Thanksgiving Blessing

My former missionary companion, Juliette Landsem Holdaway, now lives in Korea with her husband, who works for the military. Juliette also served her mission in Korea for a short time before serving in the ASL program in Atlanta, Georgia. She knew our son, Josh, was serving in Korea and made arrangements to pick up Josh and his companion and bring them to a nice hotel on base for a traditional American Thanksgiving feast!! It looks amazing! 

Not only that, but she had asked Josh and his companion what treats they missed from America that they weren't able to find in Korea. They surprised them with a total haul of treats!! Josh was in heaven!! Josh loves Takis and Korea doesn't have them and so he was excited to receive Takis along with everything else!! Hearing about this experience made my mama heart so happy! Thank you Holdaways for treating our missionaries!!  

Jared and Hallie's Wedding!!

Rick, Jenna, and I slept over at Shane and Alicia's last night. The luncheon after the sealing was going to be held in their backyard, and so Rick and I got up early to put out the table cloths, centerpieces, flowers, hope chest display, and foot tables. Shane and Alicia got up early to help us. They were a huge help!! We finally got everything done and it looked really nice! We got ready and headed over to the Timpanogos Temple. Jenna was babysitting the kids in the temple lobby during the sealing. 

We had gotten permission for Josh to come witness the sealing and that was a huge tender mercy!! In fact, his district was scheduled to be at the Mount Timpanogos temple to do sealings at the exact same time as Jared and Hallie's sealing and so it worked out perfectly! We didn't have to drive to the Provo to pick him up, or bring him back, he simply went with his district on the bus and rode home with them on the bus!

The sealing was at 10:00, but we came an hour early. When we got there I went to the waiting room and Josh was already there. Rick had gone with Jared since Rick was his escort. So I got to visit with Josh for a while in the waiting room and when family members started to arrive they were able to visit with him also. Then we all went into the sealing room. Rick had told everyone to stand up when Jared and Hallie walked in. 

I had planned for around 30-40 minutes for the ceremony, but we were finished in ten minutes. The sealer typically speaks for 10-15 minutes, teaching about the marriage covenant and giving some advice, and then goes into the actual sealing. But this sealer didn't do any of that. He may have said something, but it was only a minute or two. He then said, "Well, the groom wanted me to keep it short, so we will go ahead with the sealing." Or something to that affect, and no, Jared hadn't said anything like that to them. 

He did the sealing, and pronounced the amazing sealing blessings upon them, and then they were married, sealed as husband and wife for time and all eternity!! What a joyous day!! Everyone hugged Jared and Hallie before leaving the room and then we went outside and waited for them to come out! The photographer and videographer took a bunch of pictures and then we got Josh back to his group so that he could ride the bus back to the MTC with them. We then hurried over to Shane and Alicia to make sure that everything was ready to go for the luncheon!! 

Meeting Evan -- Welcome Home, Ellen!!

Rick and I got to go into the NICU so that Jase and Rick and Dean could give him a blessing! We were so excited to finally meet our grandbaby, Evan! It was such a sweet and tender experience! I couldn't believe how tiny he was! We are so grateful we got to experience the sweet spirit that was in the room when we met Evan and when his dad and grandpas gave him a blessing. It was a precious! The kids welcomed home Ellen from the hospital later that afternoon. It must have been very difficult for her to come home and leave her baby behind! She will be spending lots of time in the NICU over the next few weeks!