Feb. 17 - 23, 2019

It is has been a whirlwind 10 days in the USA.  The first few days were spent making the arrangements for my Dads funeral and all of the family things.  Most of my children left on Sunday to return to their homes.  It was so nice being together with family even if it was only for a few days.  Monday was spent cleaning out my Dad's apartment.  So grateful to Josh and Ian for their hard work moving furniture and all the heavy things.  We were able to get it all cleaned out and cleaned in about 4 hours.  It really made things final as we looked back at the empty room and all of the things that he loved were gone.  It was good for my sister Pam and I to have this time together and sharing memories and stories together.
Tuesday was spent at the home Emily and Ian are in the process of buying.  Josh came to help in the remodel plans and he spent all day measuring and putting the plans together.  He is so talented and had some really good ideas and information for Emily.  Unfortunately it did not close as planned and he had to leave and go home.  At least they will have a plan to use and his valuable insights.
Thursday we spent visiting friends and family.  It was a wonderful day.  We were able to visit John and Denise Sivo in Salt Lake City.  It was so fun to see their new home and to catch up on the last 7 months.  We really enjoyed their hospitality and look forward to seeing them in the near future.  We visited my sister, Pam and went to lunch with her and her husband, Mike.  We took advantage of being in the States and I was able to get our taxes completed.  Emily finished hers and then I also did them for my Sister.  Somehow I got the bad deal - they are all getting a nice refund and I had to pay!  I spent several hours completing all of the details for my Dad's estate.  I was able to complete all of the required paperwork and probate even was taken care of with the Judge.  It has been a very busy week taking care of all of this. So glad for electronic transfers and Fed-Ex.
Russ and I visited the cemetery - the view and surroundings are absolutely beautiful.  A great final resting place for our family.

 We left at 5:30 AM in the morning from Emily's home.  Logan said all he wanted to do was wave good-bye from the door when we left.  He woke up and came to the door to wave good-bye.  It was so cute.  It reminded me of my parents who always stood on the porch and waved good-bye to us when we would leave.  A honk of the horn and we were on our way!

Second good-bye at the airport.  It was hard to do it a second time, but this time I knew what I was coming back to and I actually was missing our new home and the wonderful missionary work that we are doing.  It was time to return.

We were supposed to fly back Friday morning, but the flights were really full and we decided to wait until Saturday when there were more seats available and it would make for a much better flight.  We have been fighting allergies since we arrived and Russ was not feeling very good today.  He was really glad he was not flying.  It is hard to say good-bye, but we are also feeling the need to be back home in Germany and getting on with our responsibilities there.  We received 4 emails from our Mission President yesterday with assignments - it's time to return.  Zone Conference is next Friday and I have to organize the lunch.  We will hit the ground running when we return.  It has not been a vacation, but I am so glad to have been here with all of my family and especially to have been able to be a part of the funeral for my Father.  There is just a peace that comes from the process.
We had a wonderful travel experience coming to Utah.  We could not have asked for better people serving us and taking care of our needs.  We were hoping for a similar experience returning home.  It was very busy in Salt Lake and they did not make sure all of our connections were in order.  We were not worried about the flight to Dallas as it was only a 2 hour flight. 

We arrived in Dallas to find our flight was delayed.  We tried to talk to the agent and they were not accommodating at all.  She would not even answer our questions.  We were in the back of the plane and again, thought it would be better when we got to Philadelphia.  We were going to wait in eat in Philly, but decided to grab a sandwhich in Salt Lake - so glad we did.  The weather was really windy in Texas and we sat on the plane for 1 1/2 hours waiting for take-off.  Only one runway was operating due to the wind and we had to wait our turn.  So, we barely made our connection to Zurich (we still had 45 min. to spare) and when we arrived they had given our seats to another non-rev passenger and said we were not listed on the flight.  We showed her our tickets that we had received in Utah and she said, just get on the plane.  When we asked the flight attendants about where we could sit and told them the situation, they said, we have never heard of A-9 classification, that must be an American Airlines thing, we are US Air - excuse me- the merger happened over 3 years ago and it is called American Airlines.  So - it was not the trip home we expected, but we are home and we are glad to be safe and back ready to go to work.

Waiting for the train in Zurich to return to Freiburg.  The trains are really nice and a lot more relaxing than when we drive and have to fight traffic.  We get to do that on Friday when return for Zone Conference.  The train station in Zurich is huge - about 38 lines coming in with multiple levels.

 We arrived home to find this in our mailbox.  Josh sent this on Jan. 7 - Christmas cards we received at our home in Texas.  It is February 23 and we just received it.  Notice the stamp that it was sent to Jamaica by mistake and rerouted to Germany.  $14 for 4 cards to be mailed and it still took 6 weeks!  Merry Christmas - it was wonderful reading the cards from friends and feeling the Christmas Spirit all over again.

This past 10 days has been filled with memories and stories that will always be special to me.  I shared a story with Emily's family about when I was 4 years old and my family was stranded in the mountains over night.  The story was in the newspaper and I read it to them.  We had gone for a Memorial Day picnic to the South Hills in Idaho.  My 14 year old brother and his friend Tom, my 13 year old sister, Pam; my 6 year old sister, Brooke; and my 6 month old brother, Tad.  There was a snow drift over the road and my Dad thought he could go around it with his 4 wheel drive Jeep.  The road gave way and the Jeep was only being held up by a tree.  They tried until 9 pm to get the Jeep back on the road and could not.  My Dad thought it was a 10 mile hike to the nearest city of Oakley Idaho.  He sent my brother and his friend at 10:00 pm to go get help.  It turned out to be 24 miles and they arrived at a home to get help at 5:00 AM  We had food that my mother had prepared, a scout patrol kit, a tent, the seats out of the car and a baby bed for the baby to sleep in.  My Dad built a fire and we huddled together to stay warm and to sleep until help arrived the next morning.  When I finished the story Logan asked - "so, what can we learn from this?"  I really appreciated his thought process.  We talked about the importance of being prepared, having a knowledge of how to use what we have and the power of prayer in our lives.  This was one of many stories I could have shared that had an impact on my life.  So grateful to my parents who taught me so much and especially my mother who made all of the crazy experiences my Dad got us into an adventure and learning experience. 
Looking forward to a great week. 
Viel Liebe,
The Grimmett's