Reliving our Honeymoon 25 years later

Since we were married, much has changed.  Some of that is highlighted in our recent trip back east to celebrate our 25 years of marriage.  With precaution and courage we completed a 12 day trip to Lehighton, Philadelphia, New York City and the  Washington D.C. area.  We are so thankful that Debbie's health has recovered sufficiently for us to have this time together.  Our circumstances and expectations have changed dramatically, but the Lord has walked with us in this process.  

We were able to care for Debbie's health but when we returned home we found that our poor furnace had failed in our absence.  As we adjusted back into our routine, we were blessed with two fabulous weeks. This included being fed by our prophets, apostles and leaders in General Conference and then pondering and celebrating the Holy Week.

Debbie in a wheelchair and no more Twin Towers, two of the changes of the past 25 years

In January of this year, we began making plans to visit our daughter Melanie and her family in Pennsylvania to participate in the baptism of their sixth and last child, Timothy.  He was born on our 17th wedding anniversary.  Now, 8 years later, this scheduled trip for his baptism coincided with our 25th wedding anniversary.  We decided to extend this scheduled trip to revisit the Washington D.C. and New York City areas as we had done 25 years earlier.  We went ahead and paid for our airfare and reserved several hotels and a show on Broadway.  This all occurred just a week or two before Debbie went to the hospital and was diagnosed with heart failure.

The next six weeks were full of doctor visits and the beginning of a life long treatment for Debbie.  As we progressed through these initial visits, each of the doctors involved assured us that Debbie could safely travel on an airplane and did not feel that her medical condition would need to restrict the scheduled trip.  They assured us that Debbie could do as much as she felt comfortable doing.  That condition in itself became the biggest limitation.  Debbie was doing better but still had limited energy and ability to walk for extensive distances.  As we considered our plans, we made it a matter of our fast day in early March.  We did not want to do anything unwise and felt that our Heavenly Father would warn us of any potential danger or complications.  

As we finished the fast, Debbie announced that she was ready and willing to make the trip, but perhaps for six days instead of twelve.  As we looked at the costs of changing airfare and some non refundable reservations, we determined that our costs to take the 12 day trip were equivalent to taking the 6 day trip.  We decided to move forward with our original plans, taking care to not over schedule our itinerary which is my normal tendency. 

Our adjusted plans were as follows:

Day 1 and 2 - Fly to Philadelphia overnight on a direct flight and then hang around Philadelphia during the day. We would then meet our four grandchildren and their parents for a scheduled baptisms of the dead appointment that evening at the Philadelphia Temple.  During our wait, we participated in initiatory and endowment ordinances in the temple during the day.  That also allowed us time to visit Independence Hall in Philadelphia, a site that we were not able to visit 25 years earlier, since at that time we did not have a reservation.

At the Philadelphia Temple in the morning

Add Independence Hall in Philadelphia in the afternoon

In front of the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed

With our Pennsylvania family after baptisms for the dead in the evening

Day 2 - Participate in the baptism of our grandson, Timothy, in Lehighton, Pennsylvania and enjoy time with Melanie's family.  We invited them come to our hotel and swim in the hotel pool and then have a pizza dinner together at the hotel.

Timothy and his dad right before his baptism

With Timothy after his baptism

Our grandson Timothy with his new scriptures and scripture chase, presents for his baptism

Timothy helping clean the Church right after his baptism.  His family is in charge of cleaning for the month of March.  I thought he was being a good example as a new member of the ward.

Grandkids enjoying a belated Christmas gift in our hotel room

Day 3 - Go to Church in their branch where Timothy was confirmed a member of the Church.  This allowed us to also enjoy four of our grandsons bless and pass the sacrament to us. We then spent the rest of the day in their home, eating dinner, playing games and visiting.  We finished that day with a Zoom interview in our hotel room with a stake in Honduras which was part of our scheduled missionary responsibilities.

We received an instrumental recital from a few of our grandsons

Our number one activity in Lehighton is always playing Connect 4 with each of the grandchildren.  They win their grandpa more than they lose.  It is always great fun.

Day 4 - Drive to New York City, visiting the 9/11 memorial site.  This was a major change from our honeymoon when the Twin Towers were still up.  We had not previously experienced the changes that had taken place since that time.  Then check into our hotel in New Jersey.

One of the memorial pools at the site of one of the twin tower.  The white building behind is the 9/11 Museum.

In front of the new One World Trade Center

Looking at the Statue of Liberty from the Observatory on the One World Trade Center

Our special photo taken at the observatory with the background of the New York Skyline

Day 5 - Spend the day in NewYork City, Upper Manhattan.  We went to the Manhattan Temple and participated in sealing and endowment ordinances, visited a trombone recital at the Juilliard School of Music and finished our day with a Broadway musical of "Camelot" which was held at the Lincoln Center of Performing Arts.  All these opportunities were within easy walking distance of each other and a parking location that we prepaid for 24 hours.  The next three photos were taken from the same spot in the middle of Broadway Avenue, looking at these three sites: 

Looking East, seeing the Manhattan Temple

Looking west, seeing the Juilliard School of Music

Looking southwest, seeing the Lincoln Center of Performing Arts

The Beaumont Theater at the Lincoln Center Theater were we saw Camelot

In the Theater for the performance of Camelot

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In the Juilliard School of Music

Day 6 - Check out of our hotel, and spend half of a day at the Statue of Liberty and then continue onto our hotel in Virginia.  We again finished our night with an interview from our mission with a stake in Wyoming.

Taking the ferry to the Statue of Liberty

Approaching the Island and the Statue

Panoramic View of the New York Skyline from Liberty Island

On the island with the Statue of Liberty behind us

In front of the Statue of Liberty

Day 7 - Visit Washington D.C. using a Hop on and Hop off bus to minimize our walking, focusing our attention on the National Gallery of Art, which we had not seen much of during our honeymoon.

An original from Leonardo Da Vinci in the National Gallery of Art

During our visit, we saw several artists painting look a likes of existing art in the Gallery.  I was impressed with how well they are able to replicate the pieces.

Blooming Magnolia bushes near the National Gallery of Art

Close-up of one of the beautiful Magnolia blossoms

Day 8 - Visit Mount Vernon  and then finish with a visit to the Washington D.C. Temple which had been remodeled and recently rededicated since our first visit there during our honeymoon.

After the tour of the Mount Vernon mansion

At the Washington D.C. Temple on a rainy day

Same Temple with the photo from the steps of the 
Visitors Center

In the Visitors Center of the Washington D.C. Temple

Day 9 - Finish our visit to Washington D.C. focusing on the Martin Luther King memorial which we had not previously seen and the Lincoln Memorial which is one of our favorites.  We also hoped to see the Cherry blossoms which were in full bloom during this week.  All this worked out wonderfully.

In front of the Martin Luther King Memorial

At the Martin Luther King memorial with the Washington Memorial and Jefferson Memorial in the background, and cherry blossoms everywhere.

Surrounded by cherry blossoms

In the middle of the Cherry blossoms near the Washington Monument

Amongst the cherry blossoms at the Martin Luther King Memorial

At my favorite memorial, the Lincoln Memorial

Day 10 - Attend Church in the ward closest to our hotel in Springfield, Virginia and use the time to catch up on our Come Follow Me study and other Sabbath priorities.  Due to time zone differences, we were also able to attend our ward in South Jordan by Zoom.  We were very impressed with the leadership, meetings and lessons at this local ward.

At the local meetinghouse where we attended Church.  Our only time out of our hotel on this restful Sabbath Day.

Day 11- Travel to Richmond Virginia and attend the Open House for the new Temple there, which had just begun two days earlier.  We added a visit to the home of Patrick Henry in Scotchtown, Virginia.  We then drove all the way back to Philadelphia, were we stayed overnight before catching our flight home early the next morning.

We attended the open house for this temple on the second day that it was available, right before we ended our trip

At the conclusion of our tour of the Richmond Virginia Temple Open House

Beautiful White tulips and other flowers in front of the Richmond Temple

The home of Patrick Henry in Scotchtown, Virgina

This was a self-guided tour of the Scotchtown historical site, calling a cell phone number gave us the audio tour of the site 

Day 12 - Fly home on an early morning direct flight from Philadelphia to Salt Lake City, arriving in Utah by 10:15 a.m. to a dead furnace.

The following are some of the contrasts of our honeymoon and our visit 25 years later that have stuck in our minds and heart:

25 years ago, Debbie accepted my invitation to become my eternal companion, one of the most monumental moments of both of our lives.  When considering marriage with this angel, one of her few weaknesses that I had identified was that she had never flown on an airplane.  I proposed that we solve that during our honeymoon.  Her choice was to go to Washington D.C. On the day of our marriage, we left on an airplane to spend a week getting to know each other better in the Washington D.C. area, including a few days in New York City.  So much has changed in this 25 years and other things have stayed the same.  I want to share this blog post highlighting several of those differences and consistencies.

25 years ago, we were very tight with money, so this was a budget trip.  We traveled using Sky Miles rewards, stayed at very low cost hotels and didn't eat out much.  However, we were full of love and good health and did not let those limitations stop us from enjoying our honeymoon.  We shared a love for the Lord and our country and let that be a priority in our trip.

Now, 25 years later, our financial condition is much more comfortable.  This has allowed us to actually pay for the airfare, stay in more comfortable hotels, and include a few more conveniences in our trip.  This also became a requirement due to Debbie's recent health challenges and accompanying limitations.  We continue more than ever to be united in our love for the Lord, His temples and our country.

To make this trip work, we had to become a mobile medical facility.  We had many supplies to take with us on the trip to monitor and treat her health.  This included ongoing treatment for her dysfunctional bladder, continuing recovery from her surgery last October and now, treatment of her heart failure.  During the entire trip she continued to wear a heart monitor that is measuring her heart rate 24 hours a day and we continued to take a daily measurement of her weight, blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen level.  We traveled with medication for her bladder that needs to be refrigerated, rechargeable batteries for her heart monitor, daily replacement of heart monitor electrodes, medications for morning and night and daily catheters and cremes for her skin scars.  This slowed down the process each day, but ensures her continuing health.

Part of the medical supplies that we carried in our suitcases.  In addition to these, we took a bathroom scale with us which is not included in this photo.  Perhaps the most important medical supply was the chocolate which is Debbie's go to solution when the low sodium diet becomes unbearable.

Wheelchairs were lifesavers:

To make this process work, we determined to use wheel chairs wherever possible so that Debbie would not become too exhausted and still be able to enjoy the sites that we visited.  This started with arrangements with the airlines, where Delta provided wheel chair services and expedited security clearance for Debbie with her heart monitor in the Salt Lake City and Philadelphia Airports.  This included transportation from check-in to boarding and from the arrival to baggage and ground transportation.

Waiting at the boarding area in SLC.  I was offered an available wheelchair to sit alongside Debbie while we were waiting for our priority boarding. 

A Delta employee pushing Debbie from our arrival to the baggage claim area on our return trip

We found wheel chair services at most locations that we visited.  These included at the 9/11 Museum in NYC, the Statue of Liberty Island, the National Art Gallery in Washington D.C., Mount Vernon and at the Richmond, Virginia Temple Open House.  We are thankful that our society makes special efforts to assist the handicapped.  This greatly blessed our lives during this trip and made it possible.

Overlooking original pieces of the Twin Towers in the 9/11 Museum

Debbie enjoying the wall of photos of the 9/11 victims

Debbie enjoying the wall of drawings of the blue sky of the day of 9/11/2001

Waiting in her wheel chair to load onto the ferry to the Statue of Liberty

In front of the Statue of Liberty in her wheelchair

In the museum in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty

By a full size of the replica of the toe of the Statue of Liberty in the General Museum

In the colonial furniture display at the National Gallery of Art

Enjoying Rembrandt paintings in the National Gallery of Art

Enjoying a painting of Daniel in the Lion's Den

Way in front of Mount Vernon, we saved a lot of steps

Joining our scheduled tour of Mount Vernon

In the reception room of the Mount Vernon home

Inside of the Mount Vernon home, looking out over the Potomac River behind the home

In front of a George Washington replica inside the Mount Vernon Visitor's Center

In front of original photos of George and Martha Washington

Other challenges and solutions:

It seemed that most days we started with health challenges for Debbie.  However, generally these challenges were overcome and we had wonderful experiences.  For example:

On Day 4 at the 9/11 memorial site, the weather was quite cold and we arrived an hour before our scheduled time to enter the Museum.  We spent some time outside in the cold and Debbie wasn't feeling well.  We finally prevailed on them letting us enter the museum early.  Once out of the cold and in a secure wheelchair, the rest of the day went wonderful.

On Day 5 we went to the Manhattan Temple.  Fighting through traffic in Manhattan, it took us 17 minutes to travel 1.7 miles to our reserved parking garage.  Trying to get to the temple in time for our scheduled sealing session, Debbie had to hurry through the block and a half walk. When we stepped to the temple recommend desk, we were told that the elevator was not working, which meant we would have to walk six flights of stairs to the sealing rooms.  Debbie rested for awhile and then the temple president helped us take a different elevator to the Stake Center on the third floor. From there he walked with us as we slowly walked up two more flights of stairs to the dressing room.  After changing we walked up one more flight of stairs to the sealing room.  They waited for us before starting the sealing session and the rest of the day went wonderfully, including an enjoyable endowment session and extra time in that vicinity to leisurely take our time.

The Sealing Rooms are on the top floor of this multistory temple in Manhattan.  The elevator was working for our exit from the temple by the time that we finished our temple visit.

On Day 6, we were following our GPS to the Statue of Liberty Ferry.  This led us to the Ferry to NYC from the same company. As we wandered from our car, we found out that the Ferry to the Statue of Liberty was 3 or 4 blocks to the south.  Rather than return to our car, we tried to walk it.  I ran ahead and arranged for us to get on the next ferry while Debbie did the best that she could.  She was exhausted and then we had to walk another few blocks to the security to get onto the ferry.  Fortunately, once there, they gave us a wheel chair to get back to the ferry.  We also got a wheel chair once we got to the island and once again the rest of the day went well.

The Ferry crossing to the Statue of Liberty was a long ways down this path, much longer than Debbie could walk.

On Day 7 in Washington D.C., Debbie was feeling extra weak in the morning.  We arranged to park at the Arlington Cemetery and take the Hop On Hop Off bus around Washington D.C.  Unfortunately the closest stop to the National Gallery of Art was two long blocks away.  Debbie felt weak and had to stop and rest.  I went ahead and prevailed on them to let me take a wheel chair out of the Gallery and pick Debbie up.  Again, once she got into the wheel chair, everything went better.

At the end of the day, we were planned to  return to Arlington Cemetery on the Hop On Hop Off bus to pick up our car. When we were checking the schedule to see if we could stop first at the Lincoln Memorial, we found that they did not go to the Arlington Cemetery after 4:00 pm.  The bus we were on would not go there, so we had to get off at the Lincoln Memorial and I had to run across the bridge over the Potomac River to recover our car at Arlington Cemetery while Debbie waited at the Lincoln Memorial.  All went well enough except Debbie's cell phone was on silent initially and we could not connect.  By the time I drove a long way around half of the Mall, I still could not find the actual street where she was waiting.  Finally, due to the cherry blossom viewing season, roads where changed to one way and I ended up driving well out of the area.  Finally Debbie called me and we connected, but the bizarre traffic conditions delayed our reuniting for almost an hour.

We used the Big Bus, Hop On, Hop Off to get around Washington D.C. Mall area, trying to minimize walking requirements.  It worked except for the distant stop from the National Art Gallery and the decision to not to go to the Arlington Cemetery after 4:00 pm.

We were there during the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which seemed to create additional traffic congestion everywhere.  We could not arrive at the Jefferson Memorial due to so much foot traffic in the Area.

Day 9 in Washington D.C. went much better, as we had learned routines and schedules for our Hop On Hop Off bus.  We stayed on the bus from Arlington until the Washington Monument and then Hopped On and Off for the next few stops without complication, finally arriving at our Arlington Cemetery location by 3:30 pm without any significant challenges.  One minor challenge was the out of order elevator from the ground level up to the statue of Abraham Lincoln.  However, Debbie braved the steps and made it up to the top.

The elevator to the Washington Memorial was out of order.  However, going slowly, Debbie was able to go up all of these stairs to enjoy an up close visit at the Lincoln Memorial.

Extra Rests:
To preserve Debbie's energy and health, we tried to not pack our schedule too tight.  That gave time for needed rest for Debbie along the way.  

The most difficult was the original flight arriving in Philadelphia at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time, allowing us only 4 hours to sleep on the plane.  We had time to sleep in the morning, but no hotel to check into until later in the day.  We did manage to park our car in the parking under the temple and relax a little in the welcome center.  Better sleeping occurred in the car where no one would bother us.

Resting in the car in the parking under the Philadelphia Temple

When visiting grandchildren we usually spend full days with them.  This time, Debbie took a nap after the baptism before the grandkids came to our hotel for our Saturday afternoon activities.  This helped still catch up on the previous day lack of sleep.

Resting in the hotel room after the baptism and before the swimming activity

When in NYC near the Lincoln Center, we had a few hours of time waiting for the play, Camelot.  We were able to rest in the Lobby of the David Geffen Hall.

Relaxing in the lobby if the David Geffen Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic 

There were other opportunities for Debbie to rest during our longer drives and on the weekend in Washington D.C. in our hotel.

Then and Now:

On our honeymoon, we had a few memorable experiences, some good and some more difficult.  We enjoyed remembering them and having some contrasting or similar experiences.  25 years ago, we had some poor food service in New Jersey before driving to our scheduled showing of Phantom of the Opera.  That time, I dropped Debbie off at the theater while I found somewhere to park the car.  This time around, we had reserved parking for 24 hours near the Lincoln Center and plenty of time to arrive.  For our Broadway show, this was a major improvement.

In the Beaumont Theater as soon as they opened in plenty of time for the performance.

During our honeymoon, we lived on homemade sandwiches for the first couple of days, trying to economize on our expenditures.  After three days of this, Debbie asked if we could eat out.  We went ahead and found a local Brazilian Restaurant that was absolutely delightful.  This was Debbie's first experience with a Brazilian Rodizio.  We actually went there twice.  The second time they had chicken hearts at our request.  

This time around we were pleased to find a Brazilian Restaurant close to the Washington D.C. Temple.  The price was much higher than 25 years ago, but the service was wonderful and our memories were priceless.  We found a parking spot right in front of the restaurant which we counted as a tender mercy.

They even served us chicken hearts at our request and gave us a free dessert because it was our anniversary.  One of the servers that took care of us was a young adult member of the Church from Brazil.  We had a nice conversation with him after he recognized our missionary badges.  Debbie could not eat the Rodizio with her low sodium diet, but had a wonderful serving of Salmon and still could enjoy the salad bar with some Brazilian specialties.

Being served Rodizio Style

Chicken Hearts, served special for us.

A free piece of Key Lime Pie for our Anniversary

This night was rainy when we arrived at the restaurant and also when we left.  As we drove down the street we noticed some papers under our windshield wipers.  We discovered that it was a parking ticket, which cost more than our meal did 25 years ago.  We didn't see anything that we did wrong, but thought it better to pay the fine after the fact.  Since we had a rental car, they would have paid it and charged us an additional fee as well. 

On our honeymoon we attended an endowment session at the Washington D.C. Temple.  In their endowment rooms there is no aisle in the middle of the room.  That allowed us to sit next to each other 25 years ago.  This year, we were able to have the same experience, reliving one more of our memories.

Since that trip 25 years ago, the Washington D.C. Temple was remodeled and rededicated last year.  The Philadelphia, Manhattan and Richmond Virginia Temples did not exist at that time.  So we were able to enjoy many more temple visits than previously.

Philadelphia Temple

Manhattan Temple

Rededicated Washington D.C. Temple

New Richmond Virginia Temple

We also continue our love for our country and are inspired by so many national landmarks.  Some are new, such as the new One World Trade Center which has replaced the Twin Towers.  Consequently, the New York City skyline is also different.  The others continue to inspire us.  The following are the close up photos that we took from some of our favorites:

Arriving Home:

As we arrived home on March 28, we found our condo to be a bit cold, about 55 degrees.  It had still been snowing in Utah while we were away. We discovered that while we were gone our furnace had died.  We were fortunate to get a company out that same day and a new furnace put in the following day.

Replacing the Furnace

The finished product, bank account smaller, but the condo is warmer

As we got back home, we had another visit with the Heart Failure Clinic that same week and another increase of medication.  Two days later, the Heart Monitor equipment malfunctioned, so we stopped using that at 26 days instead of 30.  Debbie also returned to the Cardio Rehab.  We made it through this wonderful trip without damage to her health.

After going to the Cardio Rehab they told us that Debbie could try going back to the gym, which we did the following week.  Debbie felt well enough that she stayed longer than she should have and then had some struggles as we returned home.  We are still going to the Cardio Rehab and being more cautious in subsequent visits to the gym.

Back on her exercise bike at the gym.  She stayed on it too long.  Will need to be more cautious going forward.

That same week that we returned, we were able to attend a missionary reunion with my mission president from 50 years ago.  I was blessed with a mission president who was very young, so he continues to be with us.  His health has declined but we loved being with him and his wife and many other missionaries.

With my mission leaders, Nelson and Lucille Baker, fifty years later, still an inspiration to me.

Our missionary reunion in the home of the Bakers

A photo of my transfer card from the mission.  The Bakers still had these to share with the missionaries!

Right after coming back, we enjoyed General Conference Weekend followed with the Holy Week.  We loved listening to our Church leaders.  In the first talk of conference, Elder Gary Stevenson encouraged us to make our Easter Celebration more meaningful for this most important event in the history of the world.  We began studying in detail each day of Holy Week and loved it. As we came to the Saturday before Easter, we had baptisms for the dead scheduled with our grandchildren.  Then we realized that this was the time that the Savior was preaching in the Spirit World.  We were excited and felt that our time in the temple doing baptisms for the dead was a perfect way to celebrate the Saturday before Easter.

We went with 6 of our grandchildren and our four grandchildren in Pennsylvania also went on Good Friday.  We are so happy to have grandchildren who love doing this work for our ancestors.  Our eleventh grandchild who was not with us on this visit completed his baptisms for the dead 6 days later.

With Six of our grandchildren on the day before Easter at the Draper Temple

This photo is from our trip to Philadelphia.  The same group went on Good Friday.

Ashton right before doing baptisms for the dead six days later.  Within one week all eleven of our grandkids with temple recommends were able to be doing work for their ancestors in the temple.

At our Easter Dinner with our family, we were able to put additional focus on our Savior than we had previously planned.  This included our granddaughter, McKenzie, singing "An Easter Hallelujah" and sharing some thoughts about the resurrection with all in attendance.

Birthdays:

Only a few grandchildren birthdays.  We were able to celebrate Jon's 15th birthday on our way to the airport, just a few days early.  Then we celebrated Timothy's 8th birthday in person in Pennsylvania, just six days after his birthday.

Jon, turning 15, four days before his birthday

Timothy enjoying his birthday books.  We were able to be with him in person, even if we were 6 days after his birthday.

25 years Happily Weathering Storms of Life Together

Today we are celebrating 25 years of marriage.  This has been an incredible journey, one that has grown more dear with each passing year.  I can't say enough about this wonderful wife and the joy that we feel as we serve together as parents, grandparents, missionaries, ministers and in our Church callings and community responsibilities. We love being eternal companions.  In the past seven weeks, as we have traveled together on the road to recovery of Debbie's heart failure, our love has intensified. 

Completing 25 years of marriage

We have had a small celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary together this past weekend.  We are leaving later this week for a visit back east.  We will participate in our grandson, Timothy's, baptism.  Then we will extend this trip to enjoy time in Washington D.C. and New York where we celebrated our honeymoon 25 years ago.  More on that in the next blog.  

For now, this has been our simple celebration. Since our anniversary fell on our stake conference Sunday, we did some celebrating on Saturday night and were spiritually fed by our leaders in our stake conference meetings.  This is one of the great strengths of our marriage.  We both strive to put God first in our lives.  Once we do that other things fall into place.  By prioritizing God in our marriage, our differences become strengths and tools as we together strive to serve God.  This special weekend was filled with three sessions of Stake Conference and an annual devotional for the temple workers of the Jordan River Temple.  As we participate in these activities together, our joy and love increases. 

Together in our home sweet home, before going out to dinner

Eating out Chinese for the first time on Debbie's low sodium diet.  They cooked the  Cashew Chicken in low sodium soy sauce.

Then we stopped by the Jordan River Temple where we were married 25 years ago.

Photo with the entire temple behind us

We finished off our anniversary date with a carrot cake to share

Simple anniversary gifts, quality chocolate and a new book written on Compassion by our friend, Elder Ulisses Soares.  We enjoy sharing each of these gifts with each other. 

On our anniversary, in between stake conference sessions, I finally completed reading the Book of Mormon in German.  This has been a labor of love that has taken more than a year.  Debbie finished this on our mission, but I have been much slower. I started over last year before we went on our trip to Germany.  I must say that my reading skills in German have increased and the truths of the Book of Mormon still touches my heart when reading in German.

The completion of the Book of Mormon in German.  This app lets you read with both languages visible at the same time and translation ability for the German.  This made it much easier to do. 

Debbie's road to recovery from Heart Failure:

The biggest story of the past six weeks has been Debbie's progress in recovering from "heart failure".  We have not had a miraculous healing experience, but the Lord has walked this path with us in a very personal way.  In our Come Follow Me study, we were directed to a talk by Elder David A. Bednar.  In this talk, Elder Bednar tells of a young couple who were facing cancer just a few weeks after their marriage.  Elder Bednar challenged them to have faith not to be healed.  This created much pondering on their part.  As they went through this thought process, they came to this conclusion, "I knew that having faith —at least in my circumstance —was not necessarily knowing that he would heal me, but that He could heal me. I had to believe that He could, and then whether it happened was up to Him. . . As I allowed those two ideas to coexist in my life, focused faith in Jesus Christ and complete submission to His will, I found greater comfort and peace.”

As this topic was tender to me, it caused much pondering.  I loved this answer.  I know that Jesus Christ can heal Debbie.  At the same time, we both feel incredible peace and comfort by accepting His will, knowing that He knows what is best for us eternally.  The following comes from my Come Follow Me notes in our study of the miracles of the Savior two weeks ago and reflects how we have received our miracles.

This is a timely discussion as we treat Debbie’s “heart failure”. We would love a complete healing miracle on her behalf. However as we have prayed and Debbie has received blessings we have felt His hand in unmistakable ways, but not in total healing. We have felt clearly that He is totally aware of Debbie and her circumstances. As we have tried to see His hand in this process we have seen the following miracles:

• Debbie has been blessed with peace and calm, contrary to her natural feelings of anxiety. This was specifically promised in two priesthood blessings. This included a spiritual experience in her prayers while in the hospital. This may be the most discernible miracle of all. There has been an amazing  peace about both of us as the treatment of this illness has progressed. 
• We feel that we have been blessed with excellent medical care. Modern medicine is a miracle all by itself and has been revealed to bless all mankind, not just Debbie. 
• On our February 5 fast day many family and friends were fasting for Debbie. I wanted to do a full 24 hour fast also. Jacob had come and cooked for us on Saturday and we didn’t finish eating until 8:00 p.m.  Therefore I fasted until 8:15 Sunday Night. Debbie also participated with very limited food intake. Our prayer together before breaking our fast was heartfelt and sincere. We felt strong reassurances from the Lord. One of Debbie’s challenges is an extremely low blood pressure.  As we finished the prayer my mind went to the blood pressure, feeling that it would be a visible confirmation if it improved. Right after the prayer we took her blood pressure. It was 124/73 after being 94/67 earlier that day. It has still had its ups and downs since, but I felt a tingling through my body that the Lord accepted our fast and prayers at that time and was responding. The blood pressure has not been a major concern since. 
• We have had many miracles to see the Lord’s hand in guiding us to proper care on a timely basis.  This includes:
• Promptings to go to the initial visit at the Instacare which led us to the hospital and the correct healthcare. 
• Answers to prayers to get us scheduled quickly with specialists for tests and cardiac attention the following week, against earlier efforts to get us care 4 weeks later.  (Earliest date was February 24 for an initial visit). This was accomplished by a special hospital coordinator. 
• Getting nighttime oxygen with another miraculous visit to our primary care physician the day after leaving the hospital. 
• Quick additional visits with specialists on February 14 and 17.  This included starting her medication treatment the prior week. 
• Getting into a sleep evaluation appointment, scheduled for March 21 on February 28 in a clearly miraculous chain of events. 
• While I was writing this, Debbie came and told me that her heart monitor that she needs to wear for 30 days had not been sent due to the lack of insurance information. That was discouraging as we are clearly anxious to get the different elements of the treatment as soon as possible. It was supposed to be here by that Tuesday. The next morning Debbie was able to call the company and resolve the insurance issue. They responded with promising to FedEx the equipment to us, which they did. We received it two days later. Therefore, a significant delay was resolved in just a few days. 
• Strength from those close to her who have important insights. This includes her sister, LuAnn who spent her career as a nurse in the cardiology unit and her best friend from 50 years ago who went through a similar heart failure just a few years ago. These two have provided much calm and reassurance for Debbie.

As I compare our miracles to the lessons learned in the exercise below, we certainly feel God’s "Hesed" to us. He is blessing us spiritually as well as physically. He has reassured us that He looks at Debbie’s heart and her faithfulness with joy. During this process, Debbie has been blessed with sufficient strength to serve in temple ordinances, family history work, ministering to others, serving in her mission and our new activities committee calling and to our family even though her physical strength has been limited. We know that we are being blessed in a way that is unique to our circumstances. 

The following is from Debbie's journal in the one if the scheduling miracles noted above.  It reflects in detail what we have experienced over and over again.

February 27, 2023:

"I have to record a miracle that happened today.  I called the sleep institute today to schedule an appointment for a sleep test.  The soonest I could get in was March 21st. I was pretty discouraged about that.  When I told Tom about the appointment I had scheduled  for the sleep evaluation he commented that he needed to call and find out when his annual checkup was for his sleep apnea.  When he called he found out he didn't have an appointment scheduled.  His initial thought was to switch his appointment or let me go to his appointment which would be much sooner than March 21.  They told him that he could come in tomorrow at 1:40 pm. She discovered that appointment time was for a "new patient" so Tom asked if I could be the new patient and take that appointment!  She said that would work.  She set it up and canceled the March 21st appointment. That was a miracle! A few minutes later someone called from the sleep institute to let me know that there had been a mistake and that the provider had a meeting he had to attend at my scheduled time.  He asked if we could change the appointment. I thought, "Oh, no, now we will probably be back to the March 21st appointment date."  He said he would check with the provider to see when he would be available to see me.When he came back on the phone he asked me if 11:00 tomorrow would be okay.  I was elated! That was the second miracle!  Now we won't have to worry about getting done with my appointment with Dr. Clayton at 1:00 pm.  God is great - God is Good - God knows and loves me!"

We have spent these past six weeks in multiple appointments each week, sometimes multiple appointments on the same day.  This has also included our annual physicals, dental and vision appointments.  Debbie has started cardio rehab and is now using a heart monitor for the next 30 days to monitor her heart rhythm.  The doctors have been increasing her medication while monitoring her kidney health.  Blood pressure has not been a problem!

New heart failure medications.  These will probably be used the remainder of Debbie's life.  How grateful we are that God has revealed medications in our day to help with heart issues.

The heart monitor that Debbie is wearing for 30 days so that they can better understand her heart rhythm

Debbie working out at the Cardio Rehab with them monitoring her  heart

Debbie's second day on the tread mill. This will help her regain the endurance that she has lost. 

After several visits with the heart failure clinic, the doctors have told us that there is no reason that Debbie could not travel.  When questioned about the oxygen that Debbie is receiving at night, the doctor said not to worry, for oxygen should not be a problem at the lower elevation that we will be at.

So this past Sunday we fasted to know if it would be safe to travel.  Receiving no stupors or concerns, Debbie agreed to go for for 6 days instead of the originally scheduled 12 days.  However, as we tried to modify our already paid for and scheduled air fare, we found that it would cost us an additional $650 in airfare to make changes.  That is approximately our cost for those additional six days in hotel rooms.  So in the end, we have kept our original schedule and will be leaving this week for Philadelphia, Lehighton, New York City and Washington D.C.

Temple and Family History Experiences:

Last month there were significant adjustments made to the presentation of ordinances in the temple.  The following journal entry shares my thoughts from a few weeks ago.  

February 22, 2023

Just over two weeks ago, on February 6, 2023, a new version of the temple endowment was released in all of the temples worldwide. This was done without prior notice except to temple presidencies and a few individuals in the temple department. We heard from our 92 year old friend, Joyce Crosby, that day, that the endowment was changed. she said it was more Christ focused. As I arrived at my temple shift on Thursday morning, I learned new details. That same day, I was privileged to attend the new presentation. I loved it!  The word has spread and for the last two weeks, all temple endowment sessions have been filled to near capacity with limited  appointments available. I was able to return with Debbie the next Wednesday and we enjoyed it together. On Thursday, after my shift I was able to attend for a third time. 

Without disclosing more than I should, let me share what happened this morning. In our daily Temple Operations Division devotional, our senior manager played a clip from President Nelson’s October 2021 Conference talk which told us almost a year and a half ago what was coming. Debbie and I were in awe of the prophet’s words which have now been fulfilled.  The following is from His conference talk which gives all the disclosure that I will share. I am so thankful for living prophets and apostles to guide us in these latter days. 

“The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have often asked the Lord if there are better ways to take the blessings of the temple to His faithful children. We seek guidance regularly on how to ensure worldwide accuracy and consistency of temple instruction, covenants, and ordinances despite differences in language and culture.

Under the Lord’s direction and in answer to our prayers, recent procedural adjustments have been made. He is the One who wants you to understand with great clarity exactly what you are making covenants to do. He is the One who wants you to experience fully His sacred ordinances. He wants you to comprehend your privileges, promises, and responsibilities. He wants you to have spiritual insights and awakenings you’ve never had before. This He desires for all temple patrons, no matter where they live.

Current adjustments in temple procedures, and others that will follow, are continuing evidence that the Lord is actively directing His Church. He is providing opportunities for each of us to bolster our spiritual foundations more effectively by centering our lives on Him and on the ordinances and covenants of His temple. When you bring your temple recommend, a contrite heart, and a seeking mind to the Lord’s house of learning, He will teach you.”

After my mother passed away last year, all of the temple ordinances that she had reserved were unreserved within Family Search.  Since then I have tried to find an easy way to re-reserve these ordinances and share them with our relatives.  I discovered a new Family Group concept within Family Search.  I have now created two" family groups" for our German ancestors, one for my father's ancestors and the other for Debbie's father's ancestors.  I have invited others to be part of these groups, giving them the opportunity to all access the same ordinances and to share and reserve from these groups.  It appears that the Lord has provided a solution to the challenge that we have had, better than anything we had ever used before.  Currently we have 33 relatives participating in one of these groups with more to be added and hundreds of ordinances that we can all work on.  This has been a great blessing.

Right now, Debbie is on medical leave from her ordinance worker responsibilities so she has gotten back into preparing sources for Family Search for the hundreds of images of records that we were able to acquire in our trip to Germany last year.  Our evenings have also become filled with organizing many of these records into complete families.  This has been a great joy and satisfaction for us!  Our focus has been mostly on the hundreds of relatives from the village of Tennstedt, Germany.

We also found baptisms for the dead opportunities scarce in the nearby temples.  I finally found one in an early morning (6:00 a.m.) on a school day.  Fortunately, our six grandchildren close by agreed to participate on February 15, including our grandson Jacob Digerness who was participating for the first time.  What a joy it is to be with these faithful grandchildren and see the work for our ancestors moving forward.

Early morning photo after completing 35 baptisms in the Jordan River Temple

Baptism for the living:

In the first six months of this year we have four grandchildren turning 8 and getting baptized.  The first was Evelyn who was baptized by her brother, Joseph, on February 4.  This was a wonderful occasion.  We are proud of the progress of all six of our grandchildren in this family.  Evelyn was the last of them to be baptized.

Evelyn, with her brother, Joseph

Add in two happy grandparents

This one is of the complete family, now all baptized

Our next baptism stop is in Pennsylvania, where their youngest and sixth child will also be baptized.

Valentines Day:

We celebrated Valentine's Day with Debbie going to the Heart Rhythm clinic.  I thought this would be fitting to share with the heart connection on this special day.

Our first visit to the Heart Clinic

We also celebrated with flowers and a heart full of low sodium chocolates

Birthdays and Special Occasions:

As always, we enjoy birthdays every month, almost every week.  In these past weeks we got caught up not only on birthdays but also a few Christmas presents.  Our first stop (without photos) was with Cherish, the youngest daughter of Camila.  We also left presents for Kaisha and Isake who had birthdays about 5 weeks later.  We gave each of them a photo frame of photos and about 50 photos of their mother and some of their father.  They had asked for copies of the photos that were shown on the memorabilia table at Camila's funeral.  We were pleased with their response, especially Cherish, who was elated.  On the same day we celebrated the birthday and Christmas for Ariana, Ammon's daughter. These were our late January birthdays, the others followed:

Ariana turning 9, enjoying her birthday money and her Christmas present

Ashton, turning 12

Haivyn turning 2

Quinn and Rylee turning 2 (in Texas)

In between the birthdays of our 2 year old grandchildren was my birthday.  As normal, Debbie and many others made it special:

Yes, I turned 70, finally caught up with my wife

My presents, including two birthday suits

Three of Pollyanna's daughters singing a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday to their Grandpa

On March 3, we celebrated Ben's 39th birthday with him.  Before  taking him out to dinner, we went to visit Camila's grave, since her tombstone had been laid just a few weeks prior. In between we had a major snowstorm, so it was a challenge to find.  Thanks to Ben's persistence and snow clearing boots, we finally found and cleared the snow off of her headstone.

Ben with his birthday gifts, Fandango chips from Brazil, his favorites.

Ben, after he dug out the headstone

Camila's headstone

Tom and Debbie next to the headstone

Our parking pad was also covered with that major February snow storm

Major snow drift hanging over our roof from the same snow storm