On the Monday before Easter, Jesus taught us as He cleansed the temple. Merchants were selling goods at the temple which upset Jesus rightly so. They were making something sacred into something "of men."
Jesus declared in Luke 19:46 "My house is the house of prayer: But ye have made it a den of thieves."
With my deep love for the temple I feel this way too. So for part of our Easter celebration we discussed as a family how our thoughts can sometimes need adjusting too as we are in our Father's holy house. We are all going to work on what we think about, talk about, and focus on as we are inside the temple. Because even today, the temple should be a "house of prayer" and not a "den of thieves."
Since it was Monday and the temple is closed on Mondays, I took my first picture outside of the locked gates on my early morning run.
Then, after Clint got home from work, we took the kids and began our "Progressive Temple Dinner."
When we told the kids about this they were so excited! They loved the thought of eating a progressive dinner, and they too love to see the temple, so we knew it would be a fun night. But I was mostly excited for the surprise that I had waiting for each of them when we got to the temples...
We first went to the Jordan River temple with our appetizer of wontons and cream cheese rangoons. It was yummy and just enough food to settle our tummies and hold us over until we could get to dinner!
But the surprise at this temple, was a sweet and sincere heartfelt testimony from their biggest brother Riley!
Earlier I had planned to do this and so I had Riley record his testimony to them on Marco Polo. The kids sat so intently and listened to every word that he had to say to them.
It was the best part of the visit and the spirit was strong. I know that his testimony touched their hearts and that although they may not remember everything that he said, they will always remember how they felt listening to him. I love Riley and that he loves my Kierra. :)
After we finished at the Jordan River temple, we drove to the District and ate dinner at Zupas.
As much as I love Zupas, I have never been so disappointed because they were out of everything that we love! We still ate and were grateful for what we had, but we were excited to move on to the next temple which was the Oquirrh Mountain temple.
As we pulled up to this temple it was getting dark, so we took a picture and then I had the kids all pile back in the car where we listened to another surprise of Kierra's testimony.
There was an underlying feeling that I think Clint and I were both experiencing as we listened to Kierra (and Riley too) of overwhelming happiness and gratitude that our children are happy and love the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is truly all a parent ever hopes for their children is for them to know the truth and experience true and lasting joy because of it, and I feel like that is what Kierra and Riley are doing.
It was such a good feeling.
The kids once again listened intently to every word that she had to say and they all commented on how much they love her and Riley and how grateful they were to hear what they had to share.
The ride from the Oquirrh temple to the Draper temple was just long enough to lull everyone to sleep in the car so it was a peaceful ride there (until a certain girl felt an urge to be a tease, where there may or may not have been a few tears shed...:) (and Kesslyn was out for the count with exhaustion so we just let her sleep) but we also had a surprise for them at the Draper temple too, and that was the sweet and sincere testimony of Grandpa Trickett.
He shared his thoughts about when him and Gerry were able to take Tammy and Clint as babies and were sealed to them in the temple. He was in tears as he shared his testimony and it was very touching. Hearts were touched by the amount of love that was felt...and Clint and I both knew that the testimonies that were shared on this special night were by far the very best part of the evening, and that was what made the night so special. Yes, we are blessed to live in this land of temples, where we were able to visit 3 in one night, and yes we are blessed to be an eternal family, and yes, we are blessed to have the Spirit bear witness to us of these things, but my heart and mind will forever be unable to comprehend the amount of deep and abiding love that our Heavenly Father has for each of us. We have been given so much, and it's so hard to comprehend although I will forever continue to try...
As we ended our Progressive Temple Dinner, we pulled into the drive through of Arctic Circle where everyone but sleeping beauty had an ice cream cone. With a family prayer to end the night we all went straight to bed where hopefully these testimonies and memories sank deep into their minds. I know they did in mine, and I am once again so grateful for the temple, my eternal family, and the love I feel so much from our Heavenly Father. It's a happy Easter week indeed.
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