And We're Back

 We went to the temple for a session on Thursday, August 9, 2012.

Here we are at home before we left for Manti.

 Almost there...

 Ah:)

 Yeah, we've waited a long time for this.

Tonight we had Rylee's baby blessing at Andrea's house. Zane ran inside to tell me there was a rainbow. I like to think it means my Mom was there:)

 Rylee Ann and Grandpa Ken before her blessing.

Isn't she beautiful? 

Sam Guillory

I started following Sam Guillory's blog today.

You can find it here:

http://strongsam.blogspot.com

I met the Guillorys when they moved to Nephi in about 1996 or so. I was managing an apartment complex and they moved in for a short time while their home was being built.

I met Bob first, the Dad. He came to sign papers and get keys and all that.

He was this military man with an intimidating aura and he told me he didn't like Mormons.

So I was immediately terrified of him.

I didn't find out until over a year later that he was totally kidding with me, and they were an active LDS family. He just had that twisted sense of humor.

Sam was the youngest child then, and we called her Sammi Jo. She hated it. So Kurt continued to call her that for years.

Jill, the Mom, is an avid runner, and I remember her first race. It was the Ute Stampede "Fun Run" about 10 years ago. I thought it was SO awesome that she did it. She's run every day since, I'm sure. She used to be in the high school gym running the indoor track every morning when I lived in Nephi. I didn't even TRY to keep up with her. One day, when Ashli was going through a particularly tough time in her life, Jill slowed it down to run a lap with me and talk about Ash.

Sam played in a softball tournament over here in Ephraim a few weeks ago, so I got to see Jill when I was working at Maverik. I saw her later at Wal-Mart and started to introduce her to my new husband, Ken, but she is 40-something, and apologized profusely that she had to get to the bathroom and couldn't chat. lol. She hunted us down after her visit to the little girls' room and introduced herself to Ken.

These are great people, just an amazing family. It doesn't seem fair that they're going through this, but if anyone can handle it, it's them.



The Atonement

We watched this video in Sunday School yesterday.

It was only about the fourth Sunday since I decided to return to church with my whole heart, no matter how long the process took for me to return to full fellowship.

I'm not even sure there was a MOMENT I decided that I really wanted to go back to the  temple and be the ME I'd always been "before".

It's been a process over the past few weeks. My nephew getting ready to leave for his mission tomorrow. My son talking about going on his mission next year. My friends telling me that it's the right thing to do. My heart telling me that I really want to go inside the building every time I drive by the Manti temple. My visiting teacher bringing me something with a butterfly on it every couple of weeks or so. My 70 year old home teacher and his 16 year old companion who haven't missed a month of visiting even when we were kind of rude to them and told them we didn't have time one night.

Mostly it's probably just because I believe it. Train up a child in the way he should go and all that. I've been taught this gospel since I was a tiny little girl, and it's a part of me. I took a detour for a while there. Blamed God for things that were really just a matter of other people's free agency. Used my own free agency to circle around and check out the side trails. But I'm back.

And once I made that decision in my own heart, it was like that's all God was waiting for.

Yesterday after we watched the video in Sunday School, the Bishop (who has seemed remarkably humble and kind lately, btw) came and asked us to meet with him right after the block of meetings yesterday. We had an emotional meeting with him, his couselors and Ernie, the executive secretary. At the end of that meeting, he asked us to return at 5:00 for temple recommend interviews. I cried. Ken cried. It was pretty amazing. And now I hold a recommend in my hand for the first time in over a year. Even though I have two tattoos and even though I made some other interesting choices along the way. I wanted to go to the temple the minute it opened this morning, but of course, Ken had to work. I have to work tonight. I have to work tomorrow night. But Thursday... Thursday we'll be there. Together. I never thought I'd see this day again, going to do a temple session with the man I love.

And Sunday we get to take the sacrament, answer questions in class, speak or say prayers or bear our testimonies, or... .wait.. or be nursery and cub scout leaders!!!???? What were we thinking? lol. I'm truly happy. I feel as if the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders and I'm back where I knew I wanted to be all along.

Where to eat dinner?

IF I eat here tonight, does that mean I hate gay people? 

I submit that it does not. 

  I have lots of friends in non-traditional families who are making it work for them and I adore them all. 

I Googled the exact quote which sparked this whole controversy and found this: 

Dan Cathy appeared in The Baptist Press on July 16 and he weighed in with his views on family. “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy said. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

Yeah, that's pretty much the most conservative thing I've read in a while and I understand why my gay friends would be offended by it. Hey, I was divorced and I could be offended by it, too. But I'm not. He is one man, one man who isn't very media savvy. Give the guy a break. The guys in the White House (conservatives included!) have people spin stuff for them. If they're inclined to say stupid stuff, someone fixes it before it hits the national media. Let's not bankrupt an entire company over it. And, while I'm at it, my $5 probably won't save them from bankruptcy either, so maybe I'll just leave it at this and simply eat whatever sounds good. Now, THERE'S a novel idea.