In the Savior's Footsteps

Chad and I love to go to the temple together. I think we appreciate it more now because for years one of us would go while the other watched the kids and then we'd switch. Thanks to Jeannine's eagerness to help us with our babysitting needs, we can now attend as a couple. While my parents have been on their mission, we have been steadily working through the stack of family names they left us to do temple work for. I have had marvelous experiences performing this service in behalf of my own family.

For the past two months we have been sure to use one of our temple visits for sealings, which is an ordinance where families are bonded together through the priesthood for eternity. What a wonderful blessing...to be with our families for always! We have had the same sealer for both visits, a lovely man named Brother Wight. At the end of our most recent visit, Brother Wight thanked us all for coming and then quoted a beautiful poem, the message of which brought us all to tears. It is so wonderful, we wanted to share it.

Where Jesus Walked

If I could go to Galilee and walk where Jesus walked

And sit in tender grasses on the hillside where he taught.

If I could feel a gentle breeze that lifted from the sea

Where he chose the humble fishermen, how full my heart would be.

If I could sit and ponder on a rock that knew his hand,

Or walk along the seashore where his feet had touched the sand.

My spirit yearns within me, but it doesn’t seem my fate,

I’ll never walk where Jesus walked, I’ll never see . . . but wait.

I’ve worshiped in His temple, where I know he’s walked before.

Have His feet been down this hallway? Have his fingers touched this door?

Has He stood here in this very room and looked at what I see?

In the beauty of His temple I feel His love for me.

I close my eyes and picture Him, my worries melt away.

I do not need to go to Galilee or travel far away.

For my tender heart is filled with what He wants me to be taught

And my testimony burns within . . . I’ve walked where Jesus walked!

- Author unknown

I love the temple, I love the unselfish work of salvation that happens within it's walls, and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, for giving me knowledge of the path of happiness in this life and eternal joy with my family in the next.

Beware the Wrath of a Sister!

I had to take Grant in for a well-child check-up and shots today. Lots of fun. I always feel so bad about the duplicity of those doctor visits...I mean, everyone is so nice and they give you stickers and suckers and the children feel happy and non-threatened UNTIL the all-business nurse marches in and sticks them in the leg three or four times. Doesn't this teach our children some kind of cynicism? Oh well, I digress. After Grant had been wrestled and pinned to the table and then given four shots in quick succession, he was, understandably, upset. Grace was watching the nurse with angry eyes and then ran up and hit her. "You made Granty cry!" she yelled. I didn't know what to say. On the one hand, she really shouldn't hit people, but on the other hand...well her anxious concern for Grant made me want to hug her while laughing hysterically. I settled for madly clearing my throat and giving the nurse an "I'm sorry" sort of shrug. Ah...sibling love!

A Night On The Town

This was the place. Really impressive.

This was the play. No, not The Phantom of the Opera...just Phantom. Still good though.

This was my date...not really. He was just at the theater too. SWEET!

Bad Monkey! (I guess that's technically a gorilla...)

Someone has been very bad...but I don't know what he did to end up in the slammer.

Tricky

Spoons are seriously tricky. What's a baby to do when he wants to eat soup but has to wrestle a spoon to get said soup in his tummy? Why, he dumps it down his shirt of course! (Where have you been?) That's saving it for later to you.

The Piano Has Landed!

The neighbors are being serenaded by musical banging now that the piano has finally made it in the house. Chad and Dax were able to get it to the garage, but there was no possible way the two of them could have maneuvered it down seven stairs, around a sharp corner and into the family room. Seeing as how asking the High Priest's Group to help move a 400 pound piano would have resulted in at least five strokes and/or heart attacks, Chad approached the Elder's Quorum for help. They arrived on a sunny Saturday to help make my dreams of a piano-free garage come true, and what a good job they did too! The children are excited to have a new toy and I hope that excitement continues when lessons inevitably start, next year for Merritt, but I'm told that the surest way to get kids to leave the piano alone is to ask them to practice. Hmmm. I hoping that is NOT the case.

The Day Before Yesterday

That IS a yardstick in the snow that fell Tuesday...and yes it DOES say 11.5 inches!! That is our second major 10+ inch snowstorm in the past two weeks. The snow is crazy thick everywhere you look and so beautiful. It looks like we live in a gingerbread village. Shoveling has become quite the work-out because the snow has been wet and heavy. I have super nice neighbors who are generous with their snow blowers, bless them, and we shovel their sidewalks too. It makes me feel so cozy to be surrounded by wonderful, caring people. With all the snow we've had lately, we've been able to create some mighty mountains with all our shoveling. This is the mountain range that surrounds our backyard concrete pad. Impressive eh? My mother-in-law lives closer to the bench and gets even more snow than we do. She says I sound awfully cheerful about shoveling snow and I suppose I am. We could be out shoveling the walks and steps of 56 apartments rather than the driveway and sidewalks surrounding our sweet little home. It's all in the perspective really.