Together Forever

 Now to get to the post I have been itching to get to ever since it happened! I decided to just put my photos throughout the post so that they will break up all my lengthy paragraphs. I apologize if I tend to wander I tried my best to keep my thoughts on track but there were just soooooo many things I wanted to say in this post, that I am absolutely sure it doesn't all flow.


 David and I got to be sealed and had our one year anniversary on July 12, 2011. Can I just say I have felt so much less stress since we finally got to do this, such a blessing. Originally we had planned on doing it in Bountiful but as the time got closer we both realized that because of travel times and some other things we needed to do it closer. It was kind of a difficult decision since neither of us really wanted to get sealed in Rexburg. I don't want that to sound negative because the reason why had way more to do with the fact that we didn't really have any personal connections to Rexburg, not because we have anything against the Burg.

That was when the decision was made. We would get sealed right here in Idaho Falls. In the end the decision came down to David. I knew that previous events at that particular temple bothered him but we both wanted as much family to come as possible and Idaho Falls was the way to do it. I also think it helped that I had only ever been there 3 times with that other person including when we got married and when I got my endowment. David and I had been to the IF temple more while we were dating then I ever had with anyone else. It just made sense.

Now before I continue what happened on our special day I would like to take the time to say some things about our first year together. One thing that I have come to know over the last year of being married to David can be summed up perfectly by a talk from General Conference April 2003 by F. Burton Howard called Eternal Marriage. In the talk he recalls his own wedding and how much his wife had wanted a fancy set of silverware, so much so that is was all she asked for in her registry. When they returned from their honeymoon and opened their things they didn't get so much as a knife, spoon or fork. His wife and him joked about it often but she went on to slowly scrimped and save up and buy each individual piece during their years of marriage. Then comes my most favorite part of the talk, and I just can't paraphrase it good enough so forgive me as I cut and paste the rest.

"I noticed that the silverware never went to the many ward dinners she cooked, or never accompanied the many meals she made and sent to others who were sick or needy. It never went on picnics and never went camping. In fact it never went anywhere; and, as time went by, it didn’t even come to the table very often. Some of our friends were weighed in the balance, found wanting, and didn’t even know it. They got the stainless when they came to dinner.

The time came when we were called to go on a mission. I arrived home one day and was told that I had to rent a safe-deposit box for the silver. She didn’t want to take it with us. She didn’t want to leave it behind. And she didn’t want to lose it.

For years I thought she was just a little bit eccentric, and then one day I realized that she had known for a long time something that I was just beginning to understand. If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently. You shield it and protect it. You never abuse it. You don’t expose it to the elements. You don’t make it common or ordinary. If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new. It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by.

Eternal marriage is just like that. We need to treat it just that way. I pray that we may see it for the priceless gift that it is, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

I love this talk. I was only 15 when I first heard it and I remembered thinking it was cute, not much else. This last year as David and I have been together I have been able to see David embody this principle (If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently... It becomes special because you have made it so) in our own marriage. I have read this talk a couple of times since we were married too, it brings tears to my eyes and I feel the spirit every time. In everything David does and says he is both sensitive and caring towards my opinions and feelings and I am so thankful for him. I am so thankful to have found someone who wants to make things work, and who tries his best even when I can tell he is running short. All I can say is that my one year of civil marriage was as blessed as it could have been because of the choices that David and I have made and I can feel and relay nothing but the deepest sense of gratitude to our families, friends and my Heavenly Father for helping us so much.

Having said all that I still have to admit that I let myself get all stressed out the day of. I really struggle with that. However from my point of view there were at least a couple of reasons that I'm sure any of you ladies out there could relate to. For example when we started driving to the temple it was raining... a LOT. All I could think was "Really?? Really? is this really happening TODAY?!?!" Meanwhile David as  usual is using his saintly ways to try to calm me down and make me feel better. That was right around the moment I realized I forgot my bouquet. I called home and tried to get someone to get it and I thought it had worked. This one is a little easier to laugh about looking back at. My bouquet never got to me that day it had been sitting on David's mother's sewing desk since we got to Idaho and that afternoon the little girl cousins decided to play with it, haha like I said funny and cute now STRESS in the moment. Then we got to the temple and the grounds were literally non-existent. They had dug it ALL up! When we received our Temple day reminder they mentioned "oh yea we are doing some construction on our grounds, we apologize for the inconvenience." I'm sorry but nothing in that said "we dug up everything but the big trees on our grounds and it looks like ground zero." Again I was stressing! 

 

We managed to get in and figure out where everyone needed to be and the spirit in the temple was able to finally calm my stress. We had so many family and friends that managed to make it and our sealer spoke beautifully. Everyone was teary eyed at least once. In fact I even felt like my Grandma Hazel was there as well as Macy and William (my great-grandparents that we share our anniversary with). What a great blessing to be able to be sealed to our families forever! In the end it was a great day and I do feel like we got some wonderful pictures. I'm so thankful for a church that expects difficult things from me it keeps me moving in the right direction with all the right people, most especially David. I love you David Warden! Here's to another 50 years (or more) of this stuff and more for our life after!

~Happily Ever After ~