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