The Most Beautiful Weekend

 We just had the most beautiful weekend with Nanny and Papa. They came over Friday evening and we all went to our church building to meet our Bishop. Our sweet Bishop had agreed to meet us at the church on a Friday evening to ordain Tucker. We were so grateful to him being willing to take time out of his normal schedule to meet us there outside of our regular church meetings. 

It's getting harder for my parents to travel and they really wanted to be there for Tucker's ordination but they also wanted to to attend the temple with Tucker.  However,  boys have to be ordained before they can attend the temple and the temple is always closed on Monday so we really needed to have Tucker ordained before the normal Sunday ordination so we could squeeze everything in during one of their visits. 

Tucker's ordination was beautiful and so special because not only were Chris and Papa in the ordination circle, but Tanner was also able to take part. Chris gave him a beautiful blessing along with the ordination. We were so grateful to everyone for making it happen. 

After Tucker's ordination, our Bishop quickly printed Tucker's temple recommend and then we were able to attend the temple with Tucker for the first time directly afterwards. We dropped Benson off at a friend's birthday party and then drove over to the temple. 

Obviously it was dark at 7:30 pm, but we still tried to get some pictures to document the event. It was so special to be there together.  The baptistry was very busy and so only our kids were baptized, but it was so special to get to witness. Tanner baptized Bailey and Tucker and it was just the sweetest.   I was grateful to Tanner for taking Tucker under his wing and showing him the ropes. It was just a very sweet night.  We ended our night with the traditional post-temple ice cream and then drove home. 

Then on Sunday morning at church, Tucker got to pass the sacrament for the first time as an ordained deacon. It was the sweetest to watch him concentrate and do his best to serve those in our ward. Tucker works so hard to be good and he wants to be close to the spirit. It's precious to watch him try his best to be a valiant son of God. 

Lastly, after church on Sunday, Tanner was able to receive his Patriarchal blessing from Papa. Papa is an ordained patriarch serving in the West Plains, Missouri stake, but after getting special permission, he was allowed to give Tanner his blessing because he is a direct descendant. 

This was another very sweet and very special experience. Not many people get to receive their blessing from a grandfather. We were worried we wouldn't get to experience this because my dad's PD is getting worse and it's getting more and more difficult for him to give blessings, but Papa powered through and gave Tanner a beautiful blessing. 

Of course we don't have a copy of his blessing yet so we can't remember everything that was said, but I just felt such love and peace during the blessing. Tanner is an amazing kid and it was clear that he is very loved by his Heavenly parents as well as his family here on earth. I can't wait to get a printed copy so we can read it over with him again and again. 

experiences where they can come to know their Savior and their Heavenly Father. It's much harder than I ever thought it would be and weekends like this are a nice recharge for my spiritual battery. It's a nice "parental reward" when you get to see your kids making good choices and making the choices that lead them to their Savior. 

I hope both Tanner and Tucker will always remember this weekend and the way they felt. I hope they can both remember the love of their Heavenly Father and their Savior and when times get hard, they can think about experiences like this and draw strength from them. 

Before Tanner's blessing, my parents were talking to us about the importance of writing down impressions and spiritual experiences. They asked Tanner if he had ever felt the spirit. Tanner shared his experiences and then they asked Chris and I if we had anything we wanted to share. I asked Tanner if he remembered feeling the spirit on his very first night at FSY and how he had texted me about it. He said he didn't remember it. I shared what a comfort it was to me because I knew he was in the right place but I was comforted because he was able to learn for himself the importance of being where you should be. 

I talked to him about Moses and his experience communing with God. But then directly afterwards, Satan appeared and tried to tempt him and confuse him. I shared how Satan often shows up before or after very spiritual experiences in our lives because he wants to downplay them or confuse us. If he can weaken our relationship with God then we become more vulnerable to him. Then I also encouraged him to write down his spiritual experiences so he can have them to look back on during those times. It really isn't a matter of if but when. Satan will do his best to make us doubt and question our beliefs. And reading the scriptures about other people's experiences with Christ and God are great. But if we can remind ourselves of our own experiences, its so much more powerful. We are reminded that God knows us. He loves us and he wants us back with him. We have a divine heritage and we are more powerful than Satan. 

I hope I am able to instill that confidence in God within each of my kids. It's something that has served me well my whole life and I'm extremely grateful for my knowledge of loving Heavenly Parents and a loving Savior. 

This weekend was wonderful and it was something that I will not soon forget. And when I do forget it, I hope that I can read back over this journal and be reminded of the immense love and closeness with God that we were able to feel this weekend. I'm so very grateful!