Forever

12 years ago yesterday, Kris and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

On July 22, 2011 we were able to enter that same temple with our 4 beautiful girls and have Mia sealed to us forever. What an amazing moment in our lives! All along this adoption journey we have looked forward to this day when we would get to enter the temple with Mia and our other girls and make Mia part of our family forever.

We walked into the temple, and took the girls downstairs to the youth center. Then we went back with our escorts to get dressed. The escort led me to the brides room to get ready and it was so neat to be able to be in that room again. Who would have thought 12 years ago when we got married, that we would be bringing our family back with us to have an adopted daughter sealed to us….not me. It was so incredible to relive those memories of our wedding day again. We got to sit together, Kris and I, in the celestial room for a little while before we met with the sealer…Brother Kjar. He was the man who sealed us when we got married so it was really neat to have him seal our family together.

We talked with him for a few minutes about our girls and about the journey to get Mia and he went over how the sealing would work. Then we headed up to the sealing room together. We sat in the hallway as our family and friends entered the room. Then we went in the sealing room and Brother Kjar talked to us all. He asked that we all have a prayer in our hearts that little Mia would understand what was going on today and that she would feel of the Saviors’ love for her, just as she felt His love before she was born. She has spent the last 4 years missing the opportunity to feel love and now she would have it. We were so emotional! I couldn’t stop crying as I felt the overwhelming spirit that was in that sealing room. This whole journey has been one miracle after another and every step of the way has been directed by the Lord and His spirit so strongly and it was the perfect culmination of it all, in that room at the temple.

Then Brother Kjar had us step out into the hall to get the children and that is a picture I will never forget. Walking into the hallway and seeing my 4 beautiful girls dressed in white was so perfect. Bree said “Hi mom, Hi dad” as she stood there with her big beautiful grin on her face and Kyra and Adrie were sweetly standing with their little sisters and looking so beautiful!

We then all entered the sealing room together and sat down.

During the sealing ceremony, Mia was sitting on the altar between us, Kyra and Bree were standing to one side of the altar, and Adrie was on the other. We had to laugh when Brother Kjar started calling the girls up to find their places and Bree just waltzed right up to her spot and took hold of Kyra’s hand and then smiled and waved at everyone in the room. She also had to run over to give grandpa Mike a hug while Mia gave Grandpa Steve a hug in the witness chairs.

Of course I cried all the way through it all as I looked around the altar at my sweet family and felt the most peace I have ever felt. My favorite part of the ceremony was when he said she was to be sealed to us as if she had been born to us.

I borrowed Heather's explanation because it is just how I felt about this special experience.

"It sounds kind of funny, but it feels like she's married to us now, where before, we were just engaged, but living together. :) Our relationship has deeper meaning now. We've always felt like we are the family that God intended for her to have, but now it's kind of like she's always been with us."

I have known and sang the childrens song "I am a child of God" since I was young but as with many things, I never realized the deep profound impact of these simple words

"I am a child of God

and He has sent me here

has given me an earthly home

with parents kind and dear

Lead me guide me

walk beside me

help me find the way

teach me all that I must do to live with Him someday"

.......

until I sang them to Mia and looked into her eyes realizing she did not know, until now, that SHE IS A CHILD OF GOD, that SHE is worthy of His love and of the love of a family and friends. This simple message "I am a child of God" is life changing. When we know we are truly children of God, we realize what worth we really have.

I have no doubt that Mia, and all of the other orphan children, are not left abandoned by our Heavenly Father and that they feel of His love, but to finally have a family to reassure and teach her that she IS a child of God and teach her how to return to Him (or for that matter she will be teaching US how to return to Him) is a life changing knowledge to have. It is part of the love that has changed everything for our little girl.

Heather also recently had Anya sealed to their family and explained things about the temple so well so I am borrowing some of her good info here if you are interested at all:

"I'm sure many of you have seen one or two of our church's 130+ temples around the world. If any of you are curious about why we keep building temples, I thought I'd give you a little "LDS Temple 101." This is totally optional reading, of course. (But then aren't all blogs?) Anyway, I love learning about different religions, and I imagine some of you do, too.

The temple is the house of the Lord. It's similar to the temples that are spoken of in The Bible. It's a place that's dedicated for sacred gospel ordinances. It's also a place where we can worship the Lord and pray for inspiration. It's very beautiful and very peaceful there. Everyone in the temple is dressed in white and talks softly. It's truly a piece of heaven on earth.

If there's ever a temple being built in your neck of the woods, you can take a tour of it before it's dedicated. I would highly recommend it! You will see what I mean about the way it makes you feel. I wish I could spend time there every morning.

Here's a short clip that explains why we build temples.

Just like those who are married in a regular marriage ceremony, Latter-Day Saint couples who are married in a temple make covenants to each other and to God. But what makes a temple marriage different is that God promises something in return. He promises them that their marriage is not "until death do you part," but that it can last for eternity, if they live up to the promises that they made in the temple. The person who performs the ceremony holds special Priesthood "keys," like those that Christ gave to Peter, which bind in heaven, that which is bound on earth (see Matthew 16:19.) (This sealing power was taken from the earth when Christ's original church fell apart after his death. It was restored to the earth through the prophet, Joseph Smith in 1836-ish.)

So that's only a small portion of what there is to learn about temples or any of our beliefs, for that matter. If you have questions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, please feel free to visit http://www.mormon.org/ or talk to someone who is a member! That's the best place to get accurate information (as you know, there is a lot of garbage out there.)