Family Temple Session and Farewell

August 20, 2012

On Saturday we met most of our children, our mothers, our sisters and our brothers-in-law, and some cousins and nieces and nephews at the Mt. Timpanogoes temple for the three o’clock session.  It was so wonderful to be all together in the temple.  I think there were 32 of us there.  We had a very large prayer circle.  It was a special moment, and it was so sweet being together in the Celestial Room.  Then we enjoyed some wonderful food that everyone had helped with at our home.   It left us with a great spirit to begin our Sabbath Day with and it’s a memory that I will always cherish.

                On Sunday, all of our children and grandchildren were there, even Rhett who surprised us and made it home from Oklahoma, and our mothers, siblings and spouses and nieces and nephews and cousins and so many wonderful friends met us at sacrament meeting.  As Bob and I sat on the stand and watched so many coming in, old friends, new friends, school friends, BYU friends, it was overwhelming.  During the sacrament song which was, I Stand All Amazed , we started to weep.  At first I was borrowing Bob’s hankie, but he needed it, and I had to reach up on the pulpit for tissues.  Seeing him so emotional made it even harder for me.

                We have known the counselor, Noah McKinnon, who conducted the meeting since he was born, and he said some very nice things about us.  A new Sister Missionary, Julie Schneider, spoke before us.  We have known her for a long time also.  She is a triplet, and has one sister out all ready, and the other one also has her call. 

                When I got up to speak, I talked about how powerful the feeling was during the sacrament, and I believed it was because I felt so much love coming from the audience.  Many of them were in tears as well.  Our talks went well.  The spirit was great, and we had a wonderful day visiting with our family and many friends during the day.  I am ready to go.  But we still have two weeks to go and many fun things to do and packing to finish.  I send our love to all who were there to love and support us, and to those who couldn’t be there as well.