Joyful Journey

This morning, while dragging my jet-lagged weary body out of bed, I tried to do some calculations. Yes, even math people have problems counting when they are tired. (Shh, don't tell any of my former students that fact!) The magic number was 5 in 6 months or 6 in 7 months. Or an average of almost one a month. Any way you look at it, it seems like a lot. That's how many flights I've made over the Atlantic in 2009. 3,931 air miles just getting over the pond. Okay, so maybe I can't count, but I still think it terms of numbers. When you add in the JFK to RDU leg, that's 4,357 air miles per trip. You do the math. (21,785 for 5 trips or 26,142 for all 6 trips are the correct answers. Check your work.) I had never even been over the Atlantic until May 2006. Now between both of our sons getting married this year and one of them moving across the US, I made 3 round-trips between Switzerland and the US from December 2008 until June 2009. Whew. And the year is no...

This past Monday, June 8th, would have been my parent's 52nd wedding anniversary and my dad's 75th birthday. (They always joked that they got married on Dad's birthday so that he wouldn't ever forget their anniversary!! There probably was some truth to that!) I am so grateful for parents who modeled so well how to practically apply the truth that Jesus taught. "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" Mathew 22:37-39 They managed to both love God and others. Something that is not always easy to do. Their lives blessed so many around them, including their children. I am not only grateful for their example, but challenged to live my life in such a way that the same can be said of me. Thank you, Mom and Dad!

Athletes are always out to improve their time or their speed or their distance. I have a sure fire way to help them improve their speed. It can be done quite easily. All you have to do is decide to get in your run (or walk as the case may be) "between" storms. Then when a storm with heavy rain, hail, thunder and lightning arrives while you're out for a walk or your run, you can reach that personal best. Even with a sore knee. Even if you weren't out to reach a personal best. It will just happen. Piece of cake. Guaranteed to result in increased speed. Two PR's set today. Two drenched individuals trying to dry off and warm up. Forecast is for rain for the next four days. Guess we'll either be setting more PR's or using the treadmill in the basement.

So, can a rooster lose his voice? Does he get laryngitis? Or maybe they go through puberty? Okay. We're guessing. What do you think?

As we begin to anticipate moving away from Switzerland, I am finding myself desiring to take more photos of the areas around where we live. And so, as I had time to take a long hike today (6.8 miles) and as the weather appeared that it would cooperate, I decided to carry the little camera in my pocket. Here is a sampling of "home." This farm is outside of the small town of Bachs, Switzerland, just up and over a hill from our little village. Of course, the cows have bells on, although I really doubt there is a chance of them getting "lost." But it makes for a beautiful sound when you are out walking. Bachs is a very picturesque village, surrounded by farmland and forest. The woods are highly regulated, but are used to provide firewood, plants to purchase, tables and benches, wooden well troughs, Christmas trees and decorative wooden candles. (Email address by which to order given on the town's website, if you're interested. I didn't write to see i...