Grateful for 36 years together

 [November 11, 2015] Wednesday

Charlie and I celebrated our 36th anniversary on the 2nd.We had a good day being together. Thirty six years ago we talked about the kind of family we wanted to have and set goals for our life together. Our family has surpassed our hopes and dreams.

We have seven wonderful children with four amazing sons and daughters in law that we claim as our own. We are so grateful for the people they are and the way they live their lives. We appreciate how  they love and care for each other, especially while we are so far away. They are good friends and seem to really enjoy each others company. They are raising our 13 amazing grandchildren with love and hope and joy in their homes. This was the family we dreamed of 36 years ago.

Our dreams, though wonderful in themselves, could never come close to the real joy, intensity, deep love, and indescribable and overwhelmingly wonderful emotion that our family is to us. We are so grateful for them as well as our dear parents and siblings. We are grateful that families can be Eternal through the blessings of the Temple. We can't imagine Eternity without any one of them.

Thirty six years ago we also talked about serving missions together when the time was right. And here we are in Cochabamba, Bolivia serving in the Temple and helping these sweet people become Eternal Families. We are so grateful for Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness for His children. He really loves us and wants us to be happy and wants our families to be together forever.

This week we started working on the afternoon shift again. It's sweet to be with these sisters again. I have missed them. I also realized that some of them who I loved dearly but had a hard time understanding are much easier to understand, so I guess I am learning and improving my Spanish.

It's always sweet to work in the Temple no matter what our assignment is. Every day it changes and I love finding out what I get to do each day. This week I was able to care for two brothers while they waited to be sealed to their parents. The older one was 12 and his little brother was 6 months old. It was so good to hold this sweet little chubby baby and get him dressed in white clothing. The older brother Carlos was so sweet with little Lucas and would sing to him, and Lucas would smile and laugh at his big brother. I got to hold Lucas at the altar while the family was sealed. A very touching experience for me.

I served in the Baptistry twice this week. I love working with the youth. One of those times Charlie was also serving in the Baptistry. It is always fun seeing him in the Temple and especially serving with him. I love serving in the Temple.