From Kim: Dearest Family and Friends: Raechel Councill and I are incredibly grateful for the messages/emails/texts we have received and the outpouring of love and gratitude that you've shared with us. Snuggled closely together in our French apartment, we have read every one and they have brought us joy and peace. Thank you. An update - Raechel, Amanda Erickson, Isaac Councill, Yulia Zabiyaka, and I are still in France. Reu passed peacefully and with no pain, confusion, nor fear at our tiny inn in Villarembert France - just a few hours after we had arrived in his dream of a small French town in the Alps - but he and I were taken to Chambery, a small-ish French ski town where we are definitely the only non-French people currently in the population and where we have been met with a kindness that words cannot begin to express. It seems that many of the good and generous deeds that Reuben Councill put out in the world have returned to us in the faces of Marjorie, the taxi driver who raced me to the hospital 1.5 hours away from our hotel and helped me get back to him on the night of July 2nd; Laetitia, the thorough administrative officer who navigated me through French hospital paperwork and payments with beautiful English to accompany my broken French; Dave, the remarkable travel insurance agent who has guided me through all the things that you never imagine using travel insurance for (folks, get travel insurance. I can tell you why, believe me!); Charlotte, the angel at the Chambery municipal funeral services office who guided us with love, patience, and humor through all the details of French certificates, deeds, and, yes, cremation, through Google translate, a love for the Tour de France, and an immediate sense of our grief and love for Reu; and the beautiful people of this small French village who still can't understand why these Americans are still here but continue to greet us with warmth and kindness. So much kindness. In the midst of our grief, we have found joy in the times together and in the profound beauty of the Alps. This is surreal no doubt, but so very, very special, too. On Monday, July 8th, we will gather at the municipal funeral facility for one last time with Reuben's physical being. We will have time to FaceTime with his parents and sit with him for a few minutes. We ask that if you are able and willing, please light a candle or say a prayer or offer up words of love and gratitude for all that Reuben was at 9:00 am EDT/7:00 am MDT on Monday, July 8th as our small family gathers in France for the first of several memorials and celebrations of his life. We ask that you send love and gratitude out in the open - just as Reuben did every day - and we ask for your wishes and prayers of strength as Raechel and I navigate the final logistics of French requirements and bring Reuben home later this week. We continue to make plans for honoring and celebrating Reuben's life, and we will update you with those details as soon as we are able. Understandably, our priority is in bringing him home and the logistics of that have been exhaustive. We are close. We are together. We are strong. We feel your love. And we were blessed to live in the light of Reuben. Thank you for loving us.