward.  Brian was sustained as the Bishop of the new Meridian Ward.  With the reorganization, the ward lost the presidents of most of the organizations, so there will be a lot of work to get all the positions filled again. 

Brian and Rachel were asked to speak; Brian mentioned he had just returned from the funeral of Bishop Francis Egbert, his grandfather.  He also mentioned that his Uncle Don was also being sustained as the new Bishop in the Wendell, Idaho, Ward.  It takes two new bishops to replace Grandpa.  After the Meridian Ward meetings, we drove to the Black Forest Ward building where the announcement was made that they would be moving 63 members to the Meridian Ward.  Brian was again sustained by the members.  With these changes, the Black Forest Ward is still the largest in the Stake.

After a nice dinner (ginger chicken in the crockpot) and a little relaxation, it was time to repack the suitcases for the next leg of our trip.  Brian and Rachel gave us a ride to the Colorado Springs Airport to pick up a rental car to get to the Denver Airport.  After the schedule of the last few days, the last thing we wanted to do was to have Brian and/or Rachel out on the freeway late at night.  Everyone was exhausted!  Everything worked out fine, and we said our goodbyes. 

We got a nice black Nissan sedan and drove to the Denver Airport.  Before turning  the car back in, we stopped to top of the gas tank - and found a wonderful hot dog bar. . . I haven't eaten a hot dog for a long time, but tonight it sounded good.  I topped it off with onions, tomatoes, sauerkraut, dill pickles, and mustard.  Messy - but delicious.  We arrived at the airport around 9:30 p.m. - for a 1:25 a.m. flight to Miami.  I watched a Netflix movie to pass the time- then it was time to board the airplane and head for "home."