Deserving CREDIT...

Okay, okay I promise this will be my last post about the

CULTURAL CELEBRATION

but I couldn't resist a few more thoughts...

mostly because this is my journal and there are just going to be things I don't want to ever forget.

These are the last few stories that I must tell...

1.  Last Sunday during Stake Conference they asked a woman from the Stake to bear her testimony.  She had been given the task to have the temple cleaned each Tuesday and Thursday night during the Temple Open house.  That meant she had to clean it each night after thousands of people had walked through it.  Because she had such a special and unique responsibility she was given access to the Cultural Celebration...which only a select few adults were allowed to go because of the sheer volume of kids and volunteer adults needed to pull off the performance.  During her testimony she shared with us this amazing story.  

The rain started to fall in buckets at 6:40 p.m.  The prophet was on route when his security detail had decided that he should not get out of the car once he arrived at the park because his health was not good and they were worried he would get more ill.  They were going to pull his car in front of the performance area and let him watch from his vehicle.  I can tell you right now as someone who had been with these kids for the last several months that this would have been devastating to them. 

They wanted nothing more than to just see the prophet...

they needed to know that he was there!

Everyone was anxiously awaiting him to emerge from the car.

Every kid and adult will witness that that in the moment his car pulled up and came to a stop...

the rain stopped!

He got out of his car and waved his arms to the crowd!

(Photo Credit: Meridian Magazine)

I thought in this moment and so did the kids...

that the rain was over...

but it wasn't...

It kept raining and raining and RAINED the rest of the night.

But for those brief ten minutes the Lord gave to these kids what they needed most...

and that was to see their prophet,

waving them and cheering them on.

I've heard several of the kids say they were just a little disappointed that he never spoke a word that night, but I hope each young man and young woman will know that the Lord made it possible for a Prophet of God to get out of his car and be present in their lives that night.

2.  I don't know if I can possibly convey in just a few short words the sheer magnitude of this event, and what it must have taken to pull something like this off. 

This is what 12,702 youth on one field looked like!

So how do you possibly include this many people in such a production is beyond me...

and obviously why that part of the night was not my job.

  But I want it to be known that as an adult who didn't think this could have been possible and was expecting all kinds of chaos...

I saw nothing but ORDER and DEDICATION by those who were given such tasks as scanning us all through temporary gates that had to be erected hours before, almost a 100 port-a-johns delivered and serviced throughout the day, lunches and dinner that had to be served, leaders who organized dance numbers and movement on the field, those who delivered gallons and gallons of water and the video and sound equipment loud enough for almost 15,000 people to hear.

I heard a joke from someone on the outside that only the Mormons would try such an undertaking...

and that only the Mormons could make it work!

And make it work they DID!

(Photo Credit: Facebook)

3.  I don't want to EVER forget those that I got to serve with while being a part of this amazing experience.  We were so focused on our jobs and the youth that I am BUMMED I never got a picture with all our Captains of 10...but I have asked a few of them for a re-creation at some point so hopefully I will be able to post that in this very spot and some point and time.

We had EIGHT of us total in our ward...

four women and four men...

and I've NEVER seen a group of people work so hard, for so many hours in two Saturdays and the many practices before...

as I've seen from these amazing men and women.  It inspired me when I was exhausted, hungry, hot or maybe even a little grumpy...

to just KEEP going and to remember what we were doing this for!

This was THREE of us the Saturday night before and even though it was nearing the end of the night and I was emotionally and physicall tired...

these girlies kept me going!

And EVEN the night the RAIN fell and we were literally soaked from head to toe...

they made me laugh and kept me going.

I must always remember this because there was NOTHING easy about pulling 51 kids and all our costumes and equipment out of the park in soaking wet clothes and in several inches of water.

Oh the LOADS and LOADS of wet, soaking jackets and shoes I cleaned after this night!

4.  Lastly, I loved, loved, loved that I was allowed as a MOTHER to see and feel what my children were going to experience.

Sometimes I wonder if anything I tell them or am teaching them is really "sinking" in...

and then I get to see them in "action" and I realize that I don't nearly give them the CREDIT they deserve.

They are not perfect...

I am not perfect...

but we are ALL trying and we are all trying our VERY best.

So to my amazing children...

and to my amazing husband who spent the day with Jacob...

I LOVE YOU...

every bit of you...

NO MATTER WHAT!

Game Day Kids!

It has taken me over a week to gather my thoughts and feelings...

knowing that

it would be hard for me to convey

to those that might read this...

just how much

gratitude and joy

I have felt in being a part of the

Gilbert Arizona Temple Cultural Celebration

on Saturday, March 1.

I can barely speak about this experience without

choking back the emotion

of what I both saw and felt on this special day.

When they first asked me to be a

CAPTAIN OF 10...

all the way back to last year,

I excitedly said yes since it would give me the opportunity to spend the day with my oldest three children.

What I didn't expect was the 

"EXTRA RESPONSIBILITIES"

including weeks of practices, a full two Saturday's, the phone calls, text messages, the making of flags and anything else

that would need to be done in order to make the

FINAL PERFORMANCE

for our Prophet a success.

We spent the month of December and January in our church cutting and sewing flags...

or singing the songs that would be song...

or learning the dances we would dance to...
until February where we moved to Queen Creek High School
football field with
800 other youth in our Stake to practice everything we learned...

and to make sure we knew where we stood.
These kids were READY.
They had worked hard and were ready to show the community what they were made of.
I shared in this post the amazing experiences we had had the Saturday before...
and I knew these kids were ready to make this day happen.

But what we didn't expect...
especially in Arizona...
and especially since it hadn't rained in 70 days...
that there was a 90 percent chance of RAIN!

I have to admit I prayed that the Lord would show the kids a miracle...
and stall the rain for the day...
and I thought we had that miracle because the rain clouds were
all around us the entire day...
but we enjoyed NO rain and cooler temperatures.
I love these pictures that
SHOW
the clouds always looming...
and even got dark at times...
but the rain stayed away.

 I love how these kids would "run home"...

 and we would be waiting...
cheering them on...
helping them with flags...

 or with costume changes.

When we had our first "run through" with the
"real" horse...
I thought of our young men

 who have there own
TITLE OF LIBERTIES

and are willing to be just like
CAPTAIN MORONI
and fight for what is right in this world...

(Photo Credit: Curtis Cook)
and for what they believe in.
When they all TOOK their Title of Liberties out to the field to sing
Army of Helaman/Sisters in Zion medley 
and with their flags
held high written on each one of them what they believed in...
their was not a dry EYE in that park...
and it wasn't because of any rain.
I loved how our YOUTH showed their
LOVE
for each other this day.

 You could always find them "snuggled" together

 or helping each other with costumes.

 And I'm a little partial to
MY GROUP of GIRLS...
these girls were amazing in EVERY way.

These kids could NOT wait to show everyone what they had
ACCOMPLISHED.
So at dress rehearsal that afternoon...
they rocked their performance.

When the afternoon show was over and we headed back to our area for dinner...
I thought we had seen our miracle come TRUE.
We could literally see the clouds darken all around us...
but the park had remained dry.
We had just finished dinner and had to head to the field.
It was SHOW time and the Prophet would be their in only 30 minutes.  
You could feel that the atmosphere had changed.
The kids knew that this experience in this moment...
would change their lives forever.
You could feel that they KNEW this...
and that life for them would never be the same.
Hearts changed in that moment...
testimonies increased...
love of others and of GOD became REAL in a way it had never been before.
And just when it was time to go out on the field...
the rain came...
lots and lots of rain.
For 20 minutes while they stood on that field...
with no umbrellas,
no protection,
no jackets,
the rain fell...
and they did NOT move.
They were waiting for the Prophet of the Lord to arrive!
And when he did...

you would have thought he was a 
ROCK STAR.
And to these kids and to us adults standing there to witness it all...
HE WAS!
I will later tell the miracle of how the prophet made it to the celebration at all...
but I will save that for the next post.
The night became something miraculous...
because when the RAIN
kept falling...
these kids put on a performance of a lifetime!

(Photo credits: Facebook Gilbert Temple)
In Matthew 2:25 it reads,
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock."

As I've looked back on this experience I have thought over and over again about why the Lord allowed it to rain that night...
and I have come to the simple conclusion
that this will be a
NIGHT
these kids will never FORGET.
And when the storms of LIFE blow in...
because they will,
 they will always remember the night the RAIN descended...
and the flood came...
AND THEY DID NOT FALL.

NO THEY DID NOT FALL...THEY SOARED!

I will NEVER forget this night...
or the lessons I learned,
and neither will they!

Putting Back the Pieces

Time seems to stand still when your life comes

crashing in around you.

Which is why I've been silent on my blog

for the last few weeks.

I'm trying to put back the pieces of my life and to find the words to express my thoughts

without getting too personal in a public forum.

Just when I thought our life seemed idyllic and wonderful...

2014
 began with challenges and trials that have at times

"knocked" the wind out of me...

quite literally.

So here I am ready to share my story...

the good...

the bad...

and the ugly...

and how I'm putting back the pieces of my life...

one piece at a time.

I was laid OFF over one week ago.

I have children struggling with extremely challenging trials.

My husband received a new position at work...

 moved to a new store location,

with a new manager who challenges even the BEST of employees and my husband is no exception.

But the LORD in his infinite wisdom and love

is providing me with

opportunities

to pick up the pieces...

through the selfless service of others.

Only a few days after the news of my job I had the opportunity to spend an entire Saturday

with a group of youth that I have grown to 

LOVE and ADMIRE.
At first I wondered if I should be the one to spend the day with them...
when all I really wanted to do was
crawl in a hole...
and stay there for awhile.
But staying true to my commitment and responsibility 
to being a
CAPTAIN OF 10... 

we started early at 7 a.m. with 51 kids in our ward

who then

joined with 12,700 youth in our area...

to practice for a celebration that would commemorate the

dedication of the Gilbert, Arizona temple only one week later.

We have been practicing for over 2 months with either

 our ward family 

or our stake family

 and it was finally time to come together with everyone else.

  So with our Captain Moroni banners in tow...

we descended on Discovery Park only 4 miles from our home so we could get to work and be ready for our

BIG

performance next week in front of the Prophet of the Lord!

 Some of us started out a little slow...

 or a little cranky...

 but mostly they came with smiles on their faces...

and playful hearts.

These kids had no idea what their hard work and dedication to

our church and to the gospel

meant to me that day.

They were healing a broken heart...

and reminded me of what is truly important in this life.

My first miracle of the day began when I stepped foot onto Discovery Park and felt that I had walked onto sacred ground.

Life instantly felt "lighter" and more "manageable".

The second miracle came when a few kids from our ward joined together to sing...

"Army of Helaman/Sisters in Zion".

Soon we had the other youth in our ward join in the circle...

and a miracle of 

LOVE

formed in my heart for all that I had...

and all that I had been blessed with. 

 Of course part of healing means we have FUN moments too!  Which is why I love my beautiful and silly friend Amy
who shared with us her

GANGAM style dance moves.

 or Dayna who enjoyed a few WATER fights...

or the kids who "bonded" while waiting at

HOME position for their turn to practice.

("Bonding" meaning...getting close to "cute" girls!)

But nothing could help prepare me for the sight I witnessed...

 of 12,702 youth performing and doing their best!

Or the youth performing
"True to the Faith"
for the first time in front of everyone...
and everyone cheering them on,
and afterwards the kids with smiling faces telling me,
"This makes it all worth it!"

Oh yes, yes, yes...

it is all worth it.

Miracle #3: A Reminder that life is worth it and even though

 life brings us challenges...

and isn't always easy...

or fun...

I can pick up the pieces of my life...
with the 
Temple as my Focus.

Thanks kids for the reminder...
and for bringing me back to life!