Grammie, Jichan, and Sendai

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GRADUATES! Best wishes to Samantha and Eilis, who will both celebrate their high school graduations - Samantha on Wednesday, and Eilis next Saturday. They are two amazing young ladies who I know will set the world straight and be great contributors to a more positive society.

That said, they continue to make life an adventure for me - never sure what we are doing, but whatever it is, it is always fun❤

I think probably most of you saw the rendering of the Colorado Springs Temple that was released by the Church last week. Our Stake Conference was held this weekend, and last night our Stake President shared a little more information about it. He said the inside decor will be reflective of Colorado. Columbine flowers and mountains in stained glass settings, and the front of the building will face west with a view of Pikes Peak. The building permits have been submitted, and we were told it could take anywhere from 4 to 8 months for them to be approved - I am hoping for the 4 months. I think once those are approved, they can set a date for the groundbreaking. Also, President Harvey said, for the size and type of building we are getting, construction time could run from 36 - 48 months - again, I am hoping for the 36 months 😄. I can well remember the 2 hour drive to Oakland in Bay Area traffic, and driving to Seattle in 4 hours of snow and ice, a 1 hour by train, or 2 hour drive by car to the Tokyo Temple, a 2 hour drive to the Mesa Temple from Tucson, and a 2 hour flight from Okinawa to Tokyo. I really can't complain about the 50-minute drive to Denver, but the 15-minute drive to Flying Horse will be wonderful!!!

This past week Dad and I did some missionary work with our amazing missionaries, stayed busy with school work and studying, got a haircut, walked Sendai, went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant, and yesterday we got a lot of work done in our yard. However, what I loved the best was seeing or talking to everyone, if not in person, then by phone or over FaceTime. Tuesday, Spencer called and we had a great chat - He is busy working and saving money for school. He likes his job but has been looking around for something new. Kim Facetimed us one day, so we saw Blythe and just a smidgen of Chris. Also, talked to Grant for a second - He is hoping to come for a short visit this week. I FaceTimed with Kate a couple of times this week as she designed Senior Announcements for Eilis. Thank you, Kate - they turned out so great! On FaceTime, I also got to see Jonathan and Sayre. Adam came by one day after school to pick up Jakc's dirt bike, so got to have a short visit with Cory, Adam, and Jake. Paul came by one day for lunch. Angella came over yesterday to pick up Hollie, Eilis, and Ben, who stopped by after lunch with Joshua. And Samantha and Lily hijacked me for a downtown adventure. I talked to Max last weekend while he was in Logan with Adam and Cory, and hopefully, we will also see him sometime this week. I just realized that the only person I didn't see or talk to this week is Emma. EMMA, WHERE ARE YOU? 😀

I guess if I don't see or hear from you all week, I get to put funny photos of you on the blog 😇

Last month, during the week of Easter, there was a fabulous op-ed piece published in our newspaper. The author is someone I had never heard of before and not LDS, but his views of Christ and the meaning of Easter are so meaningful to me. I wanted to share this with you on Easter Sunday, but of course, when I sat down to write the blog, I couldn't find it and have been worried that I had accidentally thrown it away. But yesterday, when I was cleaning out a purse I hadn't used in a while, there it was. I wanted to share just a small portion with you today -

"Without Easter Sunday, Christmas would only be a fantastical story about a baby boy born to a young virgin.

Instead, Easter makes clear Christmas is a staggering moment of God coming to earth in the form of a helpless baby... and three days after being crucified, rises miraculously from the dead. Christmas and Easter though, aren't just holidays to hold onto for nostalgia and good feelings. At their core, Christmas and Easter are reminders that God can do anything with anyone at any time and for any reason at all.

They are reminders that we can and should live with extraordinary expectations. If God can come to earth as a baby, if He can live and die and then come back to life, there is nothing that He cannot do with you or with me - if that is what He chooses to do.

This means that in a broken world that so often seems angry, mean, malevolent, and miserable we can live with an anticipation that good will overcome evil, warmth will outwit and outwork wickedness, and that the darkness will never blot out the light.

In other words, we need to expect miracles.

To be continued . . .

Sunday selfies from last week that for some reason would not show up in my photos so I couldn't post them -

Here they are -