Greetings from the Other Side of the Hard Parts

 

Since the announcement of the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple in April of 2020 (and for months before the announcement actually), my family and I have been on quite the journey.

In the last 5 years, I have been serving with all my heart as Communication Director for the Pittsburgh North Stake. Through all of this, I came to understand that the Lord sees to every detail of the building of His temples, and I have grown and changed in so many ways under His tutelage.

I have worked closely with many awesome people in our town, and I've been humbled to work side-by-side with amazing people from every faith and organization in my area. 

I developed photography as a personal hobby and have taken thousands of photos of the temple, its construction from start to completion, special visitors, and my favorite, landscape photos that include the temple.  It has been amazing for my soul to watch how the temple has blessed our family.  I am in awe of all of it.

During that time, I have not blogged. 

As technology moved away from blogging, and as my son became a very controversial online presence with literally millions of followers, I just focused on sharing my testimony in my own life and on my personal social media circles. That has fed my need as a journalist to express myself and fostered many close relationships with people of all walks of life, for which I am so grateful.

As of right now, I am just recovering my blog, as my previous domain name (www.wetalkofchrist.com) got scooped up by someone else (probably when my payment method expired, and I didn't notice).  

Because of trolls online who want to "beef" with my son and what he stands for, I and my blog have been periodically attacked, which at first I found deeply hurtful and unfair. And since the content of this blog and the memories of my kids when they were younger and the lessons that I taught them are so well-documented on this blog, I am protective of it. Given this, I am contemplating just what to do with my blog.

I realized when my blog was unexplainably down for a while, that I rely on this site as a reference for recipes, thoughts, and lessons I have shared. I found it annoying when I couldn't easily access it. And periodically, I still receive very kind emails from people thanking me for certain posts.

So, that is the update. I am still here.  Still in the faith. STRONGER THAN EVER....despite difficult challenges that are just part of mortality, challenges that have seasoned me and brought me depth and wisdom that comes when children become teens and teenagers become adults.

Since it relates to this blog, I will share one more thought.

This blog was founded on one scripture: 2 Nephi 25:26, which says:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

As I have watched my children move from that innocent, pre-baptism season of life, to the season of accountability and of trial and error, this scripture, that always guided my efforts as a parent became even more vital to me.

And I realized that I didn't fully understand it when they were little.  

When my children were small and incapable of committing sin, I focused mainly on the joy that talking of and preaching about Christ with them brought me.  And the last bit of this scripture, frankly, didn't seem to match the rest of this joyful passage.

But when my kids started making their own choices, I finally understood that the last lines "that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins," was not out of place at all. It was not mistakenly "tacked on" to the end of the passage...it WAS the point.

The point of decades (now) that my husband and I spent "talking of Christ" with our children was so that when the time came, we could have faith that our children are in God's hands now and that they would KNOW to what source they CAN look for a remission of their sins.

I am so grateful for this understanding that has taken me about a decade of difficult experiences to truly grasp. But my faith in Christ has grown, not waned.  

And through it, my new Mom-mantra has become: 

"I raise them. Jesus Saves them."

I don't try to do His job, because that would be very frustrating and frankly impossible. But I can keep doing my job and increase my faith by remaining calm and waiting and watching as His great plan for all of HIS children unfolds over time.

I trust that the Creator of us all, has the ability to bring ALL of His Children Home...in His time.

I am grateful for every woman, sister, and friend I have made over the decade of blogging that I did here. 

Thank you for supporting me with your comments and friendship and helping me grown spiritually as well.

XO, and Merry Christmas, Friends!

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Temple Blessings During a Pandemic

 

One way that the power of the temple has impacted me over the last year is through the example of my 11, now 12-year old daughter. She became eligible to attend the temple for the first time in January 2020. I have never seen one so young prepare so diligently to answer the soul-searching questions she would be asked in her temple recommend interview--questions such as "Do have faith in God and in his son Jesus Christ," and "Do you strive to be honest in all that you do?" Shortly after she attained a temple recommend, temples around the world closed to help stop the spread of COVID-19. A year has passed now, and she is still patiently waiting to enter the temple for the first time. Although this blessing has been slightly delayed for her, I know that choosing each day to live a Godly life and to follow Christ in anticipation of entering the temple has been an even greater blessing for her at this time. I am so grateful for her example, and I am grateful for the power of purity and peace that comes as we grow closer to Christ through temple attendance. "Although our access to the temple right now is limited, it doesn’t change the impact that the temple can have on us in our lives. Through our covenants and ordinances, we have access to the power of godliness in our lives—no matter our circumstances." - Dale G. Renlund

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Easy Temple Embroidery Pattern

 

We're still excited about the upcoming Pittsburgh Temple over here.  

I posted last week about making an embroidery of the temple design, but I needed to make a new one that was a wee bit easier for our Activity Day girls to attempt.

As it turned out, I am not going to be doing the mid-week activities, because my husband is doing the boys' activities and we can't both be at church at the same time, so as a result, I won't be doing this particular craft with the girls, but maybe someone reading this will want to!

I followed the same process as I mentioned in this previous post.  

1. Print out a photo of the temple in the size of your choice.

2. Tape to a window and trace the outline (using a pencil) onto muslin.  (For this one, instead of doing a complete sketch of the details, I just did the outline of the temple.)

3. Back the muslin with thin quilt batting and place in an embroidery frame.

4. Stitch in colors of your choice.

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New #PittsburghTemple FB Page

 

This is the place where the future Pittsburgh Temple will be built.

And this Facebook page is the place where updates will be posted on construction and open house happenings: https://www.facebook.com/pittsburghpatemplenews/

Follow along!

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Temple Experience FHE

As I've mentioned, we're working our way through the Family Proclamation this month, and this week we are focusing on temples.  

The Family Proclamation says, "Sacred covenants and ordinances available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."

As I planned out our study of the Family Proclamation, I felt inspired to create a "temple experience" for my kids in our home.  I hoped this would be more of a sacred learning experience for them, and I'm so pleased that it worked out well.

I unfortunately didn't stop to take very many pictures of it, so I'll just try to describe it.

Using dining room chairs, we set our living room up sort of like an endowment room--with chairs in rows for us to sit in, facing our  wall-mounted TV screen.

As each child went into Dad's office for a "temple recommend" interview, the others sat in the rows of chairs and watched a slideshow that I made of pictures of our family visiting various temples There was soft hymns playing during the slideshow, and it created a nice, calm mood.

Each family member (who participated) came out of Dad's office holding an index card that both Steve and the child had signed.  The little kids, Honor in particular, seemed really pleased to get their faux-recommend.

We then had each child present their recommend to me, and I welcomed them to the "temple".

We then watched the video of Elders Bednar and Rasband giving us a virtual tour of the Rome, Italy temple.  In this video, they do a wonderful job talking about the role of Christ in all aspects of temple worships and explaining the process and purpose of each area of the temple.

The Rome temple is so beautiful!  I can tell that it touched my 4-year old Vall, and it brought a wonderful spirit to our home.  At one point, Val turned to me and asked if Jesus ever went there, and he kept referring to the magnificent chandeliers as "icicles"!

When the video ended, we discussed what we saw, how we felt, what we learned, and fielded questions.  We talked about how everyone dresses the same in the temple and how that promotes unity.  I thought it was neat that they point out that every bride gets to dress in the same beautiful bride's room.  No matter your worldly status, all are equal in the temple.

We then showed one more video.  This one explains and shows the temple ceremonial clothing and the temple garments worn by adult members of the church who have made sacred covenants in the temple.  

I like how at the beginning of the video they mention the sacred clothing worn by religions the world over.  Our sacred clothing is simply worn privately, under our clothing, but serves a similar purpose, to remind us of the promises we've made with God.

Recently, we've been taught (see Elder Bednar's talk here) that we need to teach our children more about the temple in our home.  These videos really make it easier for us to know how to appropriately share what we know and love about the temple and about making and keeping sacred covenants.  In the home and in the family is a beautiful setting for these discussions.

One question that was asked was what happens if someone is upset that they can't enter the temple (except during the open house)?  We talked about how the Lord allows each of us to learn and grow at our own pace.  We are expected to keep God's commandments before we enter his holy places and make sacred covenants.  If we enter before we're ready it really wouldn't help us at all, because we wouldn't appreciate it or hold it sacred.

To end the night, we answered a few more questions about the ceremonial clothing.  Scarlett said that our discussion made her more excited to go to the temple.  

We talked with Autumn about her relationship with the temple. Autumn became eligible to attend the temple over a year ago, but because of the pandemic, still hasn't gone!  What is neat about her story is that when it was time for her temple recommend interview back in January 2020, she showed great seriousness in preparing herself for the interview by studying President Nelson's General Conference talk where he shares just what those interview questions are.  We know that more than going to the temple, our willingness to be worthy to attend the temple is what matters most to the Lord.  The change in who we are is the goal, not just the act of attending His temples.  I expect that when Autumn finally is able to attend the temple herself, it will be a very special experience.

To end our special night together, I reminded our family that Jesus Christ is the center of everything we do and learn in the temple.  

In the temple, we learn that Christ's Atonement is the central act of all earth life and all eternity. It is the purpose of everything and brings purpose to all that we do.  It brings light and hope to our lives.  I also reminded then that if they ever find themselves in a position where they can't enter the temple, because of their own choices or if life just starts to get really hard, Jesus Christ is the way back to the temple.  He is the way to overcome sin.  He is the way to overcome every problem.  Jesus Christ is the way back to our heavenly home.

It was just a wonderful experience to help our children understand the temple more.  And in a time when we cannot enter the temple, for one evening, the temple entered our home.

For anyone who might not have a father in the home full-time, I encourage Mothers to conduct the temple recommend interviews.  To my friend who was worried that her rowdy boys couldn't sit still, I encouraged her to take each boy aside starting with the oldest to do this activity one on one. There is definitely room to adjust this to our different family dynamics and make it work for us!

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Temple Embroidery Project #PittsburghTemple

I had a time to relax on Sunday, so I decided to make a little embroidery of the coming Pittsburgh Temple.  

I planned to do this as an activity for our Primary children at Activity Days, so I wanted to try it out first to see if it was on their skill level.  

Here's how you can create a simple embroidery pattern out of any temple picture:

First, print out a photo of your temple in the correct size.  It does not need to be in color.

Next, tape it to a window and trace the simplest outlines of the temple onto a plain white paper using a thin black marker.

Then place muslin cut to size over your pattern.  Trace the pattern onto your muslin (again trace it on a window creating a lightbox effect).  I started to trace using a disappearing fabric marker, but mine wasn't exact enough, so I switched a pencil, which I could easily cover with my stiches.

Back your muslin with quilt batting and put your work in an embroidery hoop.  Mine is a 4 inch wooden hoop.

Using 3 strands of embroidery floss, stitch the outlines in a color of your choice.  I did the "shading" with random/free-hand stitches, but the rest of the piece is sewn using a "back-stitch". (Here's how to back-stitch.)

When finished, trim the excess fabric a bit and secure to the back, using your hoop as a frame.  I used masking tape to secure the fabric as a short-cut.  

You can loop a thin ribbon through the metal part to hang and display.

(As you can see in this last photo, my disappearing marker is still showing in blue.  You just rinse that off, if that's the type of marker you used.  I'd recommend just using pencil since it blends in so easily and does not need to be erased when finished.)

I really like the way this turned out!  And I enjoyed it for like two days before I gave this one away in a "favorite things" Relief Society activity.  

Now I need to make a new one!

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Pittsburgh Temple Photos (Before Building!)

I spent the day taking pictures of the future location of the Pittsburgh Temple (and running errands with the kids.) 

It was a great relief to be outside in the sunshine and the fresh, crisp air! My kids enjoyed it too.

The photo above was taken from the backyard of one of my neighbors.  You can see the white steeple of our Stake Center on the left.  The temple lot is to the right and more in the center of this photo.

This is the site of the new temple from the church parking lot.  The temple will be just behind these big pine trees.

And here are a few photos of the chapel we have attended as part of the Cranberry Ward for four years now, and where Honor was recently baptized.

We don't consider it a coincidence that 4.5 years ago, while attending the open house for the Philadelphia Temple, we were befriended by a family in line in front of us.  That family lived in Cranberry Township and highly recommended this place to us, and since we were in need of a place to live at the time, we ended up moving here!  She is now my ministering sister.  He is now a member of our stake presidency.  And WE are preparing to go through the temple-building process all over again.  Only this time, we'll have a front row seat.

Honor received a camera for her birthday last fall, so she was excited to take her own photos of all that we saw.

And Val was excited to draw his own picture of the future temple as soon as we got home!

Here are some posts that I did during the highly-anticipated building of the Philadelphia temple.  

Click on the links to learn more about:

The Cultural Celebration,

The Temple in Construction

The Announcement

What it's Like to Attend A Temple Tour and Open House and The Finished Temple.

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