Happy (42nd) Birthday Bruce...
Happy Anniversary too!
Who can believe it's been 16 years already!
...hummm not much changed then haha!!!
So...for the past few weeks we've been trying to contain our excitement as we've been making plans to travel to the Preston temple to have Layton sealed to us. We finally got the adoption papers through the children received temple recommends, and after checking out the dates, time was booked off work & school and everything set to have Layton sealed to us on our anniversary, 16 years to the day that Bruce and I were married for time and all eternity. and our fathers were even able to be witnesses as they were for our marriage sealing.
We were all looking forward to the trip, everything was sorted and in place. The children had prepared themselves and had sacrificed to make this possible. They had sold A LOT of their DVDs, music Cd's and computer games in order to put together the money to fund this trip.
On the morning we were due to leave, Bruce woke up really ill and told us he couldn't go.
Well....we were having none of that! We asked his dad to come give him a blessing, we all started fasting for him (again I was amazed how the children never complained, not even once...that's unheard of!!!) I told the children we would let dad rest till lunch time and then I would go and check on him. By 11am, Bruce came down and said he felt well enough to travel, by 12.30 we were on our way. We later found out members of our ward had been texting each other asking one another to pray for us. I was so touched by their acts of service for us, and so grateful our prayers had been heard and answered so quickly.
What an amazing experience we all had. As we knelt at the alter, our children were brought into the room, each had chosen their own white clothes and the girls had little fancy hair grips/bands they all looked beautiful. I felt such gratitude. At the end of the sealing we all huddled together and looked into the mirrors which reflected on each other to symbolise the eternities...We could just about see ourselves through the tears that were streaming down our faces. The love we felt for each other was strengthened so much, and now Layton is apart of us for ever, we've done all we can to secure him and give him every blessing and opportunity our other children have. We love him so much. The temple workers made this experience so special for us and we are so grateful.
As we were going back to our accommodation, the children asked if we could adopt another child so they could go back into the temple!!!
We were so happy both of our parents were able to be with us on this special day.
Later in the evening Bruce and I were able to go into the sealing rooms again and do work on behalf of our ancestors. We were able to seal about 20 couples and over 70 children to their parents. We made a commitment that where ever possible, on our anniversary each year we want to go to the temple and do sealing's for our ancestors and allow as many as possible the same blessings as we have been richly blessed with and are so very thankful for.
