I love to see the Temple

In March 1844 Joseph Smith said: "We nee the temple more than anything else."
Sunday I was privaleged to teach a lesson in Church about the importance of having a House of the Lord on the earth today. With the re-orginization of Christ's church through the once again called prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord revealed that we must have a place for Him to rest His head. And with the continuation of the command to gather the people of the Lord came the command to build a temple unto the Lord (I just recognized while reading in the Book of Mormon this past week that once Nephi seperated his people from the Lamanites he set the righteous to building a temple after the manner of Solomon; they gathered, they build). Thus, as the early Saints gathered in one place after another, they began construction on another temple. They only completed two before their great exodus across to the Rocky Mountains; Kirtland Ohio and Navuoo Illinois. But they put all they had into the construction of those holy houses!

As I read the words of the prophet from that time period it was no surprise to me that they were so anxious to do so. In April 1842 Joseph said: "The Church is not fully organized, in its proper order, and cannot be, until the Temple is completed, where places will be provided for the administration of the ordinances of the Priesthood." And with the administration of those ordinances came the fullness of the Lord's blessings! The FULLNESS! It is the Lord's plan that we are to inheirit everything that He has "as on conditions of our obedience."

Monday night, as I tried to convey to my little children the importance of the temples and the energy of testimony I felt once again while studying about them in preparation for my lesson, it only took a second to decide to take them to the very place. We are blessed in Boise to have a temple 12 minutes drive from our home. There was no one else on the grounds and we wandered around as we desired, pausing to give our children the most fervent one-line testimonies of the beauty and truth of that building. I am pleased that Faith knows that it is Moronie the angel that is on top of the spire, blowing his horn to tell everyone Jesus is coming. I love that she knows that she wants to go to the temple. It is easy to explain to Faith that we are leaving to go to the temple because she knows what it is and that we are happy there. Only problem is she wants to come too.

Here is my last quote from the Joseph Smith lesson:
"..and as the work must be hastened in righteousness, it behooves the Saints to weigh the importance of these things, in their minds, in all their bearings, and then take such steps as are necessary to carry them into operation; and arming themselves with courage, resolve to do allthey can, and feel themselves as much intrested as though the whole labor depended on themselves alone. By so doin they will emulate the glorious deeds of the fathers, and secure the blessings of heaven upon themselves adn their posterity to the latest generation."

Learn more about TEMPLES

A Ribbit

Look what we found in our backyard wonderland!



It is little and green. Jumps real high, and says RIBBIT! Danny was very matter of fact about where the frog was allowed to be. It was fine to be held between fingers, but when the little green friend hopped onto Danny's leg, he removed it between his fine pincer grip and put it on the ground next to him. The frog repeated this a couple of times before Danny finally gave a grunt of disagreement and the turned the other way so the frog could not hop onto his leg again.

Moving Updates

Now that we have accepted, with pleasure, the job in Arizona, things are moving forward rapidly! We recognize that the rapidity of things falling into place is a blessing of confirmation of our decision and Divine help. Within a week of deciding to move: friends have given us boxes to pack things up a bit at a time. We put our home here up for rent and had three showings in one day with two people that want to rent it as soon as we leave. We get to stay in our home here until the 10th of August after Josh has taken his certification test. Josh pitched Budget and Uhaul against each other and cut our moving costs by $1000 (did I marry the right guy or what!). Josh has also sold various items on craigslist within minutes of posting them, including my piano :(. We have found an apartment to stay in. And we the kids have loved the boxes! Next week mid week we got to the other side of Idaho for Josh's grand march in his Master's Degree graduation! From there, the rest will be history.

Moments of Faith: When I grow up

Children absorb so much of their surroundings!  Having two PAs in the home has made Faith aware of how you take care of someone.  Not only does faith load up here bag every day, put on her prettiest pink shoes, and head to the door telling me she is going to work, she is ready to take care of patients at home.  Bonnie was sneezing and Faith knew just what to do!  It is really cool to use that stethescope thingy...Faith listens intently to the heartbeats.  I got to play along too.

Mommy, I so shleepy

Faith is right in the middle age where if you keep her from taking a nap during the day, she will go to bed at 7pm and stay asleep until 7am.  Whereas if you let her take a nap she stays up until 9pm.  We have been switching between the nap/no nap schedules, which has made for some pretty cute little sleeping Faith spots.  One day she wanted me to rock her but I chose to ignore it. She climbed on the chair behind me, pouting, and fell asleep.  Danny gets himself woke up too early in the morning so Josh retrieves him from the crib and after a few moments holding him, Danny falls asleep again.  He is growing tremendously, which is probably there reason he is both waking up and staying asleep.  My babies are too beautiful!

Pioneer Parallels

A few messages lately have struck me, particularly from the Ensign this week.  One article was about a family that had celebrated with the sesquicentenial of the trek across the plains and then prayed that their family would have continued expereinces to help them remember the pioneers.  Their car broke down and they thereafter walked, and walked, and walked.  What struck me from this story was how her perspective changed on the challenges that they were facing individually despite the different blessings that others were recieving.  Their challenge was their blessing.  

The next article was about Getting Over Getting Through It which was very timely.  A young woman in a transitional job decided not to get involved, she felt it wouldn't be worth the time.  She went to a training meeting where an inspired RS president mentioned how the pioneers has done so many great things despite living a life of constant displacement.  That was the message that was also poignant for me.  Despite living amidst different transitions, we can enjoy every location/time we are in and make a difference were we are (that kinda resonates with Pres. Utchdorf's 'lift where you stand.').  The example of the pioneers made me excited about leaving one place, moving to another for a time, and then moving into our more permanent home.  They were able to build temples in the short times they were in one place, at least I can make new friends!

The last parallel was from Josh this morning.  He has been dilligent about watering the garden extra every morning since the tomatoes and the corn are building their produce.  Knowing we are moving on the 10th I somewhat scoldingly asked Josh why he was even bothering to water the garden we would be leaving.  "Same reason the pioneers swept the floors before they left their houses," was his humble response (see Elder Cooks conference talk).  What a man!  We are blessed to have the example of faithful people that did their best, and left their best behind for all that followed.

Danny: I am so in love with this boy

Is not my family so beautiful?!

My children smell like OLD SPICE

In the amount of time it took me to sit down at my aging computer, log on to blogger, and begin catching up a bit, my children managed to get both of Josh's OLD SPICE deoderant bars out of the bathroom drawer, tote them half-way across the room, and begin a blue feast. By the time I got there Faith had licked a fair channel in the middle of her bar and Danny had bit and spit out the whole top layer of his bar (thankfully he spit it out). Faith says it's yummy. I didn't try. Being the good mom I am I figured I needed to dilute it with something in case it was too potent in their bellies. I promptly fed them ice cream. It may be an interesting night.
If it were not 100 degrees outside I would open all the windows to get rid of the classic smell exuding from my children. Do you think their sweat will come out as OLD SPICE? Wouldn't that be ironic.

Moving to the Face of Mars

We've accepted a job in Arizona.

Josh will start working there around Aug 12 and I will get down there with kids sometime thereafter after filling all my cans with yummy Northern fruit.

We move out of our lovely home here in 25 days.

Instructions = Destructions

I have a little problem following instructions, particularly when cooking. I have gotten by for many years substituting ingredients with fairly good success in many recipes, although I have recently discovered when you have all the correct recipes it actually tastes really really good. I continuously toggle between doing what the instructions say and what I figure will work good enough. Good enough is actually no good at all when it comes to making jam. Of course, I read that several times in the Sure-Jell instructions but still managed to do what I thought would be okay. See, I had the recipe for jam from my Mom, who, if you haven't gotten her pint of Christmas jam, makes AMAZING jam. I wanted to make jam by her recipe, despite not actually having the pectin that she uses. So I put in the lemon juice and amounts of sugar that she uses and then followed half of the directions for the Sure-Jell that I had. Even while noticing the fact that things were not setting up even while putting them into my jars, I happily assured myself that it would set up after sitting for a few hours. Wrong. I have successfully made strawberry ice cream topping. I will still use it for jam of course figuring that if I keep it half frozen all the time it will seem set up.

Independence Day: Celebrating like the Forefathers would have wanted

It was the perfect 4th of July this year (minus the fact that Josh was not with us). Independence Day in SouthEast Idaho is idealic to say the least. We woke up after a good sleep having gone to bed late because of the Rodeo. The sounds of the river sing outside the window. The mama bird that lives in the cabin rafters has just brought breakfast to her chirping little ones and you track their excitement by the sctratches inside the wood. Kids start stirring in the 'green room' while the parents roll over for a few more minutes rest. We start 'cabin pancakes' and some scrambled eggs while the boys head downstairs to remain 'quiet' playing arcade games. Bleary eyed parents slowly emerge with binky and blanketed little-ones, adjusting lethargically to the bright morning sun coming through the A frame windows. No one is rushed because the parade doesn't start until 10am and the grandparents have saved some prime Main Street seats.
At the parade all the family matches in our Liberty 5K boycott t-shirts, this year we are having our own FREEdom run, but not until later. The line of kids slowly inches out toward the middle of the street as candy throwers can't quite get the salt water taffy's to the muddy curb (hey, I give points to the Homestead folks for even throwing the candy). Parents sit squinting in the sun yelling at kids to come back to the curb as the Brent's Lawn and Leisure lawn mowers pull into formation. Grandpa sparks out of his seat as a 1960 Oliver Tractor comes into view. Ray's Cheveron still has the same guys doing the carwash dance (is washing cars really a career in Rexburg?) with the addition of a 'beauty' queen. This year the Legacy Flight Museum does their advertising in the air as 4 antique planes fly over the parade route multiple times in various formations. The only reason half of the crowd has stayed long enough to see 5 cheerleading squads and 18 beauty queens is the semi-truch full of chocolate milk coming slow enough to pass out as much milk as you can get from the wandering plastic crates. As the last giant tractor passes followed by the Rexburg Police Department people swiftly gather up the trash and blankets and cross whereever they want on the street to get to their cars.
The whole Hancock clan heads for Rigby for the greatest family reunion yet. There are some things you can always count on, one being the salad made by the Hancock aunts for any family gathering. I count on ham, potatoes, rolls and some pistachio salad followed by brownies with the carmel in the middle. Dad is now the patriarch of this large gathering and we all notice a little more tightness in his voice as he talks of the 'beginnings of this family' paying tribute to Grandma Ruby and Grandpa Virgil who got it all started. A round of applause is rallied for our troops fighting for freedom and the safe return of 1st Lt Walker, our own brother, from a 15 month tour in Afganistan. Some one yells 'Let's eat!" and Dad finally has someone give the prayer. Then it is visiting and eating until the water balloons come out. Faith and Charlotte seemed to be the two youngest participants and it must be that my Mom and Dad were the oldest. Uncle Scott brings out the potato sack (okay they were dog food sacks, but they worked just as sturdily) and twine for races. Faith and I found a rather good rythm in the 3 legged race and actually ran the thing; Faith ran, I kept up with a brisk stutter step. Just before all the fun completely wore out the family pictures were organized and kids corralled into cars.
Back to the cabin for the 1st Annual Hancock Family Dash n'Splash! What a blast. Everyone participated, and I mean everyone. Everyone had a good time. All the kids did some part of the .5 mile dirt road out from the cabin, which Faith absent mindedly ran the whole thing. Support vehicles followed behind with hazards as we took the fisherman's acsess around to the Fun Farm. Malcolm kept pace as the slow and steady pack leader with me and my kiddos (in the stroller) while various little rabbits popped in and out of the cars to try and goad us to a faster pace. Once to the river it was an amazing river full of floaters down to the cabin. I took my kiddos back to get a head start on dinner. Grandpa got the fire started and there were weiners, brats, and mallows to be roasted for dinner.
Just as the sun was crawling to silloheutte the eagle tree Jeff busted out Jill's giant stash of Black Cat fireworks to get the real party started. Although the first bunch of sparklers went up in flames and a grand puff of smoke, the rest of the evening was certainly entertaining. We had enough fireworks, and more, to last until the kids were too cranky too continue. Wonderful. Just a perfect day. Let Freedom live on. I am certainly feeling more patriotic now.

Rodeo (pronunced Row- DAY -o)

It just wouldn't be a proper Independence celebration without a RODEO!! I took the kids back to Rexburg to enjoy the hometown fun. It felt good to be back in tight jeans and a hoodie - the casual dress for all cowboy codes.
Front row seats!
Danny clapped for the clown anytime he passed by. That may be because he found out pretty quickly where the smarties came from.
We were in the "Splash Zone" of the arena. Notice that bareback bronc coming straight for us! The turned just in time to see the strained face of the cowboy and kick a fair amount of that fairground up into our faces.

Homemade Fun

The last batch of yogurt was a little slimey = perfect for play!!

Faith brought me all the scarfs one by one, I asked her where she wanted it, and she showed me. Great style!

Be Not Deceived, but Continue in Steadfastness

I realize that this lesson is designed to talk about avoiding personal apostasy, however, I was grateful that as I sat down today that I had a mini-lesson in the first few scriptures that let me know that the Lord is mindful of our prayers and the decisions we face right now.

"Behold, I say unto you that you shall let your time be devoted to the studying of the scriptures, and to preaching,..and to performing your labors on teh land, such as is required, until after you shall go to the [next place],..and then it shall be made known what you shall do. And all things shall be done by common consent in the [family], by much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith." Doctrine and Covenants 26

"And it shall be given thee from the time thou shal go, until the time thou shalt return, what thou shalt do." Doctrine and Covenants 28:15