update

Life has been busy, I just haven't taken time to record it. We hope you are all doing well, and enjoy each time we get to hear from each of you.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the temple with some other sisters from the ward, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Adding to the experience was the preparation I was doing for a Relief Society lesson--on Elder Christofferson's April talk, 'Born again'. As I sat waiting for a session to start, I read through a number of cross references for 'born again':
*...have ye spiritually been born of God? Have you received his image in your countenance (Alma 5:14)
*ye shall be called the children of Christ..for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name (Mosiah 5:7)
*Can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands...? (Alma 5:19)
There were others, but as I sat there, thinking about these, I thought about Alma's questions that help us evaluate ourselves--have we received his image, do we have clean hands and a pure heart, how would I feel if I were to look up into the presence of God? I felt impressed with a desire to continue doing my best and trying to improve so that such an experience would be the way I desire it to be. I want to feel comfortable in his presence, to have my deeds be things I can share with Him and feel the joy that he wants us to feel. Our Sunday School lesson this week goes well with this. We talked about what the word 'gospel' means. One of the things I picked up on came from 3 Nephi 27:13. We had talked about gospel=good news, and this verse talks about the gospel in relation to Christ doing the will of the Father. As I thought about that, the verses 2 Nephi 2:25 and Moses 1:39 came to mind about how God intends for us to have joy, that is very much part of the plan, and that is what we want others to have as well. I can't fully express what that meant to me, but there was a strength that came with those thoughts. He will give us commandments, because he loves us and wants us to be happy. He wants to help us get there, to feel that joy.

Living in Missouri has given us a number of experiences that we might not otherwise have. It has been interesting to live in a place where there is very much a political climate and where people of great faith are found both belonging to and leading both political parties. The fact that we were considered a swing state has added to the mix. (Although our state's electorate vote has still not been decided, and they've already determined the winner.) A while back (shortly after Biden visited Jefferson City), Joseph mentioned that he really wanted to be able to see a Presidential/Vice-Presidential candidate. A day or two later, they announced that Sarah Palin would be in town the Monday before the election. Joseph jumped on the announcement, and he and Jonathan went and picked up tickets so we could attend. After dropping the youngest boys off at school, Jonathan headed in to work to try and get in a couple of hours before joining us, and Joseph, Louisa and I got in line to go through security. After we got through and while we were deciding where to sit, a security person passed by and offered us tickets to the seated area. We ended up taking them and walked to the area, realizing that the seating was on the steps of the capital, behind the podium. I wanted to run, but knew Joseph would really enjoy being that close, so I headed up the steps with them. As we got up the steps to the seating area, another 'in charge' person came and finding out that there were 3 of us, ushered us to front and center of the steps where we watched as a number of republican candidates and officials spoke while Palin flew into Columbia and traveled the drive to JC. After her speech, she came up to meet a couple of children (one infant, the other 12) with downs syndrome who were standing on either side of us. Joseph was able to shake her hand. It has been fun to have coverage of various rallies come on (including the celeratory one for Obama in Chicago) and have Louisa light up, "we were there!"
You can see Joseph holding the white sign on the far right side of the screen (just behind the girl in the red shirt) in the first 20 seconds of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJzDwNTUH0k

The primary program was yesterday, and I had the chance to listen to Louisa sing quietly from our seat while the boys sang with the primary. It was fun to see each child participate and share some of their testimonies of the gospel. Hyrum's loose tooth decided to come out during the program, but I didn't notice until the tooth was handed to me afterwards. It was a neat experience to listen to the children sing--it filled my heart.