Write at the Heart

 When Capture the Flag Makes You Cry:  Last night I sat on our front steps and watched the kids play Capture the Flag with the neighborhood and I felt myself get emotional. What is the deal!  The deal is moving here was not planned. MOVING was, yes. For a couple years my husband and I both felt promptings and knew in our hearts a change was coming. We just thought that change was somewhere else. In fact, we’d accepted a tentative offer somewhere else- overseas. Then this offer came, and as much as I pushed back at first (it wasn’t the PLAN!) it totally felt right. Everything about it. And here we are living in a place that was never on our radar, ever. The timing of everything is so interesting & we look back and know God had a hand. In the first couple months while I comforted sad, homesick children, I often asked myself, WHAT have we done? The kids would ask why we moved, and our best answer was, “We just felt like we needed to.” Which isn’t satisfying for a hurting...

A fellow soccer mom struck up a conversation with me the other day. I told her we moved here right before the shut down, and she asked with concern, “Oh wow, so do ya’ll have a good church to go to? You need a good faith family in times like these!” For a second I was tempted to say yes, and leave it at that. But I decided to go for it, “Yes, we do! We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and it was so nice to have a faith family after the move!”  My heart rate went up a bit. What does she think? Is she gonna ask me about a gold Bible? About my sister wives? Does she know what a “Mormon” is? I’m HOW old, and yet explaining my religion is all new to me?! She said she was glad & that she also has a really good church family in her non-denominational faith. And that was it. Whew! I did it! I boldly declared my religion and nobody attacked me! (Yet) Eight months ago we left our Utah “bubble,” so they say, and ventured out to the Midwest. I am 100% falling...

During the long drive to our new home in January, we stopped briefly in Nauvoo. My husband and I were immediately struck by the feeling in that place! The spirit of Nauvoo is incredibly special, tangible, sacred. I felt encircled by the past and the people who lived there. Their whispers, their strength, their sorrow, their faith.  I felt the Saints there. I think it’s interesting that as Nephi is lamenting about the wickedness happening around him, he reflects on the faith of his ancestors. “Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem, that I could have joyed with him in the promised land... Yea, if my days could have been in those days, then would my soul have had joy in the righteousness of my brethren.” Hel. 7 Along with his namesakes, he talks of Moses, Abraham, Zenos, and more, testifying and rejoicing in Christ. He longs to rejoice with them. It’s special to rejoice with others who share your beliefs. That k...

A few months ago we were getting ready to embark on a three-day journey to our new home. As we emptied every last thing out of the house we’d lived in for the last 12 years, we stood in our garage full of stuff, exhausted, emotional, and desperately trying to fit all that stuff into our two vehicles, along with six kids, and the cat. We then realized something. We’d made a huge mistake! A week earlier we had to decide what stayed with us in the house until our day of departure and what went onto the moving truck. Guess what, we left WAY TOO MUCH behind, giving us no choice but to weed out the things that weren’t important enough to take with us. We threw a nice big pile to the side of the house, and my SWEET SWEET parents took care of it the next day! “Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you.” Alma 39:14 We COULD NOT carry them with us! But we MADE SURE we carried what was MOST important. I love the Lord’s words to Emma: “Lay ...

Three years ago we felt prompted to move, and as time went on those feelings got stronger and stronger. Six months ago we headed off on this new adventure, away from our family, friends, and house of 12 years to a completely unfamiliar place multiple states away. Then two months in, the world went crazy. I could have NEVER predicted the year like this! Just what the kids needed after we ripped them out of their comfort zone, right... Needless to say, it’s been hard for the kids to make friends, and my heart has hurt for them, and many tears have been shed by them and by me, and while they have been so resilient in many ways, sometimes I wonder what we have done! And yet... in my heart I know we are supposed to be here, and have felt God’s reassurance, love, and tender mercies throughout all of this! For one, our family is closer than ever. Watching my kids be each other’s best friends is a beautiful thing, even if it is by default. But friends are important. And there have been two par...