The Day of Awakening

You gotta get through 18 3/4 years of the [back breaking, heart aching, mind going crazy, blue-in-the-face] daily grind FIRST, but it finally comes.....it's the day when your child realizes AND admits JUST HOW GOOD HE HAS IT!  (and always has had it.)

We got this letter from our missionary son, Ryan, this week:

The letter was partially spurred on by him receiving some family photos we had taken before he left on his mission this summer.  They finally came back from the photographer, so I sent them to him in a little album:

We were kind of surprised to have our letter addressed to us in such a way, "My Eternal Forever Family" - such an upgrade from the usual, "The Brenchley's."  ;)

Then the content of the letter provided even bigger "revelations" to us:
"I am so grateful for what a great family I have!  The pics are just too precious!  Maybe it's the great color scheme or all our great smiles, but The Pictures just glows every time I look at it.  I took the album to church with me Sunday to show to some families and it got passed around to a couple of the other sisters in the ward.  Everyone who saw it was all, "Oh, what a Beautiful family you have!"  The other missionaries around the house were all commenting how much younger my family was.  (They're just jealous because their family grew up and isn't as cute as my family!)  I love you all so much.  You are all one of the main reasons I'm serving a mission.  I KNOW the happiness I have knowing my family can be together forever and I want nothing more than to share this message with others, and have them have the same Happiness I have!  I Love You all so much!"

(I think I want him to stay with this current group of missionaries who refer to us as the "YOUNG" family amongst the group!  ;)  In fact, when Ryan was telling his companion that his parents went on a 20th anniversary cruise, his companion pointed out that he's older than Ryan's parent's marriage!  His companion was born a few months before we were married....and he's the 4th child in his family to give ya an idea of the age difference in their parents!)


So, basically, now Ryan thinks we really are great!
(That's why we send them away!)  ;)
One child down, four to go!

In the Right Place at the Right Time

Ryan's day at the St. George Temple....

going for the first time to receive his own endowments.

 To find out more about temples, click HERE.

So GLAD for his choice to be there!

So GLAD to be there with him!

What a BLESSING the temple is!
It IS the House of the Lord - I could feel it!

Because of the temple, we can be a Forever Family = JOY.

------------

*For a history enthusiast like Ryan, the St. George temple holds a special meaning since the spirits of our country's Founding Fathers visited [the then President of the Church] Wilford Woodruff requesting that their temple work be performed for them.  A great painting (an artist's rendition of Pres. Woodruff's testimony) and plaque with all the men's names on it is displayed inside this temple.  Read about this interesting fact in THIS article.

Picture This: True Joy

It's no secret that sometimes we look TERRIBLE in pictures!  Just outright terrible.
(It's just that most the time, I choose to never let them make it on this blog, social media, or into my scrapbook!)

There are times when our smile just does not look good.  It's forced.  It's dumb.  It's half-hearted.  There's no reason to smile.

It might have been because we were NOT in the mood to get our photo taken.
We were tired.
We were mad at someone.
We were not excited.
We were frustrated with the photographer and had just uttered, through clenched teeth, "Just hurry and take the *&%$# picture!" - and at that very moment, they DID!

We were trying too hard.


We just weren't feelin' it!

CASE IN POINT:

Here's a few of MY less-than-stellar moments caught on "film" - or how do I say that now?  Caught in the digital world?

And Matt's had a few doozies, too:

Just trying to 'Keep it Real.'

It happens even when we're together in a photo:

(They're just NOT that cute of us AT ALL!)

AND.....we see it in our teenagers, too!

It was practically like pulling eye teeth to get Ryan to show some love to the camera when he was getting his Senior pictures taken a couple weeks ago.

His "enthusiasm" about this experience is evidenced by his scrunched up forehead,

 the look in his eyes that communicates, "My mom has such stupid ideas!",

 his refusal to smile, but instead opted to stare down the photographer,

and his "forced smile.....that borders on gnashing his teeth.

(My sweet friend/photographer was VERY patient with him!)

BUT.....then in stark contrast......check out these pictures from the evening Ryan opened his mission call.  

This event was a much anticipated, much welcomed, very blessed & joyful time in our lives.

 (with his cousin, Tayler)

 (with the "old neighborhood kids" - they first met when they were 4 & 5 years old!)

 (no cringing, no lopsided, wacky stuff, no perturbed looks - EXCEPT for Bob Marley on the T-shirt, that is!)

I specifically remember when the picture was being taken, thinking, "I don't even have to TRY to smile for this, I just can't hold it back!

 (Is that a GLISTEN in my eye?  Do we have the Orbit gum commercial sparkle-on-the-teethy-smile going on?)   

As exciting as it was to find out where & when he will be going, the fact that he is willing, and able, and worthy to go.....THAT is what is causing our bona fide smiles!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE it makes in your pictures (see photos at the beginning of this post for comparisons!) when you're genuinely feeling true joy - THE PROOF IS [definitely] IN THE PHOTOS!