oh, hey.

So, it's been like four months. I made a flow chart so that we can catch up:

#nerdalert

It's so good to be here again surrounded by all of you lovelies! Over here we've just been enjoying every ounce of summer we can -- swimming, camping, baseball games, hiking, and of course grilling! 

We also just bought new bikes and I'm hoping the weather stays good so that we can enjoy them before the frozen tundra strikes again. Idaho weather is just so awesome.

I have also been getting used to a recent promotion. There is something just so amazing about learning and stretching ourselves. I definitely have my work cut out for me, but I am loving this challenge.

Be looking for upcoming posts: my current obsessions (music, television, food, etc.,) dream fulfilling, and knocking out the rest of my summer bucketlist!

So tell me, what are your plans for the rest of summer??

will heaven be hard for you?

one of my favorite parts of the LDS faith is our belief in eternal families. you can be sealed to your spouse and children and parents in the temple. this means that even after death, that bond is not broken.

i am sealed to my parents, as are my siblings.

many of my siblings are sealed to their spouses, and i am sealed to nathan.

because i am sealed to my parents, i can live with them forever. nathan is not sealed to my parents, but he is sealed to me. which means, that he will be living with my parents forever as well -- so long as he and i remain faithful to our vows/covenants.

likewise, nathan is sealed to his parents. i am not directly sealed to them, but we are connected through his sealing to them.

i adore his parents and his brothers and am honored and excited to have them in my eternal family circle.

---

lately i have been contemplating earthly relationships.

especially in this context of eternity, how are we treating those that we will be connected with forever?

i love nathan and am so lucky to also love his family. but if i didn't love one of them or any of them, how would that affect my eternity?

i think that heaven will be pretty hard if we cannot learn to love each other on earth.

indeed, heaven will be hard if we cannot practice kindness and respect on earth.

especially with family -- blood, in-law, adopted, church -- we must remember that this bond will not be severed.

you can't have the one person you choose and expect all the others they are connected to, to disappear.

when you picked that one, you picked the rest as well.

so, remember who is part of your family and treat them with the best of care because heaven will surely be hard if you don't.

like you.

if our babies are like you they'll be perfect.

wrinkled foreheads taking the whole world in.
fingers wrapped around mine, love growing with each second.
soft smiles that make my knee caps weak with joy.
poking and prodding me for attention.

if our home is like you i'll stay there forever.

established on solid ground, reaching toward heaven.
safe and offering protection from all of life's unknowns.
a few creaky floorboards that make being human beautiful.
picturesque but humble, quiet but inviting.