Our family had a wonderful opportunity on Saturday. We went to the temple together! For the first time, all the kids are now old enough to go in the temple (and of course it's a bonus having children who are endowed as well).
Three and a half years ago, I brought names to the temple. Lots of names. I think there were around 75. I had been working on the Kennedy family and my Frank/Matchett family for a while, and the names just kept appearing. Most of the names, I know extremely well. In other words, I have researched them extensively, and in just about every case, I can tell my children exactly how they are related to them (without looking at any notes!) We headed to Utah that summer, and we had the great experience of doing the baptisms for all of those names in the Provo temple with the Alpine cousins. That was such a beautiful beginning.
For the past few years, it feels as though there has been a righteous army of people attempting to finish the work. Ethan, Mark, Katrina and I have been working on the initiatories. Likewise, we have been working on finishing the endowments (along with John). While not completely finished (Mark still has names), I had a stack of cards of family members who were ready to be sealed.
So, Ethan, John and I headed into the DC temple to do the couple sealings, as well as the sealings of son to parents. It was such a beautiful moment. It was the capstone of years of hard work.
And sitting there, in that beautiful room, I was so happy for those families. And I was reminded of my own journey through this life. There's nothing more important than what happens in the temples.
We finished just in time to head down to the basement of the temple, and when we got there, there were the girls, all dressed in white, ready to start a new batch of family names.
Yes, we're starting over again. Not as many names this time because my research has been far more extensive into the lives of the individuals, but 36 names in total. It was a beautiful thing to see John baptizing Ethan for the Franks, and then Ethan turning around and baptizing John for the Ardus family. Then, Ethan baptized both of the girls for the Frank and Ardus women.
It filled my heart with joy to see my kids so happy. While they don't know the individuals like I do, they know the family names, and I could see how happy they were to be doing the work for their own family. Even Ethan, when he saw a good German name come up on the screen, used his best German accent to pronounce the name. Having had my name mispronounced all my life, I'm sure the Macholl/Ardus ancestors appreciated hearing their names spoken correctly.
When we left the temple, there was such joy in our family. It was a wonderful day.
Three and a half years ago, I brought names to the temple. Lots of names. I think there were around 75. I had been working on the Kennedy family and my Frank/Matchett family for a while, and the names just kept appearing. Most of the names, I know extremely well. In other words, I have researched them extensively, and in just about every case, I can tell my children exactly how they are related to them (without looking at any notes!) We headed to Utah that summer, and we had the great experience of doing the baptisms for all of those names in the Provo temple with the Alpine cousins. That was such a beautiful beginning.
For the past few years, it feels as though there has been a righteous army of people attempting to finish the work. Ethan, Mark, Katrina and I have been working on the initiatories. Likewise, we have been working on finishing the endowments (along with John). While not completely finished (Mark still has names), I had a stack of cards of family members who were ready to be sealed.
So, Ethan, John and I headed into the DC temple to do the couple sealings, as well as the sealings of son to parents. It was such a beautiful moment. It was the capstone of years of hard work.
And sitting there, in that beautiful room, I was so happy for those families. And I was reminded of my own journey through this life. There's nothing more important than what happens in the temples.
We finished just in time to head down to the basement of the temple, and when we got there, there were the girls, all dressed in white, ready to start a new batch of family names.Yes, we're starting over again. Not as many names this time because my research has been far more extensive into the lives of the individuals, but 36 names in total. It was a beautiful thing to see John baptizing Ethan for the Franks, and then Ethan turning around and baptizing John for the Ardus family. Then, Ethan baptized both of the girls for the Frank and Ardus women.
It filled my heart with joy to see my kids so happy. While they don't know the individuals like I do, they know the family names, and I could see how happy they were to be doing the work for their own family. Even Ethan, when he saw a good German name come up on the screen, used his best German accent to pronounce the name. Having had my name mispronounced all my life, I'm sure the Macholl/Ardus ancestors appreciated hearing their names spoken correctly.
When we left the temple, there was such joy in our family. It was a wonderful day.
This was such a great day in the life of our family, baptisms, confirmations, and sealings and all because Mommy did the work, what a great day! Thanks Mommy, you are awesome and such a great gealogy Mama!
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