Can you identify with this, too?

Vancouver Temple Open House

A few months ago, when I realized there was a temple open house just a couple of hours from us, I knew that I wanted to take my kids.  I wanted them to see the inside of a temple and have one more opportunity to teach them about what happens in the temple.  After discussing this with Ryan, we immediately set to work on our passports in preparation for the event.

We originally planned to go on Monday, April 19.  Imagine my disappointment when that day found Kallie very sick and Whitney coming down with the same thing.  I started praying my guts out that we would still be able to make it before the open house ended on Saturday, April 24.  Each day we woke up hoping to see a change in the high temps the girls were running.  We figured if Kallie was looking better, we'd know how long the illness lasted and could calculate when Whitney would be done. 

By Wednesday, Kallie had made only minor improvements and Whitney was still in the thick of it.  That same morning, I ended up at the doctor for a lovely case of conjunctivitis.  When I came home and realized Kallie's eyes looked just like mine, I took her to the pediatrician.  After looking her over, the nurse practitioner proclaimed, "Strep!" based on her little throat.  Swabbing determined it wasn't strep, but the NP decided antibiotics were the way to go.  Thursday morning, she was looking much more like herself again.

Knowing that Whitney was 2 days behind Kallie--and STILL hoping to make it to the open house, I took Whitney to the pediatrician Thursday morning.  Her throat looked alright to me, but I just felt like it was a good idea.  (Just for the record here, Kallie complained a TON about being sick.  Whitney didn't complain one bit.  Except once or twice to say, "My head hurts.")  Good thing I took her in--she had a raging ear infection.  As I picked up the second bottle of antibiotics, I decided that it would be easier to remember to take the medicine with two little people to remind me.

Thursday night, Ryan and I prepared to go to the open house the next morning.  We would go on Saturday if the kids weren't well enough, but if they were doing fine--then we were going Friday.  When Whitney woke up on Friday, her eyes were brighter and she had no trace of a fever.  Game on!  We dressed everyone in church clothes and packed up the car.

The drive up was really nice!  We haven't been further north than downtown Everett, so we enjoyed seeing the new places on the way.  When we got to the Canadian border, there were a few very short lines.  We were 3rd in line and had waited about 3 minutes when the lane next to us opened right up, so we slid right in.  As we drove into Canada, I changed our GPS to kilometers.  A 20 min. drive through beautiful Langley, B.C., we parked right next to the Vancouver Temple. 

We walked across the parking lot to the church building where the tours began.  After sitting in the chapel for less than 5 minutes, they took our small group into a classroom in the building to show us a short video about temples and about the history of the church in British Columbia.  When the video ended, we walked back across the parking lot to the temple.

The Vancouver temple is absolutely beautiful.  I haven't been inside a temple that isn't beautiful, really, but there were features that I just loved about this one.  The attention to detail was amazing to me.  The decorating theme in this temple is the province flower, dogwood, and ferns--which according to our tour guide are very West Coast.  There were small dogwood flowers on the handles and tips of the door handles and the chandelier in the Brides' Room was patterned after the dogwood.  Once again, amazingly beautiful.

One feature that our guide pointed out was that since the Vancouver temple is a smaller temple, there is light from outside windows in almost every room.  Sure enough, as we went through, there really was a lot of light coming in through the windows.  I loved it!  After the tour, Kallie reported that her favorite part was the Baptistry and Whitney's favorite part was "the marrying room."  My favorite part was being there with my kids--taking the time to let them know that these things are important to me.  The spirit was incredibly strong through our entire tour.  I was just so grateful that we were blessed to be well enough to enjoy this experience as a family. 

After having cookies and flavored waters at the chapel, we packed back into the car.  We stopped for lunch at a local place, and then stopped off at a grocery store to pick up a few Canadian treats for the kids to try.  (We did a tasting session after dinner when we got home.)  We had a 30 min. wait at the border back into the US.  We felt like we got off lucky with such a short wait--the lines going into the US were much longer earlier in the day.

I am so glad we were able to go!  It was such a fun and memorable outing!

(P.S. Because of my eye infection, I can't wear makeup or my contacts.  I am not a fan of going without either of these things.  Makes me look a little more washed out in this pic, but life goes on, right?)

Whitney's First Person

No paper is safe in my house anymore.  In fact, I've had to start protecting the paper on the printer, even though we have an entire box.  My girls go through it like they go through liquid soap.  (Speaking of, how do you keep your kids from using up all your liquid handsoap?  Our think it's the greatest toy ever.) 

So, last week, my girls raided the paper.  Their drawings are ALL OVER the house.  The most popular art project at our hosue these days involves 138 red Hello Kitty faces stamped on one piece of paper and then a few of the faces are selected for additional features--like black scribbles, circled eyes, and random doodles.

Whitney was hunting for a fresh piece of paper the other day when I handed her a Hello Kitty-ed sheet and said, "Look, it's still white on the back!"  A few minutes later, she came to me with the following drawing.  I was amazed to see that she had drawn a person.  But, her description made the pic even better!  (The "in" and "out" lines were drawn as part of the description.)  "Jonah and the Whale" has been a frequent topic of conversation at our house lately, thanks to Primary and Family Home Evening.

.

And it begins...

The time has come.  As you can see, these boxes have moved us a few times. 

Just one more to go and then we'll gladly pass them on to someone else.

What's Missing?

Welcome to the lastest edition of "What's Missing?"  (Remember to say the title in an announcer-style voice.  Makes this post worlds more interesting.) 

Here's how to play:

Read the following clues, then decide what's missing.

• Excessive drooling
• Grumpy disposition
• Not sleeping well
• Tugging on ears
• Chewing on everything
• No fever (See, I've just elimnated one possible answer for what's missing.  You're welcome.)

There are the clues.  I'll sing the Jeopardy theme song while you're thinking.

**da-da-da-da-da-da-daaaa, da-da-da-da-da!-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da-da, DA!-da-da-da-da-da-da**

Now for the answer.  (If you're still thinking, return to the Jepoardy theme song until you've got an answer.)

If you guessed "Clayton's Tooth," you're right! 

You've won my hearty congratulations and the satisfaction of knowing your kid isn't the one teething!  (Unfortunately, there are no parting gifts for those who didn't answer correctly.)  Thanks for playing!

Home is Where You Hang Your Heart

My heart has been precariously hung on the "Yellow House" for almost 4 weeks now.  We have been moving forward with a bit of caution, not knowing what would yet be required in order to make this house ours.  And, there are many things that have been out of our own control--which makes us even more cautious.

Today, we heard back on the appraisal--the final hurdle to our home ownership, (at least with this home).  It came in right at the asking price, which we pretty much expected.  However, contrary to our expectations, there were no conditional clauses to hold up closing.  What a surprise!  But, truly, what a relief.  We are going to be homeowners in about a month!

This experience has been, at times, very harrowing for me.  I don't know why it was so intense on my end, but I feel that I've learned so many good things through this experience.  The details are personal, but here's a Reader's Digest version of my learning curve:

Greater trust in personal revelation
Greater faith in Jesus Christ
Greater trust in the Lord's timing
Heavenly Father is more powerful than any aspect of the housing market
Heavenly Father wants to bless us with our desires

I feel incredibly blessed by the way this has all turned out.  I look forward to moving in, settling down, and making it into our home.  After all, my heart's already in it.