Through Your Faithfulness

As Mark and I were getting ready for bed last night we were talking about what we wanted to do the next day.  We talked about going to a lake and going swimming, going on a hike, playing disc golf and then I said "do you want to go to the temple?" He thought for just a minute and said yeah, lets do that. So we did and it was really nice.

 We packed some snacks and a bag of entertainment for the kids, got the car ready and went to bed.  We tried to leave by 7:00 the next morning but didn't quite make it.  We left around 7:15 and stopped for Dunkn' Donuts on the way which made everyone happy. We are part of the Washington DC temple district and the temple is just over 2 hours away.  It is a beautiful drive and Jared and Lydia did just fine.  We had decided that we would bring them with us and one of us would do a session and one would do initatories.  Both of us had been to the temple grounds and visitors center but neither of us had been inside.  It is a very large, somewhat confusing and beautiful temple.  I did hear someone say that it is a circle inside so that helped. There were plenty of nice people to ask for directions.  Once I found the right place I sat down to wait and then Rob White from our branch in Egypt walked in!  It was so fun to see him.  There are a few Cairo Branch Alumni near the DC area but really what are the odds I would be in the same session as one?  So fun! Right before the session began the Temple President came in and spoke for a few minutes which was really nice.  He spoke of three words that we should remember: "Through Your Faithfulness." That simple phrase is so true to me. I thought it would be a great thing to have put up above our front door.  Great things are promised us if we strengthen and keep our faith.

After the session I got a chance to talk to Rob and loved catching up with him.  He is such a cheerful, friendly guy. He just makes you smile. Sadly his wife was not there but we made a plan to meet up in December to see the lights.  We have been looking forward to seeing the lights. Mark said Jared and Lydia did well and had fun walking around the grounds and the visitors center.  They watched The Stonecutter at the visitors center and Jared was pretty impressed by the man who walked so much to work on the Salt Lake temple. We met up out front by the fountain when I was done and Mark went inside.  There were at least 3 brides (that we saw) today and one was walking out right after I did so Jared, Lydia and I stayed to watch everyone cheer for them.  Jared and Lydia clapped right along with everyone else.  It is always fun to see newly married couples.  They are so happy!  The 21st is our 10 year anniversary!!!  Time is just flying by!

Jared and Lydia gave me a tour of the temple grounds and then we went over near the car and had a snack.  We read some books on our picnic blanket and Jared and Lydia climbed some trees.  We were away from the temple so I didn't feel bad.  Jared picked a smaller tree and was so proud of himself for climbing it. He wants so badly to be able to climb trees and we finally live somewhere with plenty of trees but he is learning it is harder then it looks when you are 4. It was a nice way to spend the day. On our way back we stopped at Cafe Rio in Manassas for a late lunch. It is on the way and about 30 minutes from the temple.  We actually stayed in Manassas when we came out in April and today we drove by our hotel.  We didn't leave the temple till 1:30 and poor Lydia was so tired! She kept drifting  off while we were driving to the restaurant. I made her stay awake till then and once we got on the road again she took the longest to fall asleep. Poor overtired girl.  I am pretty sure I fell asleep first but Jared thinks he did.  She did fall asleep eventually and slept almost till we got to our house. I remember when I was growing up I always woke up right when we turned on Bogue Road which was the 2nd to last street before our house. We drove to Sacramento (which was only like 45 minutes away) a lot to visit my Mom's parents and if I did fall asleep you could place a bet on my waking up then, I was that consistent.

 I asked them to hug each other and this is what I got. 

 Lydia was fully invested and Jared let her hug him.  Lydia is so compassionate/loving.  She is always telling us she loves us.  She starts with either Jared, Mark or I then tells each one of us she loves us. Mark and I of course always say we love her back but Jared rarely does and it kind of breaks my heart. They are great friends a majority of the time but it's so sad. She handles it pretty well, she doesn't really react at all.  Jared is very loving too but it's just different.

We asked a guy if he would take our picture and he warned us that he was a really bad photographer. I checked the picture and it made me laugh because he didn't put the temple in it. (Although I do think the picture of us is pretty good.) So we asked him to take one with the temple and he kindly agreed. Only our kids were kind of done by then so this was the best we got.  We can always try again.

It was a really lovely if tiring outing.  Being in the car always makes me tired!  We did have wonderful weather and it was so fun/surprising to see Rob.  Being on Temple grounds is always enjoyable. I hope Lydia and Jared could feel the spirit.