I'll go inside someday

 

Never do I feel more peace and clarity about my life’s meaning and purpose than I do in the temple. The distractions of the world, along with my own problems, mistakes, or insecurities fade away with every minute I spend there. I remember my true and most meaningful identity as a child of God, a child sent to this earth to grow in faith and try to bless the lives of others. I remember my potential for good. I gain a closeness to the Savior that I naturally lack.
 

In Doctrine and Covenants 110: 7,9, the Lord in the Kirtland Temple revealed: “For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house. Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house.”

 

Elder Russell M. Nelson, in speaking of preparing for the temple, said: “The temple is the house of the Lord. The basis for every temple ordinance and covenant--the heart of the plan of salvation--is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Every activity, every lesson, all we do in the Church, point to the Lord and His holy temple.”
 

Primary children sing “I love to see the temple” with a special calm. Youth stay focused on the temple as they keep standards in For the Strength of the Youth and set goals with Personal Progress and Faith in God. We as covenant-keeping adults receive these long-awaited, crowning blessings, bringing all that preparation and patience to fruition. Now we must do for others what they cannot do for themselves. We must serve as the Savior has taught us to serve.   

 

Two of our own family members hit this special milestone as they entered the temple for the first time to make sacred covenants with their Father in Heaven. We could not have felt more blessed to be present for such a momentous occasion. Bride-to-be Kymber received her own endowment--which means spiritual gift or bestowal, in this case--this past Saturday and everyone was so proud of and happy for her. There’s something so unique and wonderful about being inside the temple with family.

 

 

Missionary-to-be Shemaina flew out from Wisconsin the week before

to go through the temple for her first time.

What a spiritual, powerful experience it was,
and what a crowd of loved ones there to support her.



Clockwise: Stephen, Jenae, Jenn, Agnes, Maina, Me, Rick, Annabelle, Dad

Loved getting to escort this amazing, Brazil-bound missionary

How did these goofballs get in here?

"Maina, can I borrow your garments?"
asked by Millie on our way to the distribution center.
She was completely serious.
Maina laughed so hard she may have broken a rib.

Our little wildwoman, flanked by her monkey brothers

Oh man, how I adore this girl!

The freaks don't fall far from the tree, do they?

Gotta love family gatherings

Pura Vida

We have been excited for our tenth anniversary for a lot of years.  We knew we'd leave the country--Stephen never has, other than his mission--and we knew we'd leave our kids for more than a few days, so naturally it's been highly-anticipated.  The questions were Where? and When? 

 

Our instinct would have been late summer, but the more we looked at prices and talked to our primary babysitter about the best timing for her, we realized an August trip wasn't going to work after all.  Once we realized summer and fall were out, that really only left the spring.  The point being: we threw this trip together in a little under six weeks.  Planned, booked, passported, paid, prepared, packed, all of it. 

 

So how and why did we choose Costa Rica?  We both served our missions in Central America, after all, so you'd think we would have picked someplace a little different.  It really came down to season--we knew we wanted to go warm, balance--we wanted half active, half nothing/laziness, and price--we scaled back on our original cost plan and went a little cheaper. 

First stop = San Jose

 

 

 

 

Our stay in San Jose = quick and bleary-eyed.  Red eye flights will do that to you--blur the eyes and dull the senses.  We did, however, have our first yummy Costarican meal there, not to mention a lovely evening walk through the park and of course some serious sleep.  I forgot how alive the parks are at night in Central America.  10pm and they're packed with people--teenagers, couples (oh my goodness, so many couples),

Next stop = Arenal Volcano

We picked three places to stay during our trip, and this was the first. 

We lucked out with a view of the top on our last day here

Only fifteen days of the year is it visible

Most of the time it looks like this

And this

View from Lomas de Volcan

Adventure #1: Climbing the lava flow of "el volcan"



We made friends with some "lovely," "brilliant" Brits on this hike

Rewarded with a view of the lake

Stephen's favorite part of the whole trip: Tabacon Hot Springs,
where we headed right after our volcano hike

Neverending pools, streams, and waterfalls

 

 

 Strange to think all this grows naturally here...

 

 

 

Sunday morning, we decided to hike the rainforest right behind our cabin/hotel

 

 

They use the term "trail" very loosely in Costa Rica

 

 

 

Look what hopped right across our rugged, tough-to-find path: a poisonous dart tree frog,

also known as the blue jean frog

 

 

 and the world's biggest spider and spider web

 

 

 Adventure #3 = Hanging Bridges

 

 Looking down

 

 

Eyelash viper

 

 

A little Where's Waldo: Can you spot the hanging bridge?

There it is

 

Another one, this time from below

Stephen keeping balance on the wibble-wobble bridges

Another Where's Waldo moment: Can you spot the spider monkey?

 A few feet away from that poisonous little viper

 

 

 

Our last day in Arenal with its miraculously clear top

 

Hopped in a boat, crossed a lake 

 

 

and took a long, bumpy drive with the volcano behind us


Third Stop = Monteverde Cloud Forest

Adventure #4: Zip-lining

I loved, loved, loved it!!!!!!

My hubs-who-likes-to-have-two-feet-on-the-ground not so much...
but he was such a good sport to do it all with me

Then came the really long line

 

with THE most breathtaking views

Where's Waldo yet again: Can you spot me on the line?

flying the "Superman" pose

 The German and Argentinian girls we zipped with kept us laughing

 

 

Mini-adventure #5: Night Hike

 

An "acuate" and its glowing eyes

 

 

Yes, that's exactly what you think it is

 

in all its lovely glory and natural habitat

 

 

a mot mot bird sleeping

(and lots of other fun critters)

 

 

Last Stop = Playa Tamarindo in Guanacaste

 

Spotted on the side of the road

(as was a 3-ft long bright green iguana)

 

Ah, the beach...

Time for the adventures to end

and the relaxation to begin

 

 

Sunrise walks in the sand

 

Tidepooling in the morning

 

Lunch on the beach with sand in your toes

 

Shells, shells, everywhere

 

Purples, pinks, reds, browns, oranges, whites

 

Sunsets worth admiring

 

Dinner with a view

 

A grateful abundance of together time

 

The one and only time you will ever see Stephen barefoot in public

 

Sad to have to leave this place...