Carrying on the tradition

Along with Sailyn's baptism, I was able to do another thing with Jay's family.  I was able to see first hand the playing of the saxophone being carried on by my niece Emilee.  Emilee decided to switch to the tenor saxophone this year after playing the clarinet and flute.   Jay told her that I used to play and so when we were together at Sailyn's baptism, she told me about her music and asked if I wanted to come to her final concert.  I told her that I would love to and to just have her dad let me know when it was.  So on a Wednesday in May, I got into my car and traveled down to Provo to witness the passing of the torch.  She did really well and it was fun to see and hear the music and it made me realize how much I miss it. 

Emilee with her Saxophone

This was the best shot I was able to get of her sitting with the band.

 

 

 

It was a good concert and she did great.  I hope that she continues to play and is able to find as much joy and fun from it as I did.

 

Sailyn's Big Day



Sailyn Metcalfe turned 8 this year and 8 is the age that children get to choose to be baptized.  I have been lucky to be able to attend as many baptisms that I can and this was one of them.  She looked so cute in her white outfit and then white dress after.  She is so little that Jay had to baptize her twice because her foot popped out of the water.  But they were able to complete the ordinance and she became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  There were quite a few family members from both sides, but I mainly just took pictures of my side of the family.  Of course, I forgot my camera and could only take them with my phone, so not all of them turned out.  Here are the ones that did.


Here are Jay and Sayei's beautiful girls, Emilee, Saily and Tibisay

Unfortunately the pictures that didn't come out where of Jay, Sayei and the girls as well as Jo, her kids with Sailyn but the rest of the pictures came out all right.

Here is Sailyn with her Aunt Heather

Here are the Wharton's, Sandra, Keith, Eli, McKenna and Tyler with Sailyn

 

Here is Sailyn with her dad, her Aunt Andrea and cousin's Josh, Sam and Kirsten

 

Here is the whole group from our side of the family.  Congratulations Sailyn!

CONGRATULATIONS KIRSTEN!

I love being an Aunt.  The next few posts are going to be about why.  This first is a BIG HUGE CONGRATS to my niece Kirsten for her recent graduation from High School.  This is a huge accomplishment and I am very proud of her.

Kirsten's Graduation Class of 2013

 

Joseph finding ways to keep himself entertained.



For those that were not able to be there, here she is getting her diploma.  Way to go Kirsten!

 

Hurray, She is official!!!

 

 

 Andrea, Kirsten and Sam.  Don't they look great



 

 

Kirsten, Sam and her Dad

 



 

Kirsten with Me, Jo, Grand and Joseph                                                     Kirsten and her Mom

 

 

                                                   

I just love this picture

 

Kirsten joined our family on November 12, 1994 and she has been a constant joy and delight.  I am looking forward to watching what she does with the next 18 years.

 

 

 

 

My Parents, the Missionaries...

 

First, I apologize for taking so long to put in this last post.  Yes, this is the end of my trip.  It seems fitting that I end it with a tribute to my parents...the missionaries.  I had 4 days to watch them be missionaries and I can tell you that it was a rewarding experience.  They manage to complement each other in really important ways and they appreciate what the other contributes. No my parents are not perfect, but they serve in whatever way they can and they are good examples to me of how to be of service.

 

I think it is cute that they still hold hands.

 

My Dad - Elder John C. Metcalfe

 

                                                                                     My Mom - Sister Joanne R. Metcalfe

 

        My dad will try anything, even going up all these stairs with no knees...Way to go Dad! 

  

 

We having a saying in my family "Our father has never met a stranger"  It is true, he can talk to anyone and this ability has opened a lot of doors.  My mom does a better job then we children did of supporting him in his gift.

                The Chapel in Lille, France    

 

Family Home Evening with the Young Adults.

 

They were being taught by an amazing convert..in fact all the young adults were amazing.

Now it is time to play...This is the part that everyone enjoys the most..eating my mom's yummy treats and having fun.
 

 

They made me participate in this one, you had to remember all the names of the people in the circle and when yours was called you had to move to the seat that was empty and say a name before the person who was "it" was able to get to the empty seat.  I could not remember any names and they could not say mine.  I tried to use my middle name but I kept forgetting so when people would say "Rene" I didn't realize that it was me!  Needless to say, I was really terrible at the game but had fun anyway.

 

The whole group

 



 

The last thing that I was able to do was to see the BYU Wind Symphony band perform.  They had arranged to come to Lille and the stake had reserved a big hall, had printed up tickets and posters to encourage the community to come and experience this group from the states.  The missionaries were using it as a missionary tool and everyone was really excited until the French government found out that the group was from BYU, a church run school, so they put the stop to the rental of the hall and that was the end of that.  The stake had to scale down the concert and hold it in the chapel but the place was packed and the music was well received.  The members of the band stayed with members and my mom and dad took a couple in as well.  They had a nice breakfast of fruit crepes and then the group from BYU shared a fast and testimony Sunday service with us.  It was a good experience for the young adults to see people their own age, living the gospel and having fun.  I learned a lot from the members,especially the group that my parents worked with, about the importance of living the gospel at all times.

 

Thanks for taking this journey with me.  It was one I will never forget!

Visiting Namur

The last stop of the day was a wish of Dad's.  For those that don't know, this is the second mission for Dad in this area.  He had mentioned that we could go to a town that he had served in or...we could visit a place that he had not been to but had always heard about.  We decided to be adventurous and visit Namur. 



Driving through Namur



I liked the trees and the lights




The best thing about Europe is the architecture, no two buildings are the same.

Namur is a city and a municipality in Wallonia, located in southern Belgium.  It is the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia.  It began as an important trading settlement in Celtic times and then the Romans established a presence after Julius Caesar defeated the local tribes.  The town came into prominence during the middle ages when settlers build a citadel on the rock overlooking the town.  The placement of the citadel was right at the coming together of the Sambre and Meuse rivers.  It fell into the hands of Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1421, became part of the Spanish Netherlands in the 1640s and then Louis XIV captured the town in 1692.  It changed hands only three years later, then was bounced around a few times (the citadel being rebuilt twice during this time) until after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 when the congress of Vienna incorporated Belgium into the United Kingdom of the Neterlands.  In 1830 Belgium broke away from the Netherlands in the Belgian Revolution and the citadel was rebuilt again in 1887.  Namur was a major target for the German's in World War I because they wanted to use the Meuse valley as a way to get into France.  The town and citadel was taken after only three days and it was occupied by Germany for the rest of the war.  In World War II it was used in the front lines for the Battle of the Ardennes in 1940 and the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.

We were at a disadvantage because we had not planned on the visit so we had not done any study of what there was to see but when we arrived we ran into a couple of interesting sites.
One of Namur very distinct landmarks was the 18th century cathedral dedicated to Saint Aubin.  It is designed in academic Late Baroque and it was the only church built as a cathedral in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany after 1559. 

                                The cathedral was big and beautiful.  I would have loved to see the inside.

      I love this, the history is just one layer down.

Unfortunately for us, we didn't get to go inside as they had experienced some break-in's and the church had to be locked up, only opened for services.  It was really impressive and I was disappointed that we were not able to see the interior. 

The other was the citadel that I mentioned above.  I have to toot my own horn, as I saw the citadel and asked the question that led to our wanting to find out what the structure was, but dad, with his amazing sense of direction, was able to find our way there.

This is how we found it, we saw this and Dad followed the road up.

                                                                                                           The front door

        You can see how extensive it is.  It goes forever.

It was originally build from the Roman era but as mentioned, it has been rebuilt several times.  The original dates back to 937 and is one of the largest fortresses in Europe.  We ran into it quite by accident, but it was a fun place to visit. 

                                                         Mom and I, just having a little fun

                 A Panoramic view from the Citadel.

                                            The church is HUGE from the top as well as from below.

      Lots of church steeples, I think we counted 7 total.      

We were not able to stay long, we had to get back for family home evening with the young adults, but it was fun to go somewhere that Dad had not been.  I really enjoyed the day.