More Traveling

We spent the night in Amish country, that morning we went to the Amish stores and shops. I liked the wood furniture the best. We spent most of the morning looking around stores and shops, it was fun.

Cole and Kya playing at the hotel.

Then we drove to Adam-Ondi-ahman. So pretty and green there!

It was fun to learn a little bit more about this very spot.

Then it was off in the CAR AGAIN down to Liberty, the kids did great. Kya did very well but she had a movie to watch the whole time, but Baden didn't want to sit in his car seat ANYMORE!

Kya has her hand in the peanuts still, dead asleep!

This was our second tornado watch, it was crazy watching the clouds swirling right in front of us!

We went straight to Liberty Jail, it was different than I thought they had built a visitor center over the top of the jail. I know I have heard the stories but I didn't picture this. And to hear the specifics of how it was built put a new dynamic on the picture. The jail was built 2 feet under ground there was no ventilation where they were kept. The ceiling was too low for all but one of them. The only windows were very small and the walls were four feet wide so it was dark and cold and uncomfortable for about 4 1/2 months! They said later on the man that owned this after it wasn't a jail anymore said he used the basement as a ice box and would keep things cold til the middle of summer! I now really do understand how Joseph could have written section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenents: O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? ... Remember thy suffering saints, O our God; and thy servants will rejoice in thy name forever. (D&C 121:1-2, 6)

It was so humbling to be there, and to think that such a great man could have gotten treated so poorly!

We stayed at a hotel in Liberty and Baden was SO happy to get out of his car seat!

Kya and Daddy had fun in the hall for a while bringing the bags in!

Nauvoo Day Four - 16th

We took our final morning in Nauvoo saying our good-byes, we went to the visitor's center and found Garna we said good-bye, then went down the "Trail of Hope," it used to be called the "Trail of Tears" but has since been renamed. This is the very street, that when the saints got pushed out of Nauvoo, they all lined up wagon after wagon along Parley Street to wait their turn to cross the COLD Mississippi River. Along the trail there are plaques that have various people's journal entries around that time.

It make you really feel for them. I can't imagine getting shoved out of MY home that I built, leaving the land that I cleared, leaving a sacred building that took so long to finish that I worked so hard on. On top of whatever other circumstances each was under, whether it was that of old age, with child, with two or three small ones that don't walk well, or widowed the list could go on and on.

It makes me realize how strong their testimonies had to have been! Because if it were me and I didn't know for a FACT that the Church was true there is NO way I would let someone push me out of my home in the middle of February! It would have been so easy to say Easy... don't push me out I don't really believe this stuff. It's like in Horton Hears a Who, he says "I'll have have to say is it's not true, and all of this will go away." It makes me wonder how many of the saints now a days would react to something as big as being push out of their house, when it seems like such trivial things that make some of us as Latter Day Saints fall.

To be out in the freezing cold, having not enough to keep warm, being hungry, having kids being hungry and cold, not knowing the destination, or how long the journey will be, and just trusting the Lord. Those saint that went through all of that are all my hero's!

I thought it was great that we left this part for the very end our trip, it gave it a little more to look back on the temple and say good-bye to this beautiful place!

After we got all the way done with the trail, Bert showed up and stayed and talked with us for a long while. I really enjoyed spending time with them, I can't convey in writing how strongly I could feel the Spirit of what they were doing and of how much of a testimony they had. I really enjoyed hearing Bert's thoughts and testimony of Joseph Smith. It strengthened my own by hearing his. He had so many neat things, and experiences to share with us, it was so great that he was able to come by and say good-bye.

He had given Baden a new nick-name while we were there, he called him "Little Yoda." I told him he had about the same ears as Baden so we started calling Bert Big Yoda. They were so fun, glad we got to see them while they were there! We love you Bert and Garna!

Our last little bit in Nauvoo right at the Mississippi River.

Then we took off for Jacksonville to Amish country. It was different than I thought it would be evidently some are not so strict there so they were on cell phones and riding in cars and such. I thought I would have kind of a culture shock but there were A LOT of normal people and the Amish just seemed to dress different and that speak Dutch.

Nauvoo Day Three - 15th

On Monday we were able through hook ups, to be able to get a babysitter for all the kids and then be able to attend the temple all together. The feeling and Spirit that was with us that day was so peaceful and great! Just knowing that I was going to step foot in that beautiful House of the Lord was amazing to me and I was on the edge of tears just being on the front step let along walking inside the front door. It was gorgeous inside and so neat to see it with my own eyes. Most of the floors were wood and I had never noticed before the symbolism of coming in the temple in my Sunday, yet worldly clothes, and feeling that that didn't really belong. My high heals were very loud and I tried with every step to quiet the loud clomping that I was making. It wasn't until I had changed my clothes that the peace came, then I belonged.

To be in that sacred house and to think of everything that went along with it was amazing! Realizing that the saints build this long ago and to see how much work would have had to go in to it. To see the detail that was put in to it, what a sacrifice one had to have made. I tried to think "How did this curtain get here?" Was it sacrificed from a window they would have covered in their home or did they spend and take extra care to make it special. I really tried to just drink it all in and think in very specific terms. And then of course those feelings of how strong their testimonies had to have been to give and sacrifice and work SO HARD on this temple. They HAD to have known the gosple was true, and that they weren't just building a building they were building a temple where they were going to be able to receive such high blessings. I know that the saints did have that testimony because I felt it by just being there. It was truly so beautiful and I was in awe the whole time we were there I wanted to just stay forever.

Preston and I were lucky and we were able to be in one room all by ourselves and it was just an overpowering feeling. The beauty of the paintings and the work that went in to every detail in each room and to think of those saints that had done it all before was incredible! I will never forget the Spirit that was there. It made me want to be so much better than I am and that I have the Divine support to do so.

Attending the Nauvoo Temple was by FAR the best part about the trip. If you weren't planning on going to this beautiful place I hope you feel differently now! If you don't have a temple recommend yet get to a point where you can have it, and get here! If you have one... get here!

It makes me want to cry thinking of how hard the saints worked on completing this great temple knowing what special ordinances take place here and have to leave it all behind.

While we were in the temple we ran into a sealer that worked in the AZ Temple, Steve Stapley and his wife they are on a mission working in the Nauvoo Temple now. It was kind of a coincidence we ran into him a while ago in the AZ temple doing sealings and then to run into him there was fun. He is also related too so we had fun, he also was able to show us a few other rooms we wouldn't have been able to see so that was extra special. We took he and his wife out to lunch and we really had a good time with them!

We got to do some shopping for a bit and then we hit some more of the historical buildings, Preston and I were able to see the John Browning Guns, which was so interesting to me. Basically he and his dad invented a lot of guns way before their time and we still use them! Preston added this: I remember last time we where in Nauvoo and were doing the Browning residence portion of the tour that someone in the group responded to the comment that the Elder made that, “Obviously the Browning Family was inspired to produce these firearms ahead of their time.” The person asked the question something like, “Why would the Lord inspire someone to create firearms?” And the Elders answer was that the Browning’s developments were used by the United States Armed Forces to uphold and protect the very freedoms we value. So through the inspiration to one family (father and son) the Lord provided the most updated means to protect our country.

We then went to the tin house and the bakery.

That night Elder and Sister Randall were in another play and Bert was the main narrator and Garna played the piano, what talent they've got!

Nauvoo Day Two - 14th

Sunday was a very full day with church at 8 am (Nauvoo time) which was really like 6 am ours! We luckily had Elder and Sister Randall saving chairs for us because we made right at 8. They have a whole ward of just missionaries and let me tell you there were A LOT of them! It was neat to see a whole chapel full of black tags.

After the meeting we stopped by to take pictures in front of the Nauvoo Temple.

What a beautiful building.

Then we drove to Carthage, to see the Jail. I don't know if I heard stories and have just forgotten them or what but I understand the story now. The keeper of the jail was so nice and knew that Joseph was a good man. He didn't want any bullets to come through the windows of this room so he gave up his master bedroom for Joseph and the others that were with them.

Kya saw the chains on the floor and automatically thought a swing had broken. Also she for some reason she was telling stories about a lion. So most of her Joseph Smith stories have lions and swings in them too.

The master bedroom was awesome to be in you get that realization that so many great men were in that very room and Joseph that did SO much was killed right there.

The hole that killed Hyrum.

100 men came charging up these stairs.

While we sat in the room they played an audio of what it might have sounded like. We could hear the mob coming up the stairs and what the men did that were in the room. Kya was sitting on my lap the whole time SUPER concerned, you could tell she knew exactly what was going on and she was super sad when they said that Joseph fell out the window and died. She later repeated the story about 100 times the rest of the time, of course with the lions and swings though.

She sure was serious about it!

This statue is the very reason that Baden's middle name is Hyrum. In short, the last time Preston and Jace were here Jace told Preston that he felt the same about Preston as Hyrum did about Joseph. That has always stuck with him, so Hyrum has a special meaning and Baden is lucky to have such a great name!

Then it was back to Nauvoo for the Community of Christ tour.

This is where Emma stayed the rest of her life in this house.

This is what her house looked out on, right on the Mississippi River.

Emma, Joseph and Hyrum Smith's graves.

Then we went out to see some land right in Nauvoo that Preston's great, great Grandpa owned! We don't think that he built this barn but we think he had before.

Nauvoo Day - 13th

We spent the next few days in Nauvoo, IL which was more than I can even explain. So much of it was FEELING the Spirit that was there, which took place so often trying to get it all down is impossible, but I'll try. Before going on this trip I didn't know what an impact actually SEEING would have. It was really good for me. Not living outside Mesa, AZ I don't think my brain could really fully wrap around what the saints really had to go through. For example what hard work it would have been to drain a SWAMP, to clear their land, to build a home and so on, and then to have to turn around and leave it all! I knew of some of the stories, and was told of the hardships, but I didn't really understand until I saw.

First we were able to go on the Carriage Ride, it made it extra special that Elder Randall was our 'teamster' and Sister Randall was on it too. This ride took us through the land and Elder Randall narrated the whole time telling us where things happened and stories of the early members and of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

We stopped in places along the way to sing and to feel the Spirit that was present.

The kids enjoyed the horses.

Over by the visitor center there is a Women's Garden I loved the bronze statues they had it really depicted great moments of being a woman. This one is my favorite!

Kya decided to dance with the little girl walking, again started singing Sleeping Beauty. She stayed up there they whole time dancing with her. Then she would kiss her and then dance some more! She is a sweet girl!

Baden's teeth are coming in and he was chewing on everything, even Bink.

I didn't take pictures at every stop but we went to see how bricks were made, to the blacksmith shop, and then to the printing press. I was amazed at all of it what it took to make a wagon wheel, how long it took to make a brick, and the time it took to print something! WOW, they were sure hard workers back then!

This was at the printing press.

Each letter had to be set by hand, and each letter was so tiny! AMAZING!

That night we went to the Sunset on the Mississippi, which was a fun play that all the missionaries performed in. It was a lot of fun, it showed off a lot of different talents. They had these missionaries dance'n and jump'n and sing'n! I was amazed with all of the couples, most are not their young selves anymore and I'm sure most of them didn't know they were going to be performing or even want to perform on a stage but there they were. All of them smiling and doing SUCH a great job. They all had such a great spirit, and they all work so hard! They were pulling 10-12 hour days maybe more. What a great testimony of the church!

After the play they had the BYU Ballroom Dancers perform, they were very entertaining and fun to see. Kya really loved them too she was oooing and awing with every new dress they had on for each dance. She really loves dancing!