Giving our new grandchild a name and a blessing...

We were able to travel to Kansas for a quick visit this past weekend.  It's a 14-hour drive.  I was able to take some time off work so we left early Thursday afternoon, drove to Laramie to spend the night then finished our trip the next day.  On Saturday we enjoyed doing things with our son and his family, helped them box things up for their coming move to Washington, and played with the new baby.  Later we had a nice family dinner, then the bishop and his wife came to the house where my husband, our son, and the bishop, with the authority of the priesthood they hold, gave our grandson his official name and a blessing for his coming life.  I was so proud of all of them!

Babies are such sweet spirits.  They have just come from our pre-earthly home in God's presence.  And they have so much potential.  How blessed when they are born into homes where the parents will teach them to love God, to have integrity and character, to live a moral life and to work hard.  It's also a training ground for us as parents and grandparents.  We develop patience, the ability to see things through someone else's eyes, and we learn a lot about teaching, disciplining with love and forgiveness.  In short, we are all growing and learning from the experiences God gives us in life.

Early Sunday morning -- 3:00 a.m. to be exact -- we left and drove to Berthoud, Colorado where we attended Sacrament meeting with my sister's family and listened as her son reported on his 2-year church mission,  He did a great job and came home with an even stronger testimony that this is God's work.

There was a winter storm in Utah while we were gone.  We left just before the snows hit, and returned just after the storm had subsided and the sun had come out to dry the roads.  Meanwhile we enjoyed 67 degree weather in Kansas.  

We did hit high winds between Fort Collins, Colorado and Rawlins, Wyoming.  Driving required using two hands to grip the steering wheel tightly, and we passed three overturned semi trucks and a pickup truck with a camp shell.  Other than that it was a safe drive home.  We heard later that tornadoes had been spawned by the storm, wiping out communities in three neighboring states and killing almost a dozen people.

How thankful I am that we don't get tornadoes (or seldom ever) where we live...and my heart goes out to those who lose their homes, lives and family members.