Weekend to Remember

Hi from our fifth year of a wonderful marriage, the ninth month of an arduous but exemplary pregnancy, and the last day of our daughter Julia's 7th quarter of life. Yes, I was a math major, and my father was an English professor.

Isabelle and I just spent a great weekend at a Weekend to Remember conference held at the Frontenac Hilton just a little ways from our house. It took me a little time to wind down from a hectic week of work, but gladly we had Friday evening, Saturday morning and afternoon, and Sunday morning and afternoon to hear some excellent speakers providing good guidance for our most important relationship here on Earth. Thanks to my dear wife Isabelle for talking me into it, and for our friends Jim and Freddie G who recommended it to us.

Also, we must pay homage to Isabelle's sister Medge, who did us a huge favor by taking good care of Julia for our weekend. Not only does she help raise our child, but she also rakes leaves and clears brush! And she has been staining our rather lengthy, shadow-box style wood fence out back in her spare time.

This trip has been a roller coaster for Medge, having learned not long after she arrived that Mauritius had been visited by African Swine Fever, and all pork processing had to be stopped. This is the livelihood of Medge's husband Jacques, and her and Isabelle's brothers Jean-Marc and Denis, and their mother, Marie-Josée. And then, with all that going on, we just found out that Medge's tourist visa for Canada was denied. We had made plans for her to visit her aunt Monique in Quebec City.

We're thankful that she is with us. We'll try to find a way to show her some sites in the southern US before she has to leave us.