We have spent the last two months celebrating many things, several for the first time. These include our 24th wedding anniversary, my 50 year anniversary of receiving my endowments at the temple, and finally going to the temple without masks. We also celebrated the first birthday party for our eight year old granddaughter, Tiare, and her baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We celebrated the first birthdays of Haivyn, Rylee and Quinn and Abbie's first baptisms for the dead. Our lives are full of joy and happiness and we love it!
A photo at the end of the day of our 24th anniversary
A photo in the same spot 24 years earlier.
- From my journal on March 12, 2022:
Today is the 24th anniversary of my marriage to Deborah Moeller. The way that the Lord has brought us together and strengthened us in our marriage has been one of the strongest blessings of my life. It is generally the first answer when we reflect on the Lord’s hand in our lives.
Debbie suggested that we get away for a couple days to celebrate our anniversary, which we did. We wanted to include the temple in our celebration but had difficulty finding available open reservations at most temples in Utah on March 11 or 12. Finally we found two openings in the Provo temple on Friday, March 11 at 3:00 pm. Based on this we decided to stay in Orem, Utah, fairly close to the temple.
We started our retreat right after leaving the Jordan River Temple on Thursday night. After eating dinner, we went to our hotel room. There we sat on a couch and reminisced on those amazing experiences 24 years ago and so much that has occurred since then. We are incredibly blessed to share so much love together. In our minds, we have an ideal, if not perfect, relationship. It has come after difficult trials in each of our lives. We consider this the greatest example of grace in our lives. This was a blissful evening together.
The next day we celebrated Sam’s birthday with him at Braza Grill. We then proceeded to the Provo temple where we were able to be proxies for the in-laws of Anna Dorothea Helbing (see earlier journal entries). Afterwards we went to the BYU Museum of Art and enjoyed their exhibit of “From Earth to the Divine”. After some scrumptious ice cream from the BYU Creamery, we enjoyed a wonderful date night in our hotel., We found some good movies to enjoy from our Amazon Prime account.
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| In front of the Provo, Temple after enjoying an endowment session |
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| A view from the parking lot of our hotel, overlooking Utah Lake and a beautiful sunset |
Today we relaxed in the morning and then went to the Butterfly exhibit at Thanksgiving Point.. We visited with Gina and her family, and then had an early dinner at the Olive Garden. After unpacking and writing in my journal, we will enjoy a performance at Hale Center Theater. We never get tired of being together. What a wonderful last couple of days. I love my wife, my partner in so many things, my eternal companion!
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| Butterflies flying around Debbie and the Butterfly Exhibit |
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| At the Hale Center Theatre with an enjoyable play and my beautiful wife |
We generally don't do much for an anniversary present. This year, we checked out the ideas for our 24th anniversary. The suggestions were an opal stone or a musical instrument. So, Debbie got opal earrings and I got a harmonica. I even learned to play Mary had a Little Lamb before we left the hotel. I used to play the harmonica in my pre-mission days as a young adult.
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| It didn't break the bank, but added to the joy of your celebration |
As I mentioned above, it had gotten to be almost impossible to find a reservation to go to the temple. All temples in Utah have been fully reserved for future weeks. I guess that is a positive story about the dedication of members of the Church to go to the temple. On Wednesday, March 16, we were overjoyed to be greeted at the temple without masks as we arrived for our normal temple ordinance shift. That morning we were informed that masks would no longer be required in the temple and that capacity limits in the temples would be relaxed in the following week. After two years of limited access and mask requirements, this was perhaps the most exciting feelings of celebration that we could imagine.
50th Anniversary of receiving my endowments - also from my journal:
On March 3, 2022, I participated in a temple endowment session while Debbie played the organ in the temple. This is our normal Thursday routine. However, as I began the endowment session, I remembered that this was exactly 50 years since I received my own endowment on March 3, 1972. Floods of thoughts went through my mind and heart.
Sometimes it feels like I am not progressing in my temple learning. When I reflect on these 50 years, I know that I have been abundantly blessed with knowledge and understanding. Over this time, the actual processes for receiving initiatory and endowment ordinances have changed many times. However, the ordinances and covenants have remained the same. As I have studied the gospel more extensively, I have found many references to these temple ordinances. This has increased my understanding greatly. I have learned to ponder covenants, signs and tokens and the Lord has spoken to my mind and heart.
Progress has generally been slow, but that has made me treasure the increased understanding much more. As I have strived to better obey and live these sacred covenants, they have become more meaningful. Just a few weeks earlier I studied in Come Follow Me about tokens and how they remind us of covenants. This was related to the token of the rainbow as discussed in the study of Enoch and Noah and the flood. I desired to connect more tokens in the temple to specific covenants. As I pondered one of the tokens in the temple, I asked the Lord for specific understanding and received a very quick and direct answer. It was followed with an understanding that insights of these tokens in the temple are very personal and are not to be taught to others. It is to be received by the Holy Ghost and may differ for each individual. This was a wonderful enlightenment for me.
As we have studied the Old Testament this year, we have spent a lot of time on the covenants that God makes with his people. There has been special emphasis on the Abrahamic Covenant. President Russel M. Nelson challenged us to study the promises made in the Old Testament to the House of Israel. We read and studied the book “Let God Prevail” by Kerry Muhlstein which opened our eyes and tied much of the Old Testament covenants to our temple experiences today. Certainly, many of the promises in the temple relate to the House of Israel and to the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Pondering these promises and covenants and the additional study that we have had in the Old Testament has opened my eyes much wider as to the significance and history of temple covenants and ordinances.
Serving as an ordinance worker gives me opportunity to memorize many parts of the temple ordinances. This also gives me time to ponder their meaning more. Recently, I was able to ponder all the temple ordinances in sequence as I sat alone in the celestial room. I was overcome with joy for the blessings that our loving Heavenly Father offers to me and each of His children. On other occasions I have been able to pray specifically regarding certain parts of the endowment ordinance and received outpourings of the Spirit. I have been filled with gratitude for the love offered to me and all of God’s children.
One of the great joys of temple work has come from performing ordinances for our ancestors. As we have been blessed to do this many times over the past 7 years, the joy of these ancestors has been felt in our hearts in great abundance. Let me share one of many examples. In my January 30, 2022 journal entry I shared the story of finding Anna Dorothea Helbing. This included the discovery of her birth record and the strong feelings we felt when she and her father and grandfather received baptism by our grandchildren, her great . . . grandchildren. We have since completed all of their temple work including sealing four generations together. As we kneel by the altars of the temple and are proxies for these dear ancestors, tears come to our eyes. We often feel their acceptance of these ordinances as the sealing ordinances are performed. This certainly occurred in each of these sealings of the Helbing family and of so many others. As I am able to ponder the hand of the Lord in finding the information about our ancestors and of the previous ordinances performed, indescribable feelings come into my hearts. I know that this is part of the gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil and I know that it is part of Heavenly Father’s plan. I feel so incredibly blessed to be part of this marvelous work. It is one of the greatest blessings in my life.
That is quite a journey in 50 years, one that keeps getting better and better.
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Outside of the Jordan River Temple on March 3, 2022, 50 years after receiving my endowment for the first time.
Abbie's First Baptisms for the Dead:
Our granddaughter, Abbie, will be turning 12 later this year. With new guidelines she was eligible to do baptisms for the dead at the first of this year. However, her parents wanted to participate with her for her first time. Therefore, she did not participate in our January 29 grandchildren baptisms for the dead activity. We had scheduled a time with the Jordan River temple for Thursdays, February 10 and 17 at 7:00 am. This was the best time that we could schedule. Abbie was able to go with her parents and sister on February 10. She then returned to do more baptisms with her mother and her Opa on February 17, arriving a little bit late for her first class at school. Debbie was helping Kari in Nibley after a surgery the previous day, and the other cousins were at school or ill. Therefore, we had a special time with just Beckie, Abbie and myself. In fact, we were able to do 10 baptisms each which offered the opportunity for 30 more ancestors to become members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are thankful to have one more of our grandchildren in our baptism group. Our next appointment is next month! |
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| Opa, Abbie and her mother, Beckie |
Celebrating our children's anniversary:
A week before our's, our son Dan and his wife Amy celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary. So that they could get away together for the first time in 11 years, we tended their three sons for a few days. We have done this occasionally for some of our other children. This is quite a commitment but also an opportunity to get to know our grandchildren much more than in our normal interactions. That weekend we ended up with a few other commitments. Our grandsons participated in those activities with us. We started on Friday morning, March 4, and enjoyed the day in their home in Layton. On Saturday morning they came with us to celebrate the baptism of Tiare. Later that day they participated in the birthday party for our granddaughter, Aria. We finished the day back home in Layton. |
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| Enjoying some time at our condo in-between Saturday activities |
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| Painting dinosaurs at the birthday party |
That night we watched a movie together with the boys. Before the movie, Ashton suggested that we play a little pool together. I showed him a video that my friend Mike Johnson had recorded two years ago of me playing pool. It inspired Ashton. During the movie, Ashton made his own pool table out of a cereal box. I was impressed with his creativity. After the movie we played a little pool on his small pool table (not the homemade pool table).
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| Ashton with his homemade pool table |
On Sunday we all went to Church together. When we got home, their parents had already returned. These are fine young men who are being raised in a wonderful home. We were glad to spend this time with them and get to know them better. It gives us much hope for the future.
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| A selfie of us with our grandsons before Church |
Celebrating Tiare:
Moroni asked us in December if we could help him throw a birthday party for his daughter Tiare, who was turning 8 years old in February. She had never had a birthday party in her life. As she goes back and forth between her mother and her father in a shared parenting situation, her life has been less than ideal. We thought that this was a good idea. We invited all of her girl cousins close to her age to celebrate with her on President's day when we could get them all together. Debbie put a lot of effort into this and it turned out wonderful. Since Moroni had to work that morning early, Tiare stayed overnight with us on Sunday and helped prepare for her princess party. This gave us one more bonding experience with her! We were very pleased with the support that she received from her cousins. We had 8 of her girl cousins enjoy the party. We believe that this brings more happiness and happy memories into this sweet girl's life.
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Tiare after helping us get prepared for the birthday party
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| The birthday girl with some of the princesses |
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| Nine cousins around the table for Tiare's princess birthday party |
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| Moroni got involved in this game as Tiare's partner to even the numbers out |
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| Enjoying opening the birthday presents |
Tiare's grandmother on her mother's side has been taking her to Church on Sundays and helped prepare her to be baptized on March 5, 2022. I was invited to confirm her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since we were tending our grandsons that day, they all supported her as did Moroni and our son Ammon. We were pleased to share this special day with her and are pleased that Moroni is willing to support her in her weekly attendance at Church. When she is with Moroni on Saturday, he takes her back in time for Church on Sunday mornings.
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| Moroni with Tiare before her baptism. Moroni bought new clothes to dress up for the occasion. |
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| Tiare with her beautiful baptismal dress that her Grandma Siu honored her with |
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| Tiare with her Grandma Siu |
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| Tiare with her Oma and Oma. Little Owen also got into this picture. |
Celebrating the Twins Turning One:
The previous Saturday, February 26, 2022, Gina's twins, Rylee and Quinn turned one and had a birthday celebration. Gina does her big parties for her kids for their first birthday. This one was pretty amazing. Their soon to be Aunt Aide was a great help to Gina with the preparation as well as Danny's sisters. All went well. Aide and Pollyanna and her girls came. Giovanna and her family drove all the way from Rexburg, Idaho to Provo, Utah to celebrate with us. My mom also came with Debbie and I.
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| Pretty impressive decorations with these two little princesses |
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| The display included photos of the twins each month of their lives |
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| Another photo while eating cake with the remainder of the decorations, including lights that we got working. |
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| Parents at work to help them blow out their birthday brownies |
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| Enjoying pizza for all. Aide is holding holding Haivyn. |
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| Enjoying presents with their cousins. Our four youngest grandchildren, Sophia, Haivyn, Rylee and Quinn |
Pollyanna has always been the artist in the family. Her major contribution to the party was the preparation of the Birthday Charts for each of her nieces. Her talent leaves memories that will last.
Preparing for the Celebration of Lamoni and Aide's wedding:
On Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, we got a text from Lamoni inviting us to participate in tasting food options for their wedding. Fortunately, the timing was perfect and we went right over. Lamoni and Aide will be married on September 30, 2022 and this is part of the preparation for those plans. Each couple getting married this year at this location, were invited for this organizing tasting event. We are grateful to be included in this special day for them. This was a fun evening!
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| This table was reserved for Lamoni and Aide. We tasted Mexican and Italian food. They decided on one of the Italian plates. This table is decorated in their colors. |
Perhaps of smaller stature, we still enjoyed a few other celebrations. This included our Valentine's celebration, St. Patrick's Day and finally defrosting our freezer for the first time in 25 years.
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| We enjoyed a matinee movie on Valentine's Day. There was only one other couple in the theater. We enjoyed watching "American Underdog" as part of our Valentine's celebration. |
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| Enjoyed corned beef, cabbage and mashed potatoes on St. Patricks Day. Debbie always tries to make each holiday special. |
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| It took months of using up food in the freezer before we could defrost it. It had not been defrosted since it was purchased in 1996. Celebration! We will try to do this more often in the future. |
Celebrating Grandchildren Birthdays:
We always have birthdays to celebrate. The past two months were no different. The following are some of the birthday celebrations that we participated in, in person. We also celebrating Nick's 17th birthday with a dinner and Timothy turning 7 in Pennsylvania (no photos):
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| Singing to Tiare on her birthday, when she turned 8 |
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| Ashton turning 11 |
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| Celebrating Ella turning 7 and her Christmas celebration by Zoom, both after the fact. Kari in recovery from her operation. |
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| Haivyn turning One |
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| Presents on my 69th birthday |
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| Sports Ear Buds, books, DVD and a shirt |
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| Rylee and Quinn turning One at their party, enjoying their books |
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Aria turning Five . . . at her birthday party
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| Isake turning 15 and . . . |
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| Kaisha turning 16 on the same day |
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| Jon turning 14 |
Other grandchildren activities:
A few action photos from some sports activities that we were able to support:
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| Kaleb kicking the soccer ball at his indoor soccer game |
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| Ashton dribbling the basketball in his Junior Jazz basketball game |
With all of these celebrations, we are happy to enjoy the sunset in some of our moments of peace. This was a photo that we were able to take from the side of our condominium. Now we are ready for Spring!
