We spent the week in Utah. I had to work in our Utah offices so I decided it would be great to have my family come along. Andrea could spend time with our extended family and we could spend time together in the evenings. It worked out great!
One huge piece of news from the week is one of our dear little RODS Orphan Megan has a new picture. Megan is one of the original children that Andrea and I chose to fund raise for when we first found Reece's Rainbow last November. Megan currently has $24,055 in her adoption account and is soooo ready for a family to commit to her. Here's the original picture of Megan when we chose her.
After a month or so of fundraising, Megan got a new profile picture. Here it is:
Then just recently we have this one of her! How awesome is that!
As you can see, she is getting excited to meet her new family!
Another great experience we had this week came just yesterday. First thing Friday morning we received a call from Andrea's Grandma and Grandpa Allen. They live in Brigham City and invited our family to attend the Brigham City Temple open house. We didn't think we were going to be able to attend this because it actually doesn't open to the public until the 18th and we would be home by then. Because they had been volunteering leading up to the open house, they allowed all of the volunteers families to come see the temple today. Awesome!
Before I go into our experience, here is a 3 minute video that explains why I feel that the temple is such a special place.
There are 130 LDS temples throughout the world. Each time that a temple is built, there are a few weeks that the temple is open to the public to tour. This is an opportunity for anyone to visit and see what the inside of a temple looks like and learn about what takes place there.
As Andrea and I and our three children entered the temple I felt a peace come over me. It had been a crazy day so far. I got up early, rode 100 miles, then had to hurry and pack so we could make our way back to Boise. Those feelings of "hurry up" left me and I began to recognize just how blessed I am. We made our way to each room as the tour guide explained what each room was for. This particular temple has 3 different levels or stories. As we progressed upward, that special spirit began to grow. Our children grew more calm and my gratitude became even more present. The tour ended in a beautiful room that is called the Celestial Room. We sat down for a few minutes as a family. I looked at each one of my children and my beautiful wife. Nash was sitting on my lap. We kept making eye contact and smiling speaking to each other without using words. I consider those few moments among my most cherished moments of my life.
Andrea and I were married in the Logan Temple in June of 2002. Another word used for "married" that Mormon's commonly use is "Sealed". The word sealed is used to better describe our belief that when a man and woman are married in the temple, this unity does not end at death, but is carried on forever. In other words, we believe that families are eternal and can be together forever.
In that moment when I was there with my family, I felt in my heart that this sacred promise is indeed true. Families can be together forever.
After leaving the temple we saw Andrea's Grandma Beth working diligently to prepare all of the refreshments for those who just left the temple tour. I'm very thankful for their service which in turn gave us the opportunity to enjoy this experience as a family.
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