Today ended up being a much needed family day! Normally when Sundays roll around, we get up and get ready for church. But today started off a bit differently. We accidentally slept through the day-light savings time change and didn't have enough time for all 6 of us to even hurry and get to church even close to on time. Really not a fun start to the day for me. I love beginning a new week having attended church meetings and having been spiritually fed. So we had to improvise on what the day entailed. As Spring has definitely found it's way to these parts of the world the past few weeks, the sun was out and almost 70 degrees. I couldn't deny the feeling that we had to find some way to get outside and enjoy the weather. A reoccurring thought popped into my head: "let's take a trip to the temple!" For one reason or another, we had yet to even see the Frankfurt Temple as a family since moving here.
With General Conference being next weekend, I couldn't think of a better time to go to the temple! After lunch, we packed up some snacks, rushed the kids to take last minute potty breaks and hopped on the autobahn to a city called Friedrichsdorf where the temple resides.
We got there in about 20 minutes and wow! was it beautiful!! I really love seeing the temples. The feeling I get being there. The structure of the building. Seeing and smelling all the colorful flowers. All of it! I am of course biased having lived in the Portland Oregon area much of my life so I do claim that the Portland Temple is my favorite! The only other temples I've been to is Mt. Timpanogos, Boise, Salt Lake City and Washington D.C. Once we got all of the kids out of the van, we discovered what a horrible mood Jocelyn was in. Not the most fun thing to experience: a cranky and nothing-will-please-me-at-the-moment five year old! She cried even more so when I took the kids photo in front of the temple sign and dragged her heals behind us saying, "i hate this day! i hate walking!" and whatever else she felt compelled to complain her heart's desires about. I did my best to distract her (and ignore the bad attitude) and bring a smile to her face but all my motherly attempts didn't work. When all else fails, bring out the food! That seemed to do the trick! I'll have to remember trying that one closer to the front of my attempts next time. :)
The temple is quite a pretty place and always brings me a feeling of peace! Going to the temple not only brings us the opportunity to be sealed as families forever, but can alleviate stress, help us to think more clearly, get answers to our prayers, provide us with peace from the outside world and recharges us spiritually, physically and mentally. It is without a doubt one of my very favorite places to be! We enjoyed our time wandering around the grounds as a family (which also included trying to catch or keep up with Jocelyn and Andrew), Landon practiced more of his independent walking and I took some pictures before we turned around and headed back home...for our weekly Sunday walk! Something I've been very much looking forward to starting up again. Now all we needed was a grilled dinner. Mmmm! We need to get that going soon!
It was a really good day (despite a few bumps in the road).
And I love seeing my children embrace in the same things that I love.
They really are the best!
My everything!
2 comments:
Leslie,
I love reading your blogs! It looks like you are having a great adventure in Germany! I just had to post and tell you how FANTASTIC you look! Running looks good on you! I am trying to pick it up again but it is giving my knees issues. I am determined to do it though. You are a great example! Keep it up!
Thanks Amb! I'm flattered! :) I've been working my butt off to get into shape for the past 3 months and have been enjoying the results so far. It's super hard though. (and 9 weeks to go until race day!) At least I don't have a hard time getting out there anymore and getting it done. It's like I crave it now. Just hard to get through the actual workout sometimes. I hurt my ankle a few days ago so have been resting up. I hope to get back out there and start running again. It's hard not not being able to do anything! :) Hope you are able to get back into running and your knees cooperate! I've been inspired by your example and dedication to exercise as well. You're awesome! :)
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