A Constant Reminder

Today was awesome. We stayed overnight in Louisville, KY on our way home from St. Louis. And we attended the ward I grew up in from the ages of 4-10. So why is the first picture one of the Louisville temple? Take a look at that beautiful dogwood on the left side of the picture (next to the really cute kids).

Here's the same dogwood (next to my really beautiful bride and those same adorable kids). This is the church I attended more than 20 years ago. I remember it being built while we lived there. I remember attending church in a rented building (an old school maybe?) while we were waiting for this building to be completed. I was baptized here. Some familiar faces were still around (Denise Hettinger, Koestner's, and many others I didn't see). There are four congregations in the area now and those my family knew best have been shifted around several times. We also saw some extended family! My cousin Jamie has lived there for 5 years now and her parents (my aunt and uncle) were visiting from Denver as well.

As you can tell, I just couldn't get enough of that dogwood. Had I been more professional about it, I would have made sure the temple rose higher than the dogwood in the picture above. :)

There was a special spirit as we arrived to church this morning. We pulled into the parking lot and on one side was the chapel we worship in on Sunday's and on the other side was a temple, The House of the Lord, in which we have an opportunity to worship the other six days of the week. It's a constant reminder. What a special blessing it is for the members in the Louisville area to have a temple adjacent to their meeting house. And what a sight it was for me!

Finally, how can you not fall in love with our baby boy, Luke?!? :) He's 18 months old and traveled very well during our excursion this past week.