July 2008: Trip to the Temple

For those of you who are Latter-day Saints and are parents, you know that we all try to teach our children about the peace and joy that comes from being inside the Temple, a House of our Lord. We teach them that beautiful song, "I Love to See the Temple":

I love to see the temple

I'm going there someday

To feel the Holy Spirit

To listen and the pray

For the temple is a House of God

A place of love and beauty

I'll prepare myself while I am young

This is my sacred duty

Well my boys have been asking me to take them to the temple again.

In our religion, the temple is a sacred place where members of our church who have worthily prepared themselves by keeping God's commandments to the best of their ability and have committed to keep certain standards outlined by our church leaders, (read more about temples here and see photos of the 127 temples worldwide here), may enter when they are 12. However anyone can be on temple grounds and will feel the beautiful, peaceful feeling of the presence of the Holy Spirit there.

So of course we made a trip down to the temple on the way to cousin Juliet's 1st birthday party. The temple grounds were busy with new brides and grooms and their families. The San Diego Temple is so majestic, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, the place Mike and I were married. We took the boys around to the back of the temple were Mike and I exited the temple as a brand new married couple. We tried to reverently walk around the grounds, which was very difficult for 3 young boys, but I know they wanted to be there. I hope that they could feel the Spirit even though it was just a short little trip. It didn't go as perfectly as I imagined in my mind, but we'll come back when its not so busy outside, and have a special little lesson.

Grandpa came with us, so we were able to get a few photos. In looking at these photos, I can't help but smile. My beautiful boys in my arms, sitting at the place that enabled us to be a forever family. I also remembered how hard it was to get them to actually "sit" for these photos. I was looking at the photos of just me and the boys when the song "In My Arms" by Plumb came on my playlist. It is such a beautiful song. I couldn't help but cry in hearing the words,

your baby blues

so full of wonder

your curley cues

your contagious smile

and as i watch you start to grow up

all I can do is hold you tight

knowing clouds will rage

and storms will race in

but you will be safe in my arms

rains will pour down

waves will crash all around

but you will be safe in my arms

I am so grateful for my beautiful family and for the knowledge that I have that I will be able to be with them forever! We will all be safe in the arms of our Savior Jesus Christ.