October General Conference

Playing catch-up again, as seems to be the normal way I run things around here. General Conference in October was a wonderful weekend for us full of family traditions, delicious food, and uplifting words by God's prophets. Oh how I look forward to this weekend every year! I like to say it's like Christmas for the soul!

We cook up a feast for the weekend every conference, adding to the celebratory spirit of things. Nathan cooks up delicious crepes that we enjoy for breakfast each day, topped with sliced fruit, yogurt, whipped cream, Nutella, or peanut butter. Our family favorite is a chocolate crepe topped with banana, peanut butter, Nutella, and whipped cream. Oh it's delicious! 

Every year we put together a family puzzle while listening to one of the sessions, and this year the puzzle was a lovely Eric Dowdle painting that was created to pay homage to his favorite band (which we also happen to really love), Imagine Dragons. We really enjoyed working on this creation as a team. Puzzles are such a great way to help the children listen quietly to conference, and we love the bonding time.

Each year we have different ways of helping the children pay attention to the words being spoken, like Conference Bingo or other activities. This year we did a snack bar labeled with words. Each time they heard 'temple' spoken, they could collect a piece of cheese popcorn to put in their snack bowl. Each type of snack or treat has a label, so they are usually picking up a snack every minute or so. 

They loved collecting a variety of snacks and enjoyed eating them while we listened. Joseph was really excited for this activity and would get SO excited every time he heard words from our list.

Then Nathan decided to secretly add a bit of humor to the snack bar.

I absolutely love these two days of spiritual feasting. What a privilege it is to live in a time when God's prophets speak again. Oh heavens, how I delight in General Conference!

The words filled my soul, uplifted and encouraged me, and helped me see more clearly where I need to repent and improve. I cherish these words and study them for years afterwards. This week I've enjoyed listening to these talks all over again on my MP3 player while I clean or sew. I don't think I will ever tire of re-visiting the same talks over and over again, pondering the wealth of wisdom and trying to live a better life.

I am so thankful we have these conference twice each year, creating a weekend of intense learning and worship. It initiates some introspection and reminds me most powerfully who I really am and why I'm here and where I want to be going. It's such a pleasure to shut out the noise of the world and focus on the things of God for an entire weekend.

Today I am blessed with the chance to go worship in the temple with my husband, and boy howdy am I excited! I've been looking forward to this day for weeks (October is always too busy for me to sneak away to the temple- it's the busy season for body artists.). This school year I have been doing genealogy work each Tuesday while Joseph is in preschool. Today I will have the privilege of taking in over 350 names I've found in the last few months.

I am excited beyond words! I have felt the Spirit so strongly with some of these names as I searched and searched for their vital records. It's a bit like detective work, or a delightful puzzle, trying to piece together the story of a person's life through government records. And there is such euphoria when I finally find the missing clue that lets me piece together a family at last. I have truly felt the exhilarating Spirit of Elijah in this work, which I am very thankful for. That spirit transforms a service that sounds rather boring (hours of research and paperwork) into something vibrant, exciting, and personally satisfying. That alone is a miracle, I think.

I really believe that some of these people have been eagerly waiting to be found and have the opportunity to have their temple work done. I have felt such a deep spiritual connection, and a love, for many of these people. They are not ever just names on a paper to me. I am so thankful for the technology we are blessed with today that allows me to do this work from the comfort of my own home, instead of requiring long trips into town to visit the Family History Center.

I'm positively giddy with excitement to take these names to the temple today! I have the privilege of reuniting families that have been separated for centuries! My heart is just bursting with joy for these families who have waited so long. What a marvelous opportunity for service. Life is wonderful.