Sunday was a great day. Sage watched Saturday night as I pressed his Papa's dress pants. I told him that I had done his clothes too. He liked that. He had so much fun making cornbread and so did I. And it was fun going to church with our little buddy Sage. He snuggled up to us and read his book/etcha-sketch he borrowed from Annika. He snacked away on fishy crackers and raisins. He only asked to leave once to go to the bathroom which Papa took him too. He is getting to be such a big boy. After sacrament meeting, he zipped off to Primary all by himself.
I really enjoyed the talks. The first was given by Beth Wilson. What a sweetheart she is. She shared about her experiences going to the temple. "When I am baptized for someone it's like, Yeah, another one for Heavenly Father!". She then share her most special experience was when she was sealed to her parents. She said she looked in the mirrors and they seemed to go on forever and ever.
After, a newly married sister, I think her name is Lousia Flemming who moved here from South America? Anyways, she shared that when we are growing up we hear in stories, "And they lived happily ever after...". But what if we could have this fantasy become real. Heavenly Father gives us that promise. We can have that opportunity by being sealed to our families in the temple. Our family units can and do exist after this life. Does it take away the trials of this life? Of course not. But the hope of that promise is what this sister said made it more easier to live with leaving her family behind as she starts her new life with her husband. The gospel is romantic in a very real way.
The last speaker was the bishop. The thing that stood out most was that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ wants EVERYONE to come back to him. I thought about the few persons that I had been working on letting go of ill feelings towards these past couple years for very hurtful offensives they had given my family. My heart felt heavy. I shared that with Shane this morning and cried. They were my brothers and sisters. They chose to come to earth too but for whatever reason, had lost their way in how to treat others. How could I deny them the opportunity to choose the gospel? How could I help them return home? I could start by forgiving them - really forgiving them. I could include them in my prayers. I could rehearse how I would act and feel if I saw them. I finally felt some real feelings of compassion against my 'enemies'. If you would have asked me if I harboured those kinds of feelings in the past, I would have said no. I cannot stand harbouring ill feelings against others. But here they were. I am thankful that these words though simple as they may sound, hit home to me.
Later in the day, it was the Community of Saints Potluck. It was a lovely time. We had a new person, Calvin sit with us. We had brought Mexican Bean Soup and of course - cornbread. There was so much food that everyone brought. I was too full to try the desserts! Thankfully, there was lots of soup leftover but no cornbread :(.....
Afterwards, we took Sage home and laid down for about 20 minutes. Then we picked up the Bennings and headed to the Crawfords for Andrea Benning's missionary farewell. It was lovely. And nice to visit with church members and celebrate this for Andrea.
Needless to say, I fell straight to bed that night.
Here are some of Janette's bean seedlings.
I love this picture of the two of us in her backyard.
Here is me in her backyard.
And here is our little black currant bush.
