Today was (and still is) a marathon, especially for Lily.
I started the day with a brunch with my good friend Morgan while Lily was engaged with service, cleaning the apartment of a ward-member who is going through a very difficult time. I had a wonderful time talking to Morgan. For most of our visit he was telling me of some amazing recent experiences he had. He recently woke up in the middle of the night with inspiration from God to visit a friend in a different state. He bought a plane ticket and visit that friend only to learn that the friend is enduring a major crisis right now. It was amazing to me how much God cares about us, so much so that He will enact miracles to help sustain and support us in our trials.
Speaking of God caring about us, I was pretty wiped out today because I was up until almost 2AM last night working on my Sunday school lesson which is on Jacob 5-7, the allegory of the olive tree. In short, in Jacob 5 there is an extremely log, but powerful story about how the master of the vineyard (God) goes to extreme lengths to preserve trees in His vineyard and not lose them. It’s a moving allegory about how much God cares for us and helps us, even when we don’t deserve it. Jacob 6 makes the point that we should cleave to God as God cleaves to us (and we learned how he cleaves to us in chapter 5) and chapter 7 is a story about how Jacob was able to cleave to God in the face false doctrine being preached by a cunning anti-Christ persecutor of the church. The way Jacob was able to not be phased was because of the many revelations and spiritual experiences he had had.
After my visit with Morgan we got the girls all ready for their ballet dress rehearsal. Here is a video of Mary after she was all dressed for the rehearsal. See pictures below. It was sad because it took a while to get them all ready with the dresses, hair buns and make-up and when we got to the studio we learned that their rehersal was yesterday (not today), so that was a major bummer. On the upside, we found a really neat juice shop next to the studio and got some juice.
Back at home, Lily and I cleaned like crazy to get the house in shape for Sunday and then my dad and Suzanne came over. They were coming over so my dad could join me and the girls for my stake’s daddy daughter dance and Suzanne babysat Ammon while Lily went to the temple.
That daddy daughter dance (pictures below) was one of the highlights of my year so far. My dad and I and the girls all danced the night away to songs like “twist and shout” “let it go” “foot loose” and so on. We got some really fun pictures, ate cookies and just had a blast. We all loved it so much. It was so fun to dance! And my dad had a great time too. When we got back he kept saying to Suzanne, “We need to go dancing!”
Back at the house, the girls were bouncing off the walls and we all chatted for 30 minutes. Also, Mary read to us (click here for video). Then my dad and Suzanne helped me to get them ready for bed and Suzanne fulfilled their bed-time routine by reading The Secret Garden. Lily got home after they left and still has a long night (and early morning ahead of her). She needs to finish preparing her church lesson tonight and also get up super early to make food for her home-teachee’s post baby-blessing gathering. I love her so much, and I have no idea how she does it. I hope tomorrow is restful for her, at least after her lesson!
