Blessings of the Temple

The Draper temple was dedicated today, so the temple has been in my thoughts throughout the day. I am so grateful for the temple. I love the peace that I feel when I go there; the thoughts of insight and inspiration I get on occasion help me and guide me. I enjoy the quiet, the beauty, the strength of the spirit that is felt in the temple. I am so grateful for the answers to prayers that I have received in the temple, for comfort, peace and understanding. I feel Heavenly Father's love and caring for each one of us, his children, when I go there and know that He is near. It has been such great joy and blessings without measure to see each one of my children and their wonderful spouses there in the temple; I am so grateful for that sealing power that goes beyond this life and into eternity, binding us as an eternal family.

A friend gave a talk in church today and she mentioned a quote from Elder Vaughn J Featherstone listing twelve blessings we receive by spending a half a day a month in the temple.

1. If a man you will be mighty, a woman powerful.
2. It will serve as a great "insurance" protection for your marriage.
3. The blessing of the Eternal God will be called down upon you and great spiritual growth will be yours.
4. Unseen angels will watch over your loved ones when satanic forces tempt them.
5. Your families will draw close to the Lord and there will be no empty chairs in the Celestial Kingdom.
6. Your children will go on missions.
7. Your children will get married in the temple.
8. The veil will be thin, you will have great spiritual growth and many spiritual experiences will distill upon you. We will receive exaltation.
9. You will be prepared for exaltation-with a Celestial body, Celestial mind and Celestial personality.
10. You will be come receptive to divine guidance and you will receive spiritual perception to help you grapple with problems and cares.
11. You will see clearly how to make critical decisions that weigh heavily on your mind.
12. You will become Christ-like.

I am so grateful for the temple, and for the plan of salvation, for modern revelation, for the restoration of the gospel, for a prophet who lives and guides us, for a Savior whose amazing grace and loving mercy extend to each of us and lift, strengthen and fill our lives with light. He lives! I know He lives!

St George

We had a good time in St. George last week-end. It was delightful to have Jacob and Sydni with us - Jacob just talked and talked all the way down. He told us there were ten places he wants to live in the world when he grows up: Iceland, Rome, Egypt, Spain, New York City, Constantinople (Ray and I looked at each other - Constantinople???), Houston, Hurricane, Australia and maybe Elk Ridge. Then he proceeded to tell us how Iceland was named and why, about the pyramids of Egypt and how they were built . . . we were pretty impressed with this second grader! And Sydni was telling us about different people in mythology . . . These children are enjoying their learning and I am grateful for the good teachers and staff at C.S. Lewis Academy.

The artiste and his amazing critters! Jacob has shown artistic talent since he was very small


Friday morning we went to see the Jacob Hamblin home in Ivins and they liked that. We learned that the little poem, "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite," orginated because the pioneers had to tighten the ropes under their mattresses and because the mattresses were filled with straw, often bugs would come out at night! J & S were quite in awe at the pioneer life, they especially liked the way they turned the plates on the table upside down to keep the flies and dust off them and turned the chairs around, facing away from the table to remind them to have family prayer. So for the rest of the week-end, that is how Jacob would set the table.

Picnic lunch at the playground - notice the cool sunglasses!
After our visit and tour , we made a visit to the Dollar Store. It was interesting to watch them choose and decide what they were going to buy with their money. Jacob considered each item carefully and took some things back; he took two dollars home with him. Sydni was like a busy little bee in the store and put things in the cart, then took them back out; she had her money all spent in minutes and then some! How delightful to see their different personalities in their choices. We so enjoyed watching them and interacting with them.
Jacob wanted a mohawk Friday, so we suggested he wait and wear it hiking on Saturday, so after Aunt Tiffany arrived, she "did hair-do's" and painted nails.

Hiking the crack at Pioneer Park - it is very narrow - some of us didn't fit!
Some of the lava flows at Johnson Canyon.

Geocaching


Tiffany and Brett came down Saturday and we went hiking at Pioneer Park and Snow Canyon, had a picnic, shopped a little, returned to the condo and had Tiffany's birthday dinner and played games and watched movies.

Mmmm . . . Jacob & Sydni gave Aunt Tiff a box of her favorite cereal and some new nail polish for her birthday!