Harmonious

Me, I'm still basking in the beautiful wedding celebration last week. Magical.

It was like them:  heartfelt, natural, gorgeous.  There was no wrong note.

And Sundance in autumn splendor was the perfect backdrop, especially since they have memories there.


      Engaged!

     
           

       Wedding

   

The last, beautiful family wedding before this one, was seven years ago -    
                Jamis and Marcie

And before that, there were TWO weddings within just a few days in May:     

                   Steven and Cristie

                  David and Liz

 

And before that, on a sparklingly beautiful winter day in St. George-

                   Chris and Amy

Engaged!

       

Leaving the temple, my face tells my feelings. It was probably just the sun through the stained glass, but to me it honestly looked like the air in the room was hung was sparkling little diamonds, the feeling in the temple was so beautiful and extra special. I felt totally happy and thankful. Happy for this beautiful couple, for their future, and for our family.                                                                 

from left: Karen, Carol's husband, Carol, Jeff, Michaela, Angie, Delpha, David.  Peter and Betty's family were there also, as well as Amy's family and relatives, of course. I don't have pictures of everyone. Sadly, Chris's dad could not be there; not allowed to leave the missionaries.

                                                               


                                                                     **********

And I have to add just one more happy, wedding day photo, because it's a good one - the Provo reception for our dear friend Christian and his bride, Kirsten. In the Eichberg days, Christian was like a brother to our boys, and part of the family.

"Patience"

Today we had the privilege of attending church in Steven and Cristie's ward in Provo.
Steven happened to give a talk in sacrament meeting. It was stellar. The subject was 'patience'. Always needed (the subject as well as the virtue...)

In one part of his talk, he cited some intriguing thoughts from the book, "The Anatomy of Peace", by the Arbinger Institute.
Here is part of the quotes that Steven cited:
"...In the way we regard our children, our spouses, neighbors, colleagues, and strangers, we choose to see others either as people like ourselves or as objects. They either count like we do or they don't. In the former case, since we regard them as we regard ourselves, we say our hearts are at peace towards them. In the latter case, since we systematically see them as inferior, we say our hearts are at war."
"...almost every behavior...can be seen in two different ways: with a heart at peace, where we view others as people with hopes, needs, cares and fears as real to me as my own, or with a heart at war, where we view others as objects, obstacles or irrelevancies."
" ... So if we are going to find lasting solutions to difficult conflicts ... we find ourselves in, ... we first need to find our way out of the internal wars that are poisoning our thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards others. If we can't put an end to the violence within us, there is no hope for putting an end to the violence without."

Note to self: find this book.