A Forever Family

   Forever families are made in the house of the Lord; in the temple of our God.  For Samuel and I, our forever family was created and sealed for all time and eternity in the Dallas, TX temple.

( I love this pic of Samuel...a little boy, ready to be married....haha)

  

   Today, I can't help but be filled with gratitude for my forever family that extends beyond the veil.  This afternoon, Samuel, Amilee and I attended a grave site service for a lady in our ward.  I have only known her since this last September, but I have grown to really love her.  She was our ward choir director, and I loved everything  I learned about her.  I am happy I got to know a little bit of her beautiful, kind and sweet spirit before she was taken back home.  But as I sat through the service, I expected to feel sad that I didn't know her better, but the spirit there was of joy and happiness of the knowledge of forever families and life beyond death through the plan of happiness.  I am so grateful for my knowledge of the gospel, and to know in hard times, like death, I will be reunited with my family again, and that we can be together forever.  Life expands beyond this earthly life. There is so much more than this.  This is just a short segment of time compared to what we have coming, and what we had before we came to this earth.

This is my forever family:

I believe there is life after death with our family and friends.  When we return to our Father in Heaven, we will be greeted with many open arms from family and friends.  Some we may have known well here on this earth, some we may not have known on this earth at all, but with joy, they will be waiting to greet us.  It will be joyous.  It will not be a sad event that we have died.  I can't remember who said it at the service, it was either Bishop Kim or President Johnson, but they said, we are not mourning that Lana is gone, we are mourning that we will no longer get to see her and we miss her, and I thought that put everything perfect.  That's how it should be.  A funeral should not be some sad event; it should be a celebration of that person's life; remembering all the good times and memories we made with them; and knowing that all is well and there are many more memories to come.  It is a beautiful plan.

I hope that my little Maddyson Elaine, who will soon join us on this earth, will have a chance to meet dear Lana before she comes to earth and bring some of her sweet spirit to share with us.