Happy Birthday, Darin

Dear Darin,

What adventures will the next year bring?  Enjoy this 45^th birthday and year to come!  You and Angie and family enjoy adventures and have taken many a journey.

Trip to Venezia

   We love your pictures of those trips.  And all those work-related trips to China

are turning you into the professional international traveler – all to check on and perfect your warmers!  They are beautiful!!  You are an excellent potter and designer.  We are amazed by your skill.  We love you and appreciate your ability to create family moments and memories.  Somehow you have even managed to adopt a dog for the gang!  Even more amazing is how you keep Angie happy with the new addition!!  As they ask the magician:  “How does he do that?”

The shipping port here, Terminal Pacífico Sur (TPS), is a big deal for Valparaíso.

 A week ago they sponsored their annual half marathon.

They are managed by a German group and provide many jobs and are well organized.  Our trips to the cementerio every day take us past this very amazing part of the city.  the huge cargo ships dock to discharge and take on containers.  On the docks and on the ships, they stack the containers 7 and 8-high.  Quite impressive.

Hamburg Süd always has many containers.  A few others are Cronos based in Greece, China Shipping based in Shanghai, Yang Ming based in Taiwan, Hanjin based in South Korea and way more.

Does some of your product make such a trip? …or does it all fly?  It is so fun to watch these huge container ships being led in and out of the bay by only one tugboat and some smaller craft that seems to be jutted up pushing right on the tail of that huge ship.  And they head out on their journey….

We love these pictures as you head out on your journey and then come home.  Do they sing you the song, "We're so glad when Daddy comes home?  Glad as we can be...."

Goodbyes are tough!

Here is a quote from Elder Ballard in his talk a year ago after speaking about our mortal journey, “…how do we stay on the Old Ship Zion?  Here is how. We need to experience a continuing conversion by increasing our faith in Jesus Christ and our faithfulness to His gospel throughout our lives--not just once but regularly.”

“Stay in the Boat and Hold On!”, Elder M. Russell Ballard, Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2014 General Conference.

And some quotes from Elder Maynes’ talk  from this October Conference:

“Like the clay on the potter’s wheel, we must be centered as well.
Our core, the center of our lives, must be Jesus Christ and His gospel.
Living a Christ-centered life means we learn about Jesus Christ and His gospel and then we follow His example and keep His commandments with exactness.

The ancient prophet Isaiah stated,

“But now, O Lord, thou art our father;

we are the clay, and thou our potter;

and we all are the work of thy hand.” Isaiah 64:8

If our lives are centered in Jesus Christ, He can successfully mold us into who we need to be in order to return to His and Heavenly Father’s presence in the celestial kingdom. The joy we experience in this life will be in direct proportion to how well our lives are centered on the teachings, example, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.”  "The Joy of Living a Christ-Centered Life", Elder Richard J. Maynes, Of the Presidency of the Seventy, General Conference October 2015.