Thankful for the Sun

This morning on my drive to Idaho Falls. I listened to a devotional by Brother Chambers who is the temple  president. He shared his testimony of the importance of temples and then shared his experience on his sealing day that was less than ideal. He woke up with a temperature of 104° but was determined to still get sealed. While he was kneeling at the altar, listening to advice from the sealer, he passed out.  After he was revived, he felt the urge to throw up, but didn’t want to do that in the temple. His brother rushed over to his mother’s purse, emptied its contents in her lap and handed it to him so he could throw up in it. After this, his future bride, who was still kneeling at the altar, turned white as a ghost and passed out as well. In the end they were still able to get sealed that day but I can’t imagine a wedding day  going much worse! I loved how he expressed gratitude for the blessings of the sealing despite the messy circumstances of the day.

The thing that touched me the most though was the phrase in the closing prayer where a girl said “we are thankful that we get to see the sun.” This really resonated with me as I thought of Emily serving in Norway. It's been more foggy than she expected but she still persists trying to do her best with a positive attitude.   It’s been cold and windy the past week  here in Rexburg with temps back down in the 20s with the windchill, but the past few days have been getting warmer and warmer with the high today forecasted as 75 and clear blue skies all day! It’s crazy, but this little comment that the girl said in her prayer made me actually cry because I thought of the double meaning of how thankful we are for “the Son” and the hope that he brings in our “cloudy” moments.

After a tense moment with someone this morning I was feeling a bit gloomy, but this comment helped me to refocus on the good and  listening to the devotional and prayer was like a ray of sunshine that helped me to feel the Spirit and not give up hope.

 Sometimes I think the key to happiness is being able to focus on those little tender mercies of the Lord instead of being consumed with the gloomy other hard things that can overwhelm us.

Yesterday was a blessed day, getting to watch Livia, take her out in the sun to play on the trampoline and capturing pics of her with the sun streaming in through the window of my piano room. She is so delightful and is getting really good at mimicking what she hears and sees. 

She also has a mind of her own. Her favorite toy is her baby doll that she inherited from our stash used by Alyssa and Emily When I tried to put on a new dress to cover the old stains from years of play, she burst into tears and tried to pull it off, then was totally fine once I revealed the dirty stains again. 

Seven? Years of Service

 The day after we gathered in the temple with Emily, Jared accepted the call to serve as the first counselor in our new Stake Presidency, with President Holt and President Moss, who are men I am sure he will enjoy serving with!

 I think I will always have fixed in my memory the few moments before we left as I played some calming piano music (I Know That My Redeemer Lives/I Stand all Amazed) in the piano room while Jared sat back to relax and listen. Then we slipped out of the house and drove off, holding hands heading to the second appointment with a little trepidation but a lot of love too. 

It reminded me of other pivotal moments in my life when I have felt both eager, nervous and blessed all wrapped into one.  I had similar feelings when we first discussed looking for an engagement ring, when Jared opened his acceptance letter to BYU grad school while standing in the Boys Ranch cafeteria, when we held our first newborn baby in our arms, when we made the split second decision in a gas station parking lot to accept the job in Rexburg and move our family away from Pocatello. My heart just felt so grateful to have my best friend by my side as my eternal companion going through the changes of life together, and I love him for his devotion to and willingness to serve God. 

As part of the interview process, the visiting authority Elder Hall interviewed me before Jared, and his first question was, "What kind of father and husband is Jared?" My response was, he is everything I dreamed of in a husband! Some of my favorite things about him are that he loves God deeply, he loves people, and he repents quickly. 

In his work as a counselor, he has the opportunity to help and love people in meaningful ways every single day, and although he is not perfect, he is always seeking to become better. 

I love how when he makes a mistake, like saying a curt word to a child (which is rare), or spending more time than he feels is reasonable watching sports updates, he is so quick to apologize and recommit to being better. 

We were blessed to have the whole family gather for Jared's setting apart, although some were happier to be there than others 😉. Livia held out for so long, but just as the blessings began, she decided it was time to wail.

 

Training Meeting Notes

One of the other highlights for me this weekend, besides going to the temple with Emily for her endowment,  was attending the training meeting before Jared was sustained.

They told us about it when he accepted the call, but I wasn't sure if I was supposed to go. So Jared headed off 15 minutes early, then called me and said I was supposed to be there and he'd  be back to get me in 5 minutes. I'm standing there, with sopping wet hair, no makeup or contacts, only half dressed. NOT the way you want to be 5 minutes before meeting with a general authority! Good thing I'm a low-maintenance woman with thin hair that dries quick.😂

I loved these principles that were mentioned by Elder Hall and Elder Kiehl in the training.

• Intentionally schedule times to study and worship.
• Date night every week is a commandment💗!
• Minister to the ministers.
• Testify of Christ in every teaching.
• Minister to those you have stewardship over. 
• Loyalty to the Lord and to the family are not competitive but synergistic.
• Prioritize Heavenly Father and ask often, "What do you want me to do now?"
• Teach doctrine instead of diverting to side less authoritative sources. True doctrine understood changes behavior.
• Extend inspired invitations to act often.
• Promise blessings. 

During the meeting, I felt inspired to be a better spouse, parent, minister, and RS counselor after hearing them teach.  I really prefer being a supporter more than a leader and saw so many compensatory blessings come into our lives while Jared served as bishop. So, although I'll be seeing my husband a lot less, I look forward to feeling the spirit a lot more and am grateful for the way his service brings blessings into our family and look forward to the experiences we will have over the next 7-10 years.

Glimpse of Eternity

  Emily will be heading to the MTC in January for her mission to Norway. I am going to miss having her cheerful spirit around. I love hearing her spontaneous happy whistle and the reports of her work and school day that she so freely shares with enthusiasm. 

This past weekend was surreal and serene as we gathered with our four oldest children to be a part of Emily's temple endowment experience. I felt God in the details of our life as the temple matron happened to be her good friend and old roommate's grandmother Sister Stucki. She was so kind and attentive and helped Emily to feel loved, at peace and present. 

As I stood and gazed around at the faces of my family before entering the Celestial room I just felt so much heavenly peace. These are the moments we sing about in primary and its hard to believe that in just a few short years our entire family can be gathered there together!

Another blessing was that I was able to quickly find some relatives that needed temple work done that all belonged to the same family. The rest of us did the work for the 7 children of Emilie Jonsson. That brought another level of sacredness to the experience for me as I contemplated their little family gathering on the other side of the veil for this day. She had 2 sets of twins, 7 children in 8 years!

Hard to believe that our sweet baby Livia will be talking by the time her Aunti Em comes home!

Motherhood

 I love looking over the pics and blog posts of my little children as they grow up. Becoming a grandma has been amazing, and as I watch Livia grow, it gives me flashbacks from the past when I was a new mom with Becca. I love seeing my children dote on little Livia and feeling the peace and joy that children bring into our lives. 

This interaction with Livia and my mom (Great Grandma Knight) is priceless! As a child all I really wanted to grow up to be was a mom and piano teacher. My mom had such a positive impact on my life as she served and prayed and listened and took time to connect with each of us. I'm grateful that my dreams have come true, and although motherhood isn't always quite like the fairy tale I pictured, it definitely brings me immense joy and touches my heart when I get to see my once baby girl Becca now interacting with her baby girl and see my mom getting to spend moments with her too. The family is of God!

Grown Boys

 They are all grown up!  I've taken a long break from blogging but reading all my posts from the past makes me want to start it up and record the memories. I have loved having the family all together again now that Daniel is home from his mission and the boys returned from summer sales. Loved our most recent family pics from Picture Patch studios. Today we watched the BYU football game win their 8th game in a row and it was fun to see the boys energy and excitement. I'm glad they enjoy each other.

Broken Faucet, Book Club, Being Humble and Blessings

About 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave for church Sunday morning, one of my children came up with the news that after finishing their shower, the tub faucet would not turn off and was continuing to spew water out full blast no matter which way we turned it.  I sent a quick text to Jared who was just finishing his pre-church meetings to see if he could run home.  I was hoping it would be a quick fix to spare me the embarrassment of showing off the messy parts of my life with others.  I never use the basement bathroom and have therefore usually delegate its cleanup to my children, which unfortunately isn't a consistent occurrence. But this wasn't a quick fix and cringed a bit inside as the kind member of our ward got an impromptu tour of the "darkest corners of my house" including my kid's bedrooms, storage closets, bathroom cabinets, etc. as they searched for a way to turn off the water to no avail.  They ended up having to shut off the main water and obtain a part.  Fortunately, it was "Piano Sunday" when one of my piano parents brings us a meal in exchange for piano lessons earlier in the week, so the dishes didn't pile up too much.

2019 Family Pics

And a few candids from my camera... 

Alyssa and Josh were eager to spend some time exploring after we were done.