Salt Lake

Layne's twin brother, Lynn, his wife Camille
and their son Curtis and family (behind)

I don't like traveling much.  Home has, hands down, the biggest call to me.  But this past week we were off to Salt Lake, to visit with Layne's twin brother, Lynn, and our son Gerald and his family.  Gerald belongs to a benevolent and wealthy Chinese family, via his wife, Frances.  Her father heads an extended family that works together and shares the family monies much like our Church United Order concept.  Because of that, Gerald and Frances live in a beautiful home in Taiwan, owned by the Family.  Hence, their home costs are very minimal.  The Family fund also bought two homes in Draper, Utah.  Ger and Fran have furnished one of them and they stay there when they come to the States with their English students for their month-long tour each summer.

So, after that long explanation, it makes a bit more sense to say that Layne and I determined to spend some quality time with Ger and Fran, so we flew to Salt Lake last week to see them.  Our standby efforts paid off both ways, as we made the flights into and out of Salt Lake just as we planned.  Upon our arrival, all of us headed to Kaysville to visit Layne's brother.  The Galbraith boys claim to be very close and I suppose, in a Galbraithy kind of way, that might be true.  But we see and talk to Lynn and his wife Camille, maybe, once a year.  That would not fit my definition of "close."  I wish it were more as I love spending time with them.  But for some reason, over the years, we haven't been together very much.  So it was a treat to spend a few hours with them last week.  Lynn and Layne are twins, but quite different in temperament and appearance.  We had fun talking and laughing together.

Grandson Seth 

Granddaughter Angelica

Gerald and Fran's home in Salt Lake is almost new, but he had several home projects that he wanted to accomplish. So the rest of our time in Salt Lake was spent working on his projects.  Actually, I love having a job to do.  Working on something that makes a noticeable difference in things is very rewarding.  So it was fun to see progress on the house and the light that filled Ger and Fran as each thing was accomplished.  It was quite bonding, and I'm very keen on that sort of thing.

We came home on Friday and things moved along like they always do.  Saturday was our Stake Conference at Church.  The stake president, President Cooper, asked to speak with us after the meeting (which we missed to attend a neighbor's party).  The outcome of that meeting was life-changing.  Layne has been called to be the new Stake Patriarch!  For a month he has been fearful of being considered for this.  As he responded to the request, his face flushed and his eyes filled with tears.  I believe I understand his fear.  He now must cultivate a spiritual condition that is worthy of hearing the voice of the Lord, by a schedule.  He will be fully dependent upon inspiration to function.  That's pressure!  Not only that, but this is a lifetime calling!

The new Patriarch

Nephew Bryan, who visited us on Sunday,
just in time to learn of Layne's new calling.

Since then we have thought of little else.  What can we do to make our home more receptive to the Spirit of God?  How can we create a more spiritual character?  It is a team calling the Stake President said.  So there will be a function for me to play.  I wonder how this will impact our lives.  Having this assignment does answer a couple of questions that have been on my mind.  We won't be selling our home anytime soon.  We won't be going on another mission any time soon either.  We are here for the foreseeable future.  There is some peace in having that settled.  And, as we move forward, I will say that I have every faith that the Lord will take care of us and direct our path.  This ultimately will be for our good.  It's the details we have to work out.  So now begins our leap into a new spiritual adventure.