Forever A Family
On Saturday Oct 13th, we went to the Mount Timpanogos Temple and had Shay sealed to our family.
It was by far the neatest experience of our lives! To have all of our children in white, together, in the Lords house was so sacred, I can hardly put it into words. Shay has added such a soft, magical and lasting touch to our family. To make it 'official' in the most important way was something we couldn't wait to do.
The preparing for the actual day requires soooo much: white clothes for all the kids and us, when to do the blessing, where to do the blessing, which temple to have her sealed in, what date works for everyone, to serve food, what food would work?? and well Aiden in the temple. YIKES! Plus the photographer in me already had the most beautiful pictures in my mind, even where I would hang it on the wall!
All of that... all the planning... went down the drain.
We had our pictures scheduled a few days before the sealing with a dear friend who is also an adoptive mom and photographer to get those magical pictures I had already planned in my mind... we got there and the temple that I had chosen over all the others because of it's beauty was COVERED in scaffolding for cleaning that I was told would be completely down by then. We decided to still give it a go.. but Aiden decided he didn't want to give it a go. Angie (the photographer) was amazing and did everything under the sun to keep the shoot going but Aiden was just not having it. Looove, his sweet his sparkling personality;) She took nearly 900 pictures of continual snapping to maybe catch something.. anything and there is maybe, 5 where is even looking at the camera and not screaming. no joke. I temporarily re-thought about this whole sealing to eternity thing (so jk). I really could have killed him though.
Finally the night before the sealing comes and we needed to make a deisicion on where we're going to do the blessing right after the sealing... in the pavilion I reserved right there in the same parking lot or in a church house nearby? The long awaited weather was looking good, 55 degrees, not ideal but with a jacket totally do able for a blessing and a quick lunch in. So we decided on the pavilion and went in that direction. So we head off to the Temple, I give my mom strict instructions on the camera and when to have to out and where. I pack all the clothes, threaten Aiden to PLEASE be calm in the sealing room.... and kiss them good bye in the youth center and pray this day doesn't crash down on me.
... Well the weather LIED, LIED, LIED. Not only was it NOT 55 degree's it was 42 and WET from the rain the day before. We walk of of the Temple and it was a mad house. The construction had shut down the special door you come out of and so you had to use the main entrance. With all the weddings, our party got pushed out to the common area on the grounds, so when we walked out it was an entirely different party waiting by the doors. We go out in search of them and their all kind of everywhere. My strict instructions for the camera.. .gone. It was tucked away in the camera bag. Moment was gone. I tried to salvage the idea of a family picture again since we were all in white, but 5 minutes in I realized it was going down the same path with three kids under 4 and I gave up. My poor baby that is supposed to be in a beautiful blessing dress glowing is now wrapped up in a hoodie with a very red nose. The beautiful picture that your supposed to get of your family on the baby's blessing day is us bent down on wet grass with our freezing red little nose kids, who are COVERED in MUD! My poor guests. They were literally frozen. The grounds were wet and muddy so the kids were all covered, pictures were a lost cause, temple under construction, dumb, dumb weather and a horrible hair day.
However..... However.... However
The Lord always has a way of teaching me whats most important because the moment that we were all there for, that 20 mins in the temple was unforgettable!
So sacred.
So spiritual.
We were surrounded by the ones we love most
Family
Birth families of our children
Our amazing Bishop
And our closest and dearest friends
It didn't matter so much anymore that everything up to that point and after didn't really work out the way we'd planned.
The love and support in that room hit us like a wave when we walked in.
The sealer was amazing
(for recording purposes I will share some of the things said)
He talked directly to us
you could feel the intensity when he spoke
He told us how many people were in support this day and the union of Shay to our family
How there were more people in that room from the other side in attendance then physically there.
That this was a good thing
That NO MATTER WHAT THIS LIFE THROWS AT US, IT NO LONGER MATTERS BECAUSE WE WILL HAVE DONE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING AND THAT'S BECOME AN ETERNAL FAMILY! That nothing else matters, this is it. We accomplished the most important thing (as long as we keep our covenants)
The spirit was so strong in the room after he spoke
I felt my heart preparing for a moment that would not only seal my daughter to me but that Shay would be given an eternal family and all the blessing that come with that.
The sweet temple workers then brought in Mason, Aiden and Shay.
Any fear I had of Aiden being crazy quickly evaporated when I saw him and the reverence he had, I knew it wasn't in him to automatically change like that so I knew he was having help and I then knew they felt something too.
They walked in all dressed in white, my heart was so full I can hardly describe it.
The boys looked so handsome and Shay was glowing!
They handed Shay to my mother in law who we had asked to hold her at the alter
and the boys came and sat with us.
They were sweet, calm and reverent. They were amazing and I couldn't have been more proud!
The experience at the alter is something I'll never forget.
She is now ours... in every sense of the word:)
She is something I never saw coming.
I'm a mother to a daughter... weird but so, so humbling and beautiful
I don't know if she is our last one but I do know we've been sufficiently blessed
& our family feels more complete than I ever dreamed.
Our friends and family were troopers in the cold, I mean troopers! They totally hung in their for our special yet freezing day. Everybody helped with the food. Cookie came the temple grounds (huge thing for me). My dad, like Greg dad, received my invitation and showed up, we felt peace and love with Shay's birth family, our family was so supportive and loving and Seth gave his sweet little girl a beautiful blessing. All while Shay was true how she always is and was an angel:)
In all the ways that mattered, Shay's day was perfect!
We love you Shay Cj!
Thank you for finding us
