to this beautiful life we are living.
I wish I were a poet, to give the feelings in my heart words, to help portray how I feel. We recently sent out an email 'announcing' that we hope to adopt. Becki Porter, one of my dearest friends, responded with a simple,
"Praise God!"
That's how I feel today.
These last few months have been miraculous (extremely hard, but miraculous). Without being able to identify a moment went things changed, something has changed. I've realized recently that I don't just believe that everything will work out . . . I know that everything will work out.
I am confident that God loves me, that He is aware of what we're going through, and that He's actually demonstrating His mercy by allowing us to pass through these trials.
In preparation for a Pioneer Day primary activity at the church, I read, and reread some of my favorite pioneer stories. The overwhelming feeling came to me that through their adversity, through their trial they really did come to know their Savior. Their testimony was the greatest 'treasure' they owned and they were willing to make tremendous sacrifices for it.
I want to be a pioneer woman.
I don't want to complain about life not going exactly how I imagined it to go. I want to be able to recognize the difficulty, then keep working and exercising faith. I want to be like Eliza and Emma and do hard thing after hard thing with complete confidence that I have made covenants with my Father in Heaven and that He will keep His promises.
On my birthday, I finished the entire Standard Works. It was an amazing experience. I want to be like Sarah, Rachel, Hannah and Elisabeth and
truly trust God. Their stories are so beautiful because they are so very real. It was not easy for them, but they believed.
Oh, how they believed.
When we were in Utah, some of my family went to the Bountiful Temple.
When it was Jon's and my turn, the sealer asked us if we had any children. We
told him not yet, and he told us to start concentrating:)
Near the end of the session, when it was our turn again, he looked at
us and said, "Even if you don't have children in this life, you are promised
them in the next. And if you choose to adopt, you will love those children as
if they were your own."
Wow.
Just last weekend we went to the Raleigh Temple with some friends. We missed the session
(what, I was running late:) so we did sealings.
When it was our turn, the sealer asked us how long we had been married.
We told him 7.5 years.
Without asking any further questions he continued.
Before we finished he looked at us and shared a sweet insight to the sealing ordinance
then bore his testimony of the blessing of children, and 'hoped'
it for us.
Heavenly Father is so very aware of us, and where we are.
Jon's mission president responded to our email about adoption with this sweet message:
"We pray for you that a child will come into your family, whom you can
nuture, teach, and present before our Father in Heaven."
What a sacred responsibility. One I hope for with all my heart.
Bluff, UT
(a little pioneer representation)
A couple of days ago I woke up in the middle of the night
This morning Darice called to tell me that she
This is a picture of her husband, Sherman.
