London Temple trip

Friday night we put everyone to bed early and got everything ready to leave by 7am Saturday morning. This is how these 3 were sleeping when I came to bed:)

Saturday morning we woke up early, even the kids. They were all awake by 6:15, and Parker by 6:45! We ate and got dressed and loaded up in the car. It was cute how excited the kids were to go to the temple. When we got there we walked around the little book store for a couple minutes, then left the kids with some friends while Blake and I went into the temple. We got to go through a session with a couple from our temple prep class. What a special day! We got to also see them sealed to each other and her to her mom and dad. It is amazing the joy that you can feel in the temple. I don't know of any other place where I can feel so much peace and joy.

Blake, Alissa and Remi

London, England temple

Remi in front of the temple

So a few weeks ago I finished the Book of Mormon and decided to study by topic for a while instead of reading straight through. I wanted to study love and find ways to show more love to my family. I have really struggled in the last few weeks with feeling and showing love, especially towards the kids. I have just felt like I have no patience and been annoyed by the smallest things they do wrong. I know part of the problem is I just haven't felt good, but they deserve better. So I have studied in the topical guide, read scriptures that have to do with love, discipline, charity and on and on. I haven't really had a good answer. Then when I went to the temple yesterday as I was listening the thought came to me how patient our Father in Heaven is with us. We are told things we need to be doing again, and again, and again. We are supposed to go to the temple often to remember the covenants we make there. We take the sacrament every week to remind us of our baptismal covenant. There are so many things in church that we learn through repetition. We hear the same things over and over and over again throughout our whole lives and one day it might make all the difference in the world. It might cause a change of heart for us. Maybe that time when we hear it we are ready. Through all this repetition, and hearing things over and over again, whether it is the Prophet in General Conference, or our Bishop or the Sunday School teacher they always teach with love. They never start yelling at us because say, we don't read our scriptures every day. I have been taught from the time I was born to read my scriptures and sometimes I don't. No one has ever yelled at me for this. Or when I don't do my visiting teacher the Relief Society Presiden isn't here yelling at me saying what were you thinking? Then I started thinking about my own children. They are just that children. They are children of God. So, he is allowing me to have the experience of raising these children, his children. If he were here raising them is he going to yell at them for every little thing they do wrong, or remind gently again and again and again. I don't think this means they can walk all over me, but I can say no, or remind gently and calmly and maybe they will react better. I hope this makes a difference in our home. I sometimes hear the way our kids talk to each other and I cringe. I think they learned it from me and it breaks my heart. I hope that I can change my example and we can fix this problem and show more love in our home and make it a heavenly home. I am so grateful I can go to the temple, even if I don't get to go as often as I used to be able to go. I am also so grateful for a Father in Heaven is so patient with me. He loves me no matter what and is so patient as I am learning in this life.