How is it already the middle of April? Remember how I talked about January and February being such slow, uneventful months? Well luckily (for the most part) things have kicked up a bit and we've had quite a few things happening to keep us busy.
I went to Rexburg at the end of March and then the very next weekend we went to the Farm to spend conference weekend with our family there.
The goal was to get there on Friday evening in time to go to a 7:00 session at the temple with Grandma, but when we got there - it was completely full.
That wasn't surprising since everyone probably wanted to go before it was closed on Saturday for conference. I have always really loved the Twin Falls temple and it has a bit of extra meaning to me for several reasons, so I was really looking forward to getting to do a session there at last. But knowing it was full I just told Dad that it was ok and we could try to make it again soon. Well, several of the temple workers were there at the desk and didn't want us to go home without having served in some way, so they invited us to go help do sealings!
To be honest, at first I was a little unsure about it. Obviously it wasn't something I was familiar with, and I also thought it might be a little awkward to go do family sealings even though I'm quite single. But Dad was all for it and Mom and Grandma said that it would be really neat. So away we went.
Of course it turned out to be one of the best things and I'm really glad I did it for a number of reasons.
There is a quote I discovered not too long ago while I was at Deseret Book; it's from Elder Maxwell and it says, "Faith in God includes Faith in His Timing."
It's now hanging on my wall and is pretty much the theme of my life at this point.
I mention that because one of the reasons that the Twin Falls temple has special meaning to me is because my grandparents have served as temple workers there ever since it was dedicated in 2008. Also during the dedication time, my Grandpa Farnsworth was called as a temple sealer. He loved serving in the church and I know it was one of his greatest joys to be able to do that. So ever since then I'd always planned on him being the one to perform my sealing some day, as well as some of my siblings and cousins. Before he passed away he was able to seal 3 of his grandkids to their spouses and I'm so grateful that he did!
But the Lord has a different plan for me than the one I wanted for myself and I'm still learning to do as Elder Holland just spoke about and "hope on" as life throws things in our path that weren't quite expected.
So, even though it isn't quite the way I originally thought it would be, I've been able to do sealings in the Twin Falls temple now!! And it gave me an opportunity to imagine what it might have been like to be there with my grandpa as he did such a great work on the Lord's behalf. Plus Grandma, Mom, and Dad were all there and it was so good to know that thanks to the temple, we are a family forever - including with those who are not gone, just on the other side of the veil now.
I'll have to do a separate post about that someday, because it could take a while. :)
But I had answers to my prayers as we were taught all weekend. One thing I will mention is that a theme that seemed to keep coming back to me (and maybe because it was something I was hoping to hear in one way or another) was that of having faith, and peace in our lives, along with hope.
Sounds basic, but it's so much more!
Also that weekend Mom, Grandma, and I went to a wedding shower for my cousin Morgan (Mo). It's still kind of freaking me out that she's married now - she's David's age, just 19, but to me she's still the little girl that we used to hang out with on the Farm.
In this picture I caught her smelling the envelope from Grandma because she thought it smelled like perfume! :)
Ok- so that was all the first weekend in April (at least the highlights). Last weekend we were right back in Jerome for a couple reasons.
It was originally because I had 2 Irish dance performances for the Highland Games over at CSI on Saturday. But then a couple weeks ago we found out that Saturday morning was when Mo was getting sealed in Twin.
It's crazy how everything worked out, but it did because the sealing was at 9:00 am and the first performance was at 10:00.
I was really excited to get to actually go to a sealing for my family this time. I've spent much time over the years, waiting outside the temple (usually chasing down, or rocking to sleep, the cousins whose parents were inside for the sealing) until everyone came out afterwords. Don't get me wrong, I loved it and it was always so exciting to watch a brand new couple come out completely beaming! But it was so awesome to be inside this time and see a new, little family come together forever.
I loved seeing not only our family there, but also our new cousin, Terrell's family there. I always wonder how the parents are feeling to watch their kids suddenly seem so grown up and taking such a major step. It was fun to see my aunt, and Terrell's mom as they watched their two kids come together as their own branch of the family.
In my childish mind, I used to see marriage as losing the person who was getting married. That was it, they were gone off on their own way and everything would change. Of course, everything does change, but in a good way! Now I finally realize that you don't lose anyone - you gain someone - plus their whole side of the family! It's a win-win situation, really.
And of course, I thought of Grandpa and I'm sure he was there in his own way and got to see our family expand a little more. The temple is the best place on earth and it's hard to comprehend how blessed we are to be able to have it as the center of our lives.
It was so cold and windy and raining like crazy when we got back outside. We weren't sure what would happen to the performance since it was outside, but we headed over to CSI to find out.
Yeah, our stage was soaked and there was zero audience to speak of. Our next performance wasn't scheduled until 12:30 so we migrated back to Grandma's house and I curled up in front of the fire and had a rest until it was time to go dance.
The rain had cleared up but the wind thought it had something to prove and I didn't even see through about half the performance because my hair was attacking my face! It was pretty awesome!
Not to let a good tradition die, once we were done dancing my family and Ingrams (and Griggs :) and a whole bunch of the other dancers all made a nice caravan over to Kimberley to get tacos at Fiesta Ole. They make some of the tastiest soft tacos ever!!
Dad decided it would be a great invention to connect enough straws together that he could drink out of his cup while it sat on the bench next to him. * insert low whistle here *
Mo was a pretty little bride and Terrell was quite the gentleman all night and didn't even try to stuff the cake too far into Mo's mouth. :)
Just to get an idea of why it might seem so un-real to me that Mo's married now - take a look at her in this picture from Saturday.
Now scroll down to see her like I see her!
Now I find myself taking pictures of her in her own wedding dress! What?! When did I get this old and how did I get to the place that I feel like "my little girl is all grown up"? :)
But there they are, Terrell and Morgan Bailey!
And by the end of the day, little Creed was all worn out, once again - he's probably glad to be done with all this wedding business for a while.
1 comment:
Creed is too cute. Looks like you had a good Conference weekend.
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