Dave Barry and the State of the Union

The local rag printed two and a half pages of Dave Barry today. It was his month-by-month take on 2008. It was a bizarre year even by Dave Barry standards. Thanks! It made our day. The man is still right on the money and always makes me laugh. His comments on the year really put it into perspective. He said you might as well laugh at it since you paid for it. How true!

As we look at the year in review, Michael and I were stunned to find out that our congregation added 19 or 20 new members by baptism this year. (This doesn't include children who are baptized when they turn eight.) To put this in perspective, our Texas stake (this is a whole bunch of congregations put together) had 24 baptisms in a year. It's nice to know that people here are seeking for truth. For us, it means new friends added to our church community all the time. And that's very nice.

We have been so impressed by the kindness and essential goodness of people we have met here. Sometimes when you live in Texas you start to believe that Texans are friendlier than other folks. And they are extremely friendly and nice. But we have been so well-treated here that we can't complain at all. The economy may be going to heck in a handbasket and Wall Street may have lost its moral compass, but things are doing just fine here in Wilkes-Barre. Most people are still trying to raise good kids and treat others fairly. So I'll drink sparkling grape juice to that!