DC Temple Dedication

When it came time for the DC Temple dedication, the stake made things inCREDibly complicated by telling the bishops to recommend ten people who should receive tickets.  This was a major stressor for Craig.  He agonized over who to give those tickets to: should they go to people who haven't been coming to church in the hopes that this will inspire them to come and re-ignite their testimonies?  But he ultimately decided that the odds were much higher that the tickets would just be wasted if he did that, so he opted to give tickets to people on the ward council.

So our family got three tickets (one for Kendra, since she's been on the missionary committee)!

The day was really incredible, but it was also a logistical nightmare (totally of our own doing).  We started out the day easily enough by having all of us go to the dedication broadcast at our stake center.  It started at 10:00am, but you were supposed to be in your seats at 9:30.  So we left crazy early as I always do at 8:30 (it's only thirty minutes away.  This was total overkill on my part).  Also, Camille couldn't participate because she isn't baptized yet.  I would have just tried to sneak her in, but they actually issued temple recommends for kids ages 8-12 and checked them at the door!  So Colton got to have one.  And there was no way I was getting Camille in.  So we left her with a neighborhood girl babysitting her, which she was thrilled about.

The first dedication was great, and it was fun to see Pres. Nelson conducting the meeting.  We all really enjoyed it. 

Then we drove back home to collect Camille and eat the fastest lunch ever, we let the kids change into play clothes, and we drove to Culpeper and dropped them off with Grandma and Grandpa for the rest of the day.  We kept Kendra and drove on to Manassas.  We arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule, so we drove past our first apartment at Orchard Glen and showed Kendra where she was born, so that was fun!  That place looks much smaller than I remembered it...  Then we picked up Betsy Hayward and Melyssa Webb, and continued on to the DC temple!  We don't usually go to the temple on Sunday, so it was awesome enjoying not much traffic in DC (although it was still very slow getting into the parking lot because so many people were coming)!

Our tickets were general assembly, so we could be seated anywhere inside the temple, other than the big room on the top floor, which had special tickets.  I would have been jealous about not getting to be in the big room, but we've gotten to attend meetings there other times, so I was fine with letting other people get a turn.  We ended up in the marriage waiting room on the 6th floor, which I'd never seen before, so that was cool.  Sarah and her family got to be in the endowment rooms on the 4th floor, which I realized later was WAY BETTER because they had more comfortable chairs AND bigger screens.  Darn it!  Should have tried to join them there!

Oh, well.  It was interesting, because the two dedications were very similar, and yet I got a lot more out of the second one, probably because I wasn't as distracted with all my kids and stressing about the journey ahead of me.  I really got to enjoy feeling the spirit and being glad to sit in the temple and it was wonderful.  Also, Pres. Eyring was conducting this meeting, and I've gotten to shake his hand twice, so I just love him.

As we were leaving, I stopped to use the bathroom, and left Kendra sitting in a hallway.  Once I'd returned to her, she pointed out that she got to sit and look in the Celestial Room of a dedicated temple, and very much enjoyed that, so that was really cool.  Also, the new chandelier they have there is GORGEOUS.  

Then we had to take pictures, of course!

I said that I loved how the spires looked lit up even on a gray, gloomy day.  Craig said, "That might be the gold plating doing its job..."  He's so smart!

With Betsy and Melyssa

And the Cramers, too!

I'd agonized over what to do for dinner, but finally decided that avocado chicken salad would travel well and not be too messy in the car, so Craig got to work spreading it on croissants for everyone and we ate as we drove home.  Betsy had made cookies, so we also ate LOTS of those!

Doing everything in reverse took a lot longer than I ever think it will-- but eventually we had Betsy and Melyssa returned to Manassas and got all our kids back from the Smiths (they'd had a great time, of course!).  We got home around 10:15pm and were all very tired.  What a day!

But I'm so excited to have a temple so close again.  I never imagined when they closed it in 2018 that we'd end up waiting so long to get it back again!  And that same day, we got an email from the stake informing us that the Richmond temple will be dedicated in May, so pretty soon I'll have a temple even closer than that!  Happy day!