Here We Go...

Each summer, we have a season of visitors.

We love it.

We love to see friends and family and to see their faces when they first glimpse Lady Liberty, or that look of awe when they stop in the middle of the sidewalk in Manhattan, look up at the buildings as the taxis honk and busses speed by and their jaw just drops as their souls absorb a little bit of the city and makes it forever a part of them.

We are admittedly a little bit sick of the Staten Island Ferry. :)

This summer, most of our company comes in June, right at the same time as Zane's graduation.

It's why they will be here, but we are going to be crazy busy.

On top of having a lot of guests, we're throwing a pretty big party for Zane's graduation. It's just a short ice cream social, but we've invited the whole ward. 

Heaven forbid I do anything subtle in life.

I am excited, though. 

Those times where you're flying down the roller coaster at full speed are fun, even though you always lose your hat.

We got a tiny little teaser this week, with our dear friends, Lynn and Joie Tucker from Taylorsville staying with us for two, too short nights. They were going to Kentucky and then decided to head further east to see us and are hitting New Hampshire next.

Joie is one of my very best friends and spending the day with her was just what my heart was needing. She's good natured, easy going, radiates joy and hilarious. She's also a nurturer who was there for me and lifted me up when the bottom fell out of my life in Utah. Her love (and that of my other sweeties in the knitting group)  got me through the hardest season of my life. 

Knit night at Joie's house was the night I looked forward too most. It changed me so much and I will always be thankful for that season.

Joie and Lyn had never been to The Big Apple, it was a dream of her's to go to the Manhattan Temple and see it, smack dab in the middle of the crazy city.

We planned to go to the 11:00 session.

Traffic dictated that we made it to the 2:30 session.

As we drove through the heart of the city, Lynn laughed his head off at the crazy drivers and marveled that in spite of how uts it it, nobody was getting in a wreck and people seemed to just take it in stride. 

We had a couple of close calls by SLC standards, but nothing out of the ordinary in NYC.

We ate gourmet doughnuts at my favorite spot, walked for about 5 minutes in Central Park and had lunch at a cafe near the temple.

Mostly, we were in the car, but that was okay because Lynn and Joie made us feel like we were giving them a world class guided tour, by way of our dirty car. 

I had a fun time and it was so nice to go to the temple again.

The next month is going to fly by, but I'm buckled in and ready.

Here we go......

First Temple Trip of 2014

 This morning, we got up before the sun and headed to Manhattan to attend the temple together as a family.

One of the most awesome things about having teenagers, is that you don't have to find babysitters or worry about what the kids are up to while your phones are off during temple sessions. 

 I swear, I'd get an emergency call from the school 9 times out of 10 when I would go during the day when we lived in Utah. 

We had enjoyed doing baptisms with Kate and Jane in Palmyra this summer, but Emma had taken a summer math course and wasn't with us during our trip. With her staying for 10 days over the Christmas Holiday, we were able to schedule in a trip together. 

Romy wanted to invite her friend, Eliza, from church. Eliza just turned 12 in December and it has been really fun to see Roe take on the role of 'big sister' to Eliza and to see their friendship develop.

 Roe has been so impacted by the kindness and support she gets from the older girls in our ward, and I am happy to see her being a part of helping that to happen with the new girls coming in. I think we have a very special YW group here in New Jersey and all of my teenager girls feel as though they have lifelong friends in this ward, thanks to the love and true embracing of the Spirit of Christ these girls have.

That have leaders who understand what their challenges and needs are and who teach them to be strong and good. They teach these girls how wonderful it is to be a woman, and help them see how much they can do, if they strive to honor the best that is within them. We have such unique kids here and they are all together in this weird little state that has the fewest ratio of members of the church in all of the nation. You would not know it if you spent time with the youth here. 

I am so thankful for the hard work and prayer of the leaders we have here.

I have seen a change in my little Roe, in just the 6 months she has been a Beehive and it is exciting to watch her turn into a confident young woman, who knows who she is and cares about others. 

Both girls had a great time, and the smiles on their faces radiated. 

I look forward to these two developing a closer friendship as they spend the next season in YW together. 

We only had one family name to do, but my goal is to always come with at least one- so-another Owens has had the work started for them. I've got a stack of sealings I need to do, so Matt and I really need to go to the next ward temple night and get some help with those.

There is something so wonderful about attending the temple with my children. It isn't something we ever did as a family growing up. I don't think I realized, as a youth I could go in and do temple work unless it was a church activity, and we only did that one time when I was a kid.

I am proud of all of our kids and of Eliza for waking up at 5:30 am to go to the temple in this freezing cold weather.

 We drove to Chelsea afterwards and rewarded the kids with our favorite doughnuts.

 No matter how many times I post about these, I don't do them justice.

Emma actually squealed when she heard we were going to the Doughnut Plant. 

It was a great morning.

My Handcart is an SUV

Today, before the summer chaos really takes hold, Matt and I are going to the temple.

It's a ridiculous pain in the rear to get there and I struggle because just the getting there and getting home is a huge smackdown on my peace. There's no driving happily home as I sing along to Kenneth Cope songs and float into my house, inspired and calm.

You walk out the doors and BAM!!! 

Loud, dirty, speedy city. 

You go and pay 60 bucks for your car and the honking and cutting off craziness begins as you try to get off the island and it's a drive that costs a lot, emotionally and for me, it disrupts my peace at such a huge level that instead of focusing on the experience I had, I just want to get through the tunnel in one piece.

And honestly, I avoid going to the temple these days.

I avoid it and when my kids went, I had anxiety, knowing they would be making that same journey there and back that stresses me out so much that I don't go. 

But that's not okay.

I miss going to the temple. I miss feeling familiar in the halls of the House of the Lord. I miss knowing it's my house, too. 

I focus instead on doing family history, in my calling, in local service, but going to the temple seems to be such an ordeal and I told myself it was more trouble than it was worth.

even as I told myself that, I knew it wasn't true. I knew it was an excuse. 

It's not that I don't want to be there, that I don't love the temple, but the journey is a real pain in the rear.

You know, that tremendous treacherous journey in the safety of my own car with my husband at the wheel who keeps me safe and the whole hour it takes.

Waaaaa.....

Last night I dreamed that we decided to go to the temple. In my dream I had names ready and I felt the spirits of those family members who were on the other side of the veil, dressed in white because today was going to be their special day.

I gathered my bag, put on my Sunday best and before I left, I checked to make sure I had my recommend and when i did, I realized it had expired.

Now, an expired temple recommend isn't the end of the world, it happens. Your lamp can have it's proverbial oil in a week, after you meet with the Bishop.

But it won't happen on that same day and in my dream I saw the disappointment on their faces as they lovingly smiled and said to each other "maybe next week, or later then.."

I don't know how everything works on that side, but I know it's not working on my side. 

I know I have had a list of names and feelings to go and I tell myself I'll go soon, but I avoid it because the city is noisy and it's not easy to get to the temple.

Seriously? 

 I don't go because it's not easy? 

Yeah, time to pioneer up.

Today, I am going to try and see if I can keep the sense of peace I have at east until we hit the Lincoln Tunnel. If it's too crazy and I'm frazzled, that's okay. I'm not crossing the plains barefoot, I'm in an SUV with my husband and we have candy. It's still good.

--

This week, there have been a lot of things on the internet that are an assault to one's peace.

We all have free agency and I love that. I love that we can share out thoughts, ideas and fears with each other and I am sad when I see so much ugliness. I know that's life, but I choose not to participate in it and instead teach my children what I believe is right and encourage them to find out what THEY believe and live it. Free agency and choice- even for people who come to different conclusions. 

I liked what Cjane had to say about the state of things and she said it better than I could.

The battle isn't us vs them. The battle is one we have with ourselves, that natural man/woman and whatnot.

It's not neighbor against neighbor, it's me against me. 

What I desire is peace.

It is the thing I hope for this day. 

http://www.cjanekendrick.com/2013/06/yesterday.html

The Scaredy Pants Finds Courage

Yesterday, the YM/YW went to the Manhattan Temple and did baptisms for the dead.

If you are not LDS and read my blog, I love you but I'm not paying enough attention as I write today to explain it.

Please head over to http://mormon.org/faq/baptism-for-the-dead for a non-blond explanation.

Yep, I believe that. 

If you don't, that's cool, too.

This was the first time Greyson went. He's never been available when this happened other times, but this weekend, he was home and excited to do it. Last week he got his very first Temple recommend and was so excited as he talked with Brother Mathusek about the blessings of the temple and made a goal to always have a current recommend. 

(Lest you think it was written on psychic paper, I photo shopped the information out, he's a little kid, Yo.)

The next day, he had decided he didn't want to go.

 He was nervous.

He gets nervous about a lot of things, he has big anxiety issues  and new things scare the tar out of him. 

He was officially chickening out.

That was okay.

We talked to him about what would happen, reminded him that his brother would be there as well as leaders he knew very well, but nope.... he didn't want to do it unless Mom or Dad were going. We simple could not, so we told him that he could do it another time and we were still proud of him.

Sunday night we went to the Mathuseks to celebrate Joe's birthday and the kids had a wild time.

 We had over 20 children running around and I swear, the kids in this ward see each other as cousins. They love each other, look out for each other and they trust the parents as my kids trust their Aunts and Uncles. Short Hills Ward does 'ward family' like rock stars.

Being in their loving home somehow brought Grey's courage back. 

When we left, Bro. Mathusek asked if Grey was going and as I said "No, he'll go next time..." Grey interrupted and said  "I'll be there!!"

By 5am the next day he and Zane were off to the city, dressed in their Sunday best.

When they came home, both boys were glowing, Greyson was elated.

He had a great time, and he felt amazing.

 He not only had gone to the temple for the first time, but he did something he was afraid to do. Zane seemed to feel proud to serve almost as an escort to Grey and I could see these boys who normally squabble and tease relentlessly being close, loving brothers as they bonded in this shared experience. 

In July, Romy will be 12. She can go, too. We can go as a family and nobody will be left home with a babysitter. I don't know what to think about that- it's exciting and I am happy, but 12?

 Seriously? 

The baby will be 12?

Sigh.

The days are long but the years are short.

But they are good days, and really, really good years, aren't they?