Back to the basics...

My life has seemed so complicated these past 18 months... Yesterday was Greg and my 16th wedding anniversary and as we usually try to do we celebrated by going to the temple. I am embarrassed to say that it has been a long while since we have been able to go together. There are always obstacles in the way of going, before our 'day off' was Monday when the temples were closed and I was working, so that never worked out and something big always seems to come up when we are making the effort. It happened yesterday too - in the move we have misplaced Greg's scrip. that have his recommend in them,(do not ask why!!) So we finally get set to go and can't find his recommend. Thankfully our previous bishop Paul Warnes called in and vouched for him so we were able to go as planned. We also have some awesome employees... Mikenna, Andy and Brady who stepped up to the plate and took care of the restaurant for us, so that we could go without any worries. When we arrived at the temple, I was searching through my bag, just to make sure I didn't have Greg's recommend and I found my name tag from the day we were married and the time 7:10 a.m. wow!! Where did that come from? I also found a sweet note from my long deceased great grandma Barnes and the hankie she gave me that I remember the last time I used it in the Temple was when we went through for my deceased little sister and there were still mascara smears on it! Needless to say, I was feeling rather emotional! When I arrived in the chapel we were asked to be the witness couple and processed with a beautiful temple session. While Greg and I were talking after in the most beautiful of rooms, we both came away with the same impressions of how important it was for us to get back to the basics and make sure that we were putting our Heavenly Father and our family first in our lives. We needed to do a better job of showing our Heavenly Father and our children our dedication to Him and His gospel and we needed to do a much better job of showing our kids how much we love them and each other. We really felt that as we do these things that not only our family will be blessed, but so will the restaurant.

We have been blessed to be able to take ownership of the restaurant, that came at a high price for us, but will be worth it in the end as we will be able to be a lot more united on decisions made going forward. It will also be nice to not have the constant negative energy that surrounded the relationship between partners and especially between me and said partner. However, I have really struggled with those feeling within myself and want to be rid of them. We are told to pray for our 'enemies' and so I have put that into play and pray for myself to have a softened heart and the ability to again find peace within myself.

I have just finished reading Tony Dungee's book 'Quiet Strength' I originally checked it out for Austin to read, but wanted to read it first... It was an interesting book of his journey through the NFL and to the Super Bowl, there were so many lessons in it of putting faith and family first. I called Greg when I read the passage of "How successful would your business be if you gave it the same amount of time and energy that you give to your wife and children?" An interesting question for all of us to consider!!

Anyway, I feel that we are being led down a path to bring us closer together as a family and closer to our Heavenly Father. Something I feel we desperately need in our lives. We are facing many trials and I don't doubt that that will continue, as we need them to grow. I am thankful to know that He never gives up on us, but finds ways to use His quiet strength to continually teach and guide us and give us opportunities to find our way back to the path that leads to Him and our Eternal Home.