I love to see the temple...

That is one of Em's new favorite songs to sing, except when she sings it it sounds more like pimple.... "I love to see the pimple..." No dear, you won't love seeing those when you're ages 13-17. Trust. me.
But back to the temple... Last week our family went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House (wow, say that 5 times fast or slow...). We've been truely blessed to live in an area where we've had 2 chances to attend temple open houses. It has been a very sweet experience to go inside the temple as a family and always reminds me of the day Emmy was sealed to us.
As we were leaving the temple, Emma started crying and quietly said "I don't want to go. Please stay inside." I love my sweet little girl and the amazing spirit that she carries with her. I am in awe that even a 2 year old who is constantly running around and laughing is in tune enough to know that the Spirit was strong inside the temple that day and that is a place where she wants to be.
When we left we explained to her that we would be back someday to be sealed again as a family when she got a new baby brother or sister. She said "Sister please." Oh how we all can't wait for that day to come. Please come soon.

Me thinks....

As I was sorting through a pile of books the other day I came across this one by Sheri Dew - "If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard."

Only the Lord knew how I needed to find the title of this book on that day.

A few weeks ago, we hit our one year mark of waiting to bring another beautiful child into our home.

You may think, "One year, that's not so bad." You are right. I've known many who have waited 2, 3 or 5 years.

Most days 1 year isn't bad. Most days the waiting doesn't hurt or ache inside my soul. Some days it does though.

Some days all I want is to see my daughter holding her new brother or sister (sister if you ask Emmy!). When she asks me where her sister is I want to reply "In her crib sleeping."

But I cannot because she (or he) is not here yet. So we wait.

But, we do not wait without having hope. We do not wait without doing all we can do. We do not just sit around and wait for the stork to bring our baby to us.

We work. We have fun. We do not put our life on hold. We spread the word and we testify to anyone that will listen how much we love adoption. We have had many amazing experiences as a family doing all of this. That is what we will continue to do.

Yes, life is hard sometimes. Sometimes it's easy. But when it is hard - that is when we learn. That is when we exercise our faith and continue to hope.

A line from a song about hope " And ears cannot hear it and eyes cannot see
But hearts are drawn near it if they choose to be..."

I choose to have hope. Today it is not hiding but it is close to my heart.