I Love To See The Temple

I keep learning good stuff about the

Temple.  

In the Book of Ezekiel is a vision

that he had.  He was with an Angel

and the Angel showed him a Temple.

The Temple had water coming from

the foundation. The Angel showed him

the Temple several times and each time the

water was higher.  First it was ankle deep,

then up to the knees and then the loins

and finally it was so deep you had to

swim in it.

The water flowed out from the Temple

and into the Dead Sea.  The sea came

alive....fish thrived and huge trees

bearing fruit were on the banks.

The point of the dream was this:

Living water flows from the Temple.

Whatever it touches lives.  

And

If you want to be immersed with the

blessings of the Temple you need to

immerse yourself in the Temple.

You can receive an ankle deep blessing,

a knee deep blessing or blessings up 

to the loins.  Or you can be immersed

in the blessings of Temple by

being there as often as you can.

I took these pictures because water flows

out from this Temple.  It fits the vision.

I also like the idea of the rocks and water

at the Snowflake Temple.  Jesus is our rock

and he is also our Living water.  

Temple statement for Utah South Area

          Given in the Manti Temple April 1987

        by Vaughn J. Featherstone

"The season of the world before us will be like no other in the history of mankind. Satan has unleashed every evil, every scheme, every blatant, vile perversion ever known to man in any generation. Just as this is the dispensation of the fullness of times, so it is also the dispensation of the fullness of evil. We and our wives and husbands, our children, and our members must find safety. There is no safety in the world, wealth cannot provide it, enforcement agencies cannot assure it, membership in this Church alone cannot bring it.

As the evil night darkens upon this generation, we must come to the temple for light and safety. In our temples we find quiet, sacred havens where the storm cannot penetrate to us. There are hosts of unseen sentinels watching over us and guarding our Temples. Angels attend every door. As it was in the days of Elisha so it will be for us: 'Those that be with us are more than they that be against us.' Before the Savior comes the world will darken. There will come a period of time where even the elect will lose hope if they do not come to the temples. The world will be so filled with evil that the righteous will only feel secure within these walls. The Saints will come here not only to do vicarious work, but to find a haven of peace. They will long to bring their children here for safety sake.

I believe we may well have living on the earth now or very soon, the boy or babe who will be the prophet of the Church when the Savior comes. Those who will sit in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are here. There are many in our homes and communities who will have apostolic callings. We must keep them clean, sweet, and pure in an oh-so-wicked world. There will be greater hosts of unseen beings in the temple. Prophets of old as well as those in this dispensation will visit the temples. Those who attend will feel their strength and their companionship. We will not be alone in our temples.

Our garments worn as instructed will clothe us in a manner as protective as temple walls. The covenants and ordinances will fill us with faith as living fire. In a day of desolating sickness, scorched earth, barren waste, sickening plagues, disease, destruction and death, we as a people will rest in the shade of trees, we will drink from the cooling fountains. We will abide in places of refuge from the storm, we will mount up as on eagles wings, we will be lifted out of an insane and evil world. We will be as fair as the sun and as clear as the moon.

The Savior will come and will honor His people. Those who are spared and prepared will be a temple loving people. They will know him. They will cry out, 'blessed be the name of He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Thou art my God and I will bless thee, Thou art my God and I will exalt thee.'

Our children will bow down at his feet and worship Him as the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. They will bathe His feet with their tears and He will weep and bless them for having suffered through the greatest trials ever known to man. His bowels will be filled with compassion and His heart will swell as wide as eternity and He will love them. He will bring peace that will last a thousand years and they will receive their reward to dwell with Him.

Let us prepare them with the faith to surmount every trial and every condition. We will do it in these holy, sacred temples. Come, come, come up to the temples of the Lord and abide in His presence.

 

 “I promise you that all who faithfully attend to Temple work will be blessed beyond measure. Your families will draw closer to the Lord, unseen angels will watch over your loved ones, when Satanic forces tempt them. The veil will be thin and great Spiritual experiences will distill upon this people.” 

Vaughn J. Featherstone
Mount Vernon Washington Stake Conference - June 1985

 

That's what I have learned about the Temple lately!

Show Low Historical Musuem

There is a story that I heard when I was

growing up.  My mom was deathly ill in the

McNary hospital.  She had a reoccurring 

dream that she in line with other folks

and one by one they would go through this

door.  She realized that they each died

as they went through the door.  Just as

her turn came a nurse named Shirley

Jones came in to check on her and shook

her awake.  I always thought Shirley saved

my mom's life.

Fast forward....Shirley is now my good 

friend here in Pinetop.  A couple of weeks

ago she asked if I would help out the

Show Low Historical Museum by

showing children how bread was made.

Considering she saved my mom's life,
I did owe her.  So that is what we
did yesterday.

We didn't actually make bread but

we really talked it up!

My friend, Leslee, came with me and I

 was very glad she did.  

Such a good friend!

These children were so good.

Made me almost miss my job

at the public library.  Almost.

 They had cool pictures at the Museum.  This is the quansut hut

gym.  It looks so ancient.  I don't remember it that way.

It seemed to shine.  It was big enough to play

basketball in and it was where we ate lunch until

my 4th grade year when they built a new cafeteria.
If I remember right it was green.  I think it had rolled
roofing from top to bottom.

This was the original school house.  I went

to 2nd and half of 3rd grade in there.  It seemed

like those front stairs were higher up and

had more steps.  My first kiss was right

up there inside the porch.....it was after

a school Halloween party.  That is actually

a good memory for me.

These were good people.  They are Charlie and Adele Whipple.

Charlie was the Principal.  He was a good man but

he was tough.  You didn't want to go to the Principal's

office.  Adele was his wife.  She taught every

LDS girl in Show Low in Young Women's.

I remember going to her house and it was this

humble farm home.  One Saturday she invited

us all over and she had built a fire and

taught us something....  I just needed the

feeling the fire gave me to want to

be a better girl.  She took us on picnics

and hikes.  I always felt she cared for me.

This is Martha Story.  I have not seen her for

years.  She taught my two sons in the second 

grade.  I was amazed that she remembered me.

And really amazed that she remembered those

two boys.  She wanted to know what they were

doing and seemed pleased that they were

both good citizens and responsible men.

I think that is what teachers hope they

can be part of making.  She even

remembered their names!

This is a switch board for telephones.
Our phone number was Keystone seven 4911.
I remember liking to say "Keystone seven".
The lady who ran it lived just down the
hill from my house.  Her name was
Jenny Stock.  She was my cousin, Greg's,
grandmother (on his dad's side).  We would
stop by her place sometimes and, as I
remember it, she didn't like me very well.
I remember that a lot about grown ups in
my childhood.  Maybe she was just
busy with this switch board and then, again,
I wasn't her granddaughter and Greg
was a cute little boy!


I still feel like I owe Shirley.  I had
a good day with those children and a good
day walking down memory lane.

When The Wind Blows.

We were reminded of the forest fire yesterday at the

Show Low Historical Museum.

It has been nine years since the Rodeo-Chediski Fire.

We have had a couple of springs since then that I

have not worried about forest fires....this isn't one of them.

We have not had any rain for a long time and the winter

was dry and now the winds are blowing.

You just have to wonder when and where one could start.

And pray that one won't.  Before the fire started we

had several gatherings to help us prepare in the event

of a fire.  I didn't think I would really have to deal with

evacuation.  But we did.  One lady from Pinedale, who

had been evacuated TWO times before the RC fire

told us to put together a binder with all the important papers

in it.  I just updated that.  I'm thinking about the rest.

Just as a review.....here are pictures from RC fire.

This is the Rodeo fire taking off from east of Cibecue.

We had all heard there was a fire but it seemed so

far away but the talk made us all worry.

That was Tuesday and Wednesday.

By Friday word was getting out that evacuations were

probably coming.  My brother, Jeff, who lives in Show Low

got word early in the morning by a knock on the door

that they needed to get out of town.  He said he packed

up his stuff and he and Tammy drove from their

home out to 260 (Main St.) and didn't see another car

on the road so they went home.  He called to tell us that

and we laughed.  It was short lived.

The above picture is the fire topping out on Cibecue

Ridge.  David and I drove out of town on Hwy 60 towards the fire

and stopped right here and saw this.  There were several

other cars stopped just sorta sight seeing.  But it was

ominous.  The smoke twirled around in separate columns

and you could see fire and it was so high.  You could

feel the strength of the fire.  We drove

back into Show Low and went to Safeway for something

we saw some folks we knew and they had heard that

evacution was emminate.  

I should say that we had been packing up stuff 

for several days.  We owned a motor home then

and we were able to put tons of stuff in there. We would

pack lighter next time.

 Chediski Column or Plume.  

We learned that this was dangerous.  The

smoke would climb and create a weather system

of its own and when the top iced over it would

collapse and create a wind on the ground that

would send intense wind and fire out in all directions.

Then the fire would be bigger to battle.

This is by Pinedale.  This picture was

on the front page of the Arizona Republic

and it covered the whole page.

Looking west from highway 60 the fire in front

is the Rodeo fire and the Chediski is in the back.

How do they fight things this huge?

 

The forest was so dry.  Fire would

climb up the pines and when they topped

out they would touch off fires in the tops

of other trees.  

The heroes that saved Pinetop were from Whiteriver.

Rick Lupe lead a crew of firefighters and they

created a burn line that held the fire.  I understood

that if the fire had crossed the highway there 

would have been no stopping it.  Sad side not:
I think it was a year later that Rick was caught

by surprise by a control burn fire and he lost

his life.  So sad.

Rodeo fire heading towards Pinetop.

Show Low town's people heading east away from the

oncoming fire.

June 24th.  Town is empty and

fire edging closer.

Aftermath Overgaard.

This is near Durango, Co.  They also had a fire

June 2002.  We have talked to folks from there

and compared notes.  

When we evacuated we went to Taylor and stayed

with David's sister, Denise's, family.  We went to

church with them on Sunday morning and I

remember Neal speaking and he was very comforting.

We ended up in the valley where David

needed to be anyway to take some

continuing education courses....who knew if

we would have a home left to return to but

either way he would have his hours done!

There were several emotional things that I remember.

One was the strong feeling of gratitude I had for

the firefighters.  They were truly heroes.  They didn't

know us but they put their lives on the line to fight

for our properties and lives.  I would

tear up whenever I saw one of them.  

The second is watching it unfold on TV.
When we got into Mesa we went to
Jill and John's house.  We were instantly
glued to the TV.  They were giving an
update as to where the front was and they
said was burning something in Fools Hollow.
I spent a lot of time at Fools Hollow
growing up and that just hit me hard
and my eyes teared up.  I remember
John looking at me with the greatest
compassion.


Third was the feeling of a common experience

with people I didn't know.  We all came so close

to loosing everything and left with the same

heavy and scared hearts.  I don't know their

names but I knew how they felt.

I hope we don't have to feel it again.

Do I deserve this?

This morning David came into the kitchen where I

was starting to bake bread and asked me if I liked my life.

I wondered if this was a question of concern....did he 

feel that I was unhappy.

At the moment he asked I was actually feeling

very much a part of my kitchen and at peace.

 So it was easy to answer  yes, I like my life.

OK, having said that, I almost feel guilty.

I am here at home.  I don't have to work.  I can

almost say I am pampered.  I work for David

but I am home.  I am in control of my 24 hour day.

I could go find a job (well, I would hope I could

be employed if I went looking). 

And that is what I thought this morning when David

asked me if I liked my life.  Am I spoiled?  

Should I be contributing financially in these

"less than what David's business was making times"?

His answer was "no".  It is always "no". 

We do

work together and I do all the things that interrupt

his ability to work. 

And then there is this other thing.....if I went

to work he would have to hire someone....and I for

sure wouldn't let that someone spend the day

in my house while I wasn't here.  And then the

money I would make would probably be enough

to pay whoever was hired.

So I will just continue to like my life.

And continue to feel blessed because it

is important to my husband that I

do like my life.  

All right ~ having said that here are some 

random pictures of my pampered life.

 These are my tomato plants I am growing from seed.

I have not had much luck with tomato seeds but

this year I am trying hard.  Don't tell anyone,

but I am talking to them.  They have become

my little friends.  And I think they like it.

 

I made this salad yesterday.  It is a low carb

Caesar Salad.  I love Caesar Salad.  But we

are eating low carb and my favorite part of

this CS is the crouton(s). So....I was

watching Paula Dean and she made

a CS with fried cheese. (Fried cheese....

yaaa whooo.  I have eaten fried cheese

as a treat my whole life.)  It was 

her substitute for croutons.  

 

She makes a big pancake with grated

cheese and just fries it on both sides then

cools it and breaks it up over her salad.

I did the same.

 

My chicken is lightly fried with a

almond coating.  I use my food processor

and pulzerize them.  Then I dip the

chicken in egg and dredge it in the

almonds.  And then just let them sizzle.

 

I made my own salad dressing.  It was

good.....I got it from the FoodNetwork

but I can't remember which show. Probably

any CS dressing would do.  But

this was good!

 

We went and visited Pete and Brittany in

Tucson a while back and Brittany had this

great slicer/dicer outfit.  I was quite

envious.  She said I could pick one up

at Wal-Mart.  I was going to but I 

went Yard Sale(ing) last weekend and

found this one for $.50.

Now I think I have one of everything

in my kitchen.  

I made this purse last night.  It is so dang cute.

My friend, Cami, made about a dozen

purses of assorted styles and she shared

her patterns with me.  She can whip this one

up in ONE hour.  I took me a good three.  I

bought this fabric at a yard sale.  It is

upholstery fabric.  The lining inside the

purse matches.

I added this little pocket (the pattern suggests a

bigger pocket) for my cell phone.  That is the one

thing I need to find in a hurry in a purse.

This is just Boo.  Some days she just lays by the

front door.  She is waiting for someone to

drop by.  We bore her.

How to make this thought gel together~

 This past Sunday was our Stake Conference.  And, as

usual it was so good.  One of the things that stayed with

me was a scripture that Pres. Shumway quoted.  It

is in the 47th chapter of Ezekiel....the better part of the chapter.

It is a vision that Ezekiel has about the Temple.  There is a

man (angel) showing him the different sides of the Temple

and there is water flowing out from the Temple. The water flows slowly at first.
Ezekiel says it is only up to his ankles, then as time goes on
it flows up to his knees and then his loins and finally
it is so deep you have to swim if you want to be in it.

  And this water runs towards and into the dead sea and

makes the sea alive.  He sees trees on the banks that

are green and beautiful and fish are in the sea.   The angel

tells him that the "sea was healed".  It was made alive.

 This is a vision about the Temple and the blessings
of being in the Temple.

He said if we only do Temple work up to the ankles

that is what we will receive in return.  If we want blessings
up to our knees then only do work up to the knees and so on.  If you

want the blessings of the Temple to immerse your life

then you have to immerse yourself in Temple work.

Then you will be alive and healed. 

I loved this.  It motivated me to attend the Temple

more.....go for a good swim. :)

We took our Young Men and Young Women to the Temple in

Snowflake to do baptisms tonight.  And as always it is

a wonderful experience.  These young people are so blessed

to be able to spend time in the Temple on a monthly basis.

AND....I took my mom's name to be sealed to her parents.

I was there to help with the kids so I was only expecting

to get her card printed and bring it back at a later time to
have her sealing done.

 But I ran into my cousin, Linda West, and I showed her 

the card and she said she was doing sealings that evening and

that I should come in and just get it done.  Well, it worked

out so I could.  Linda was proxy for mom's mom and I was

proxy for mom.  ITS DONE!!!

   I  feel was relieved and

pleased that this has been done.  Mom's birthday

was Monday so happy birthday, Mom.  

Happy Birthday.

And I sorta feel like I have gone for a good swim.

Arkansas inspirations

I have been thinking about a couple of things for a while now.

1) I bought a wooden cut out pig a couple of months

 ago and wanted to hang it from my ceiling with a cute

 saying and an arrow pointing to my kitchen.

2) Jill bought SIX old windows a while back.  She said

she had used several in her house and was wondering

what to do with the rest.  Well I piped up and asked for

one.  She said I could.  So I have been thinking of a way

to get it home.

Enter trip to Arkansas~~~

1)John bought us dinner at a restaurant in Conway

called "The Whole Hog".  Hmmmm....there was

my cute saying for my pig.

2) And the window.....it hitched a ride home with us

from Arkansas!  And now it is decorating my front window.

What to think about now...........

Jett turns TWO! Oh, my.

 Pete and Brittany came up two weekends ago to 

watch conference and celebrate Jett's 2nd birthday.

It was so nice to have them here.  

We took the quads and the Jeep and found some water.

Of course, that was a hit with Coda.  I have never seen a dog

love the water like he does.

This is Pete saving his daughters.  They crossed over

Show Low Creek and got stuck coming back. 

It is good to get out of the house and spend time

outside.  I loved it.  You  never know what you might

find.  In this case....it is a Beaver Den. (see the girls
in the top right of the picture....that is them before the rescue)

 How do they do this?  I wonder if it is noisy when

Beavers are at work?

Megan found this lizard. (see on top of her water horse)  I liked it that she was tough

and played with the lizard.  Ya, I liked that.

I love this.  Coda got so tired.  He ran in the 4-5 miles to

Show Low Creek and then swam the entire time we were there.

When it came to going home he just needed some help.

 Coda and Boo are friends. 

When Megan and Melanie come to my house they always

have something in mind for me to sew for them.  These were

the projects this trip.  These are water horses.  I used a

dinosaur pattern and added fins and a split tail on the end.

They liked them.  And I was amazed they turned out.

I started teaching the girls how to crochet. 

Our neighbor, Dylan, came over to visit and

when he saw the girls crocheting he went home

and came back with this big ole ball of yarn 

and his hook.  This was just so fun.

And then there was the birthday boy.

Jett turned TWO.  He is one busy boy!

Two is going to be a fun year!...Right, Brittany?

Happy Birthday, Jett.

Thanks for including us in your big day!

1088 miles to Arkansas.

David and I took a road trip to Arkansas to 

see Jill and John and family. We

took I-40 from Holbrook to Jill's door step.  It was 

almost a straight line to

Conway, Arkansas from Holbrook.  If I went by myself I wouldn't 

get lost.  Not that I would but I could.

I was going to take scenic pictures along 

the way but it isn't that scenic.

But once you get past Oklahoma City it becomes

green and stays green forever more.  This might
be interesting.  Proof that the wind blows in Texas.

I have my bearings mixed up in Conway. 

David and I decided it was because

of the thickness of the forest.  There are no

visible landmarks or mountains

to orient oneself.  But we went to be with family 

so it wasn't that big of a deal.  These guys knew
exactly where they were going....so we stayed in their
site all the time.

We wanted to see the Capital building in Little Rock.  

It is about a half hour S-SE of Conway.  

I love Capital buildings!

I love this picture. I just like seeing David helping

with the Grandchildren. 

  This was fun.  We went to the Treasurer's Office and they

let these kids hold $127,000.00.   I was sad when they just
gave it all back.

 

  The front doors are brass.  They were locked.....

we had to use the bottom entrance.

 

This is the ceiling in the Senate.  My picture doesn't capture

the beauty of the windows. 

 

We are standing in the middle of the building

looking west at the Senate door. 

 Final parting shot. 

We also went down by the River and saw the Submarine Arkansas. (Which
I didn't take a picture of!)

It was used in WW2 and then bought by Turkey and used by them until

2004 (I think) and then was brought to Little Rock and is in the

Arkansas River and you can tour it.  We didn't.... some of our little

people were too little.  But it was interesting anyway.

David and a torpedo.  This is a memorial to the U.S. Submarine
Veterans of WW2.

Parker and Quinn thought this big gun was something else.
We think it was an anti-aircraft gun.

We went to Quinn's soccer game on Sat. morning.  Arkansas had a heat

wave and also high humidity so he got really hot but he played pretty

dang good.  

After his game we packed a picnic lunch and went to Petit Jean.

 It is a mountain that overlooks the Arkansas River as it makes a turn from

north to east.  "Petit Jean" means "Little Jean or Little John".

The area is named for young woman in love who disguised

herself as a man so she could follow her love as he left

France to explore America.  They used the Arkansas River

for travel and spent the summer at this site.  Making a long

story short Jean was found out when she became very ill.

She died there and was more than likely buried there and

the area was named after her.

If you watched the newer version of True Grit it was written
about this area and they even mention Petit Jean.

This is looking at the Arkansas as it flows south on the
east side of Petit Jean.

This is looking south over farm land.  My pictures do not
do this beautiful scenery justice.

And this is looking southeast as the Arkansas turns
and heads east.

This was on a plaque.  It made me laugh.  Read the
last line.

And then there were the tourists.

Just a footnote.....I took a tiny tea set back to the girls.
I heard giggling in the kitchen and went in to see 
what was up.  What would we do without children
in our lives! (that is a jelly bean)

We loved our visit.  Thank you, Jill and John.
And thank you, Quinn, Parker and Paisley....you make me laugh.