I'm smiling

I get to see some of my kids and grandkids Sunday and Monday! Boy, could I use their hugs right now!!!

War

Some of the greatest battles we fight are within ourselves. I just want to say that I am living proof that even in our darkest hours we can reach toward the Light and have hope that soon the darkness will be over. And it is good to be reminded that the darkness is part of the process of refinement. We appreciate the Light much more when we've been consumed by the dark.

I am so thankful to family and friends who, whether they realize it or not, say and do the things that prove to me that Heavenly Father is mindful of what I need when the battle is raging and I fear this might be the one that is lost.

I did it for Brandon.

There have been times when I have felt very sad that I had to leave my cats, Calvin and Hobbes, in Grantsville. I know they are with a good family. But I miss them so! I avoid the pet food aisles in the grocery stores. I skip over the photos of them in Picasa. Sometimes it hurts my heart deeply.

But tonight Brandon, my son-in-law who is deathly allergic to cats, stopped to visit us. I put my arm around his shoulder and walked with him toward our home, into the door, and welcomed him to our "dander-free" home. I realized at that moment that the sacrifice I made was not too great. I love Brandon and it was worth it to have a home where he could come and breath deeply and enjoy himself along with the rest of the family.

I'll keep remembering tonight every time I turn my head when passing the pet food aisle.

However...

Last Sunday the Relief Society/Priesthood lesson topic was about improving our temple attendance. Tom, Eric, Cindy and I were motivated to action and planned a temple trip for Friday (yesterday). I called the Twins Falls Temple on Tuesday and made an appointment (a requirement for attendance at some of the smaller temples). We left by eight o'clock yesterday morning, and I was so excited to be headed to a temple again. It has been a few months since I was last able to do so. And we had never been to the Twin Falls Temple so that was a thrill for me, too. However, after we left the interstate and headed north from Wells, Eric looked at the GPS and saw the time of arrival and asked if we had figured the time based on the time zone change. We realized we hadn't and we weren't going to make our appointment. So we turned around, got back on I-80, and headed to Salt Lake City instead. Cindy has never done a session in the Salt Lake Temple so she was glad to think she'd be able to do that finally. However, we thought that as long as we were going to the Salt Lake Valley, we might as well see if any of our kids could meet us after the temple session and we could have dinner together. It just happened that they could. However, with the schedules as they are for the different temples, we decided that it would be better to go to Bountiful so we could get into a session sooner than we could in Salt Lake. Cindy hadn't been inside that temple, either, so she was still glad.

Once we were dressed we headed up the stairs to the temple chapel. A gentleman was waiting at the top and was anxious for us to join him. He was waiting for a married couple to be the witnesses in that session. Tom hadn't yet caught up with me; however, I motioned to Eric and Cindy, and the worker was pleased to finally have his witness couple! There were only eleven people in the session counting Cindy, Eric, Tom and me. They needed us! We were glad we had chosen to go to the Bountiful Temple. And I felt and was taught many things; I know that could have happened in any temple we attended. However, because of the choices we had made, I was able to sit at the side of my daughter and watch her as she stepped to the temple altar with her husband, and to share the blessings of being in the temple with her. It was wonderful!

Afterward we picked up some Mexican food and took it to Katy's apartment and shared a meal with Richard, Katy, Eli, Anna, Spencer (their nephew), Lisa, Corbin, Morgan, Miralise, Derek and Whitney (my nephew and his wife). However, Michael and Laura had chosen not to venture out in the rush hour traffic to join us, so we missed them. However, we made arrangements instead to meet them in Magna for ice cream, so we had Lisa and her kids go, too, and we met at Arctic Circle and had some yummy shakes and cones.

The drive back to Spring Creek always seems to go faster than driving to Utah, because we get to knock off an hour on the clock. It was great to be home. However, I will always be glad that we listened to the counsel of our leaders and arranged a day to go to the temple. It turned out that it was a family day, a very special day, and for that I am very grateful.