I Love To See The Temple

"I Love To See The Temple"

I'll take the longer route to see the Washington DC Temple rise above the freeway.  It looks like it is floating about the trees, parks and neighboring homes.  From the top of the Washington Monument it is a speck of white rising above a distant dark layer of metropolis.

Washington DC

I Love to see the Oakland Temple.  This is where my family was sealed for time and all eternity.  It is where my great grandparents served and it really is the beacon on a hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay.  

I don't remember the circumstances around this memory.  When I was young my family and I were  flying home from a trip.  We were to land in Oakland, but the fog was so thick up against the hills that they diverted our flight to San Francisco.  In order to get us to our car in Oakland the airline put our family on a helicopter and we flew over the San Francisco Bay at night.  I was terrified.  The chopper ride felt like it would never end.  I gripped my seatbelt for dear life as I could see the bay from the window.  In those moments the fear of drowning was real, until I saw a faint light in the distance.  The fog never really cleared, and I couldn't make out the structure clearly, but I knew it was the temple.

Oakland, California

As a child I loved going to the Oakland Temple at Christmas time to see the lights and nativity display.  I always felt close to Heavenly Father.

Philadelphia, Pennsylavnia

"I Love To See The Temple"

As a teen I joined my youth group to make yearly treks from Beaverton, Oregon to Seattle, Washington to do work for our ancestors at the Seattle Temple.  These trips are some of my most favorite memories.  The beauty of serving others in such a personal way always brought me joy.

"I Love To See The Temple"

In 1989 the Portland Temple opened.  We were all so excited to have a temple so close to home.  In that first year I had many wonderful experiences.

Portland, Oregon

At the open house I was able to put blue booties over people's shoes as they took tours.  I was able to attend the dedication with my family. And the following spring (1990) our youth group was asked to plant flowers for the upcoming season in all the flower beds.

Sean and I were sealed in the Portland Temple for time and all eternity in 1993.  My sister and hubby were sealed in 1998.  Many years later we were able to witness our daughters sealed to their sweeties in the Portland Temple as well.

"I Love To See The Temple"

Our first apartment was in the attic of an old house.  From the side family room window we could see the Logan Temple.  Evening walks or glances out the window brought the beauty of the temple into our home.  In 2021 Harrison and Ragen were sealed in the Logan Temple.

Logan, Utah

"I Love To See The Temple"

In the last few years we have had some unique opportunities to visit many temples.  Nashville, Salt Lake City, Desert Peak, Philadelphia, Laie Hawaii, Denver, and Manti.  Visiting temples has become a part of our travels.

Desert Peak, Utah

"I Love To See The Temple"

The Washington DC Temple is impressive.  Not only is it large, but it sits on a hill and from the freeway or the top of the Washington Monument it looks like it is floating above the earth.  I love going.

Just a couple of weeks ago I took the boys to see the temple.  They can't go inside yet, but they can enjoy its beauty, the grounds, the visitor center and feel Heavenly Father's presence.

Sean warned me to watch the boys at the reflecting pool.  I watched alright, I watched them splash in the water and get all wet.  It was super cute to see them sit on the steps looking at the temple and point to the reflected image in the pool.

The Visitor Center at the DC Temple is wonderful for littles and adults.  There are hands on activities, interactive displays, videos, tutorials, a 3-D model of the inside of the temple, coloring pages, electronic coloring activities, models of biblical temples, a model of a home, art and an 11 foot Christus.

The boys quickly ran to the windows to look out at the temple.  They are a bit too young to enjoy the model of the temple, but I loved taking pictures of them looking out the windows.

Their favorite activities were the coloring pages, the stained glass window of Christ's Life (they liked identifying the animals) and the Christus Statue.

Not only was it wonderful to share the temple with the boys, but to hear them say Jesus when pointing to the Christus statue was the best part of the day.

Our trip was cut a little short, sleepy boys were getting a little grouchy.  We will be back to explore the grounds and come December we will visit the lights, nativity display and musical performers.

Model of the temple with the actual one in the background

"I Love To See The Temple" and share it with the boys.

JOY!

HaPpY NeW YeAr!

Many years ago I received a Christmas card from a mother and son who attended one of my DC trips as a thank you.  I loved the front of the card and  kept it in my Christmas notebook.  This year I received a Christmas card from a new friend.  While the cards design was different than the previous one, it still communicated the same sentiment, JOY.

I don't know how many people have favorite words, but I have two - HOPE and JOY.  I'm not sure when I identified these as "favorite" words, but I have been drawn to them for a few years now.  They fill my heart with optimism and gladness.

Tonight Marissa shared a song with me that captures what true JOY is.  JOY is who you share your time with.  I have been so blessed in 2024 to spend a lot of time with my sweetheart, our children, family and very dear friends.

As I have thought about 2024 it is the dear faces of my loved ones that I see.  It is the moments together that we shared, the laughs, tears and especially the hugs.  My year was filled with so much JOY.  Here are a few of those times.

Our family rang in 2024 in Disneyland all together.

I was there when our Cutie O came into this world.

Birthdays, blessings, graduations, weddings and holidays together.

Family and friends traveling to visit us in DC.

Visits home to be with friends that our our family.

Daily moments that leave their imprint on your heart.

2024 gave me so many moments with the people I love.  I have HOPE that 2025 will bring its own set of JOYful moments with people to share them with.  HaPpY NeW YeAr!

Easter Week

 A few years ago I wanted to elevate our celebration of Easter.  I purchased the book Celebrating A Christ Centered Easter by Emily Belle Freeman.  This book centers on the people close to the Savior during His last week of life.  Sean and I enjoyed the deeper connection to Christ as we got to know these individuals.

A year or so later I found a Christ Centered Easter Creche that accompanied the book.  I loved that I could elevate not just our worship on Easter, but also have a daily reminder weeks before the holiday of how important His act of sacrifice was and is.  

This year I wanted to continue to enrich our focus, but I wanted activities we could do with Cutie E now and in the years to come.   With inspiration from the scriptures, friends, church and Pinterest I put together a weeks worth of daily activities.

I shared it with all of our children, my sister and her family and my dad.  My hope is that each family can take this framework and add to it each year.  The idea is to grow closer to Christ and deepen our testimonies of Him.

Here is a little of what our week looked like in words and pictures:

Palm Sunday we read about Christ's joyful entrance into Jerusalem and made a family palm frond.

Cleansing Monday was the day to ponder how we can cleanse our hearts and minds to better hear Jesus's teachings.  Symbolically I cleaned out my closet and as a family we built a temple out of blocks.

Teaching Tuesday shows that Christ took every opportunity to teach of a loving God.  We purchased an Easter Lily and placed it in the family room so we could be reminded of His purity and the hope He offers.

Serving Wednesday was an opportunity to serve others and let them know they are never alone.  We are not alone in Christ, He is always with us. We delivered a sweet treat to someone that serves us often.

Last Supper Thursday gave us time to focus on the importance of the sacrament. Individually we pondered ways we could remember Him daily and show love to others.

Good Friday reminds us that Jesus Christ was the ultimate example of forgiveness.  President Russel M. Nelson invited us in April 2022 to to end conflict in our lives by forgiving and seeking forgiveness.  We spent part of our evening at the temple.  It was a peaceful evening to reflect on our blessings and the joy Christ brings to our lives.

Holy Saturday gives us hope.  On this day the world awaited the fulfillment of Jesus' promise of His resurrection, they had hope it would happen.  Coloring eggs on the day before Easter has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember.  This year we got to color with our grandsons.  

Easter Sunday.  He is RISEN!

Easter is more than bunnies and chicks or chocolate and eggs, it is about our Savior and I wanted Him to be our focus.  It was a joyful week spent focusing on Him who made it possible for us to return to our Heavenly Father.

I hope your Easter was a special day for you and your family.

Additional Resources I used to help me prepare for Easter: 

Come Unto Christ, Holy Week, 
Easter Card Set

Christmas Reflections

Within each stage of our family Christmas has changed.  The first few years we were married we were poor college students and only had a few humble presents under the tree.  As our family grew, Christmas became filled with anticipation and excitement for Santa to come.  We were so excited, our first Christmas as parents we couldn’t wait to see our daughters reactions to the tree, lights, Santa and presents.  She was crawling at the time and only cared about taking the bows from the packages and playing with them.  It was wonderful.

As each Christmas approached quicker than the year before we looked forward to surprising the kids with the things they asked Santa for.  I have fond memories of Holly getting her Polly Pockets and playing for hours, Harrison embracing for years his Chocolate Puppy and Marissa finally getting her giant teddy bear after waiting two years.

I will never forget the year the kids got the Wii.  They knew getting a gaming system was not in their future, so this was a huge surprise.  The winter following this Christmas we had a lot of snow which kept us home.  The Wii was a wonderful way to go bowling, play golf or even try being Olympians.  It proved to be a wonderful gift.

Just because we were adults with children didn’t mean we weren’t 10 years old on the inside wanting our own toys.  So one year Santa brought Mom and Dad huge Nerf guns.  Our surprise attack was met with many squeals.  That was the first year of our Nerf wars.  We even got Grandma involved when she visited.  

A Christmas that is close to my heart is the year we made gifts for everyone.  Our year had been met with many changes and it just didn’t seem appropriate to fill our tree with retail purchases.  So we spent months pondering, planning and making the special gift we knew would be loved.  At times the house was quiet as each of us were stowed away to secret places to make these special gifts.  Sitting around our tree that Christmas morning sharing our love and talents with one another brought a spirit of giving that we had not experienced before.

Now that the kids are married and have new families Sean and I have found ourselves celebrating Christmas alone.  Meaning we spent most of the day on the phone with them and even propped up our phones at the table during dinner.  While we weren’t together physically we felt them and our Christmas was not sad or depressing, rather filled with fun new memories.

This year was different from all the others.  We are in a different state, in a different home, and having different experiences.  We are here with our daughter, but she is grown, married and a mommy.  She isn’t our little girl that can’t wait for Santa to come.  Instead, we are celebrating this season as grandparents and watching our grandson be amazed by the twinkling lights, hearing the Christmas stories for the first time, and listening to lots and lots of Christmas music.  His face would light up as we sang and he loved Christmas movies that had lots of singing.

Christmas was different this year, but so wonderful.  We decorated together, baked together, meshed traditions and shared in watching our grandson discovering how to rip wrapping paper.  To his amazement beneath that paper that there was a toy just for him.  The blocks were a hit.  

Sitting on the floor Christmas morning with my sweetheart, our daughter, son in-law and grandson I felt so blessed.  I know it's not about the gifts, but the ultimate Gift.  The gift of the birth of Jesus Christ and His life.   The gift of the restored gospel.  The gift of eternal families. The gift of three wonderful children when I love and admire.  The gift to live with family and be part of our grandson’s life every day.  

I am looking forward to many more Christmases, watching our daughters' family grow and be part of those wonderful Christmas surprises we so enjoyed as parents.

Christmas Light

 
This year I feel like Christmas snuck up on me. It really didn't. It came 365 days after last year. The difference is that I was so occupied by life changes I didn’t give it the focus  I normally do. 

One year ago I was ice sledding down our street with 2 of our kids and our daughter in law. Sean was recovering from foot surgery, so he looked on from the screen door on crutches. It was almost perfect. 

Oregon is cold, dark, drippy and often snowy at Christmas. You can count on Christmas lights to brighten the season. Our home looked spectacular with lights. We had a 14+ foot Christmas tree that was a treasure trove of the places we’ve visited and the special memories we created over the last 30 years. Last year we enjoyed the lights so much that we didn’t take them down till Valentine’s.

This year Sean risked his life as usual to string lights on the roof stretching up every peak. Much to his disappointment there was no way to safely hang them over each peak. He settled for a more limited light display, but the house looked great. Bright white. Till a fuse went out and the roofline went dark. 

Last week we visited the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints  Washington DC temple. Over 400,000 lights illuminated the visitor center. We had a wonderful evening together admiring the lights, the views of the temple and the many nativities. We even escaped the crowds to take in the views around the temple and the peace of Christmas. 

Like many I love Christmas. But, it’s not the gifts, Santa, cookies or holiday movies , it’s the LIGHT. It’s the lights on the tree or outlining the house that I love. Their simple glow reminds me of the light from a bright star that guided shepherds to a humble stable where a baby lay in a manger filled with straw.   This baby brought light and hope to all. It is Christ's birth, His teachings and His atonement  that brings everlasting light to each of us. His light can brighten the darkest of nights and provide hope when we may have none. 

Tonight as I sit cross stitching while watching a Christmas movie my gaze is pulled toward our tree. This tree brightens a dark corner of your home. Through Christ a very dark time in our lives was made brighter. For that I am truly grateful. 

I hope that the love Christ has for you fills your heart this Christmas and brings you light throughout the new year.