Dear Loved Ones,
This week
is a double-letter since I missed last week while we were camping. The days before our camp out were spent on
school and trip preparations. Monday the 14th was registration day
and that night we went to Bozeman Costco and Target for school supplies.
Tuesday the 15th James had a physical and Addie needed to spend some
of her own cash on extra school clothes so we went to Bozeman again and looked
in 5 stores before we found converse high tops (what?!). Wednesday and Thursday we worked around the
house and prepped food and supplies for our trip. We left here at 4pm Friday,
stopped in Bozeman for dinner, and headed down to our cabin in Island Park. We
got there around 8pm and had a cozy night playing Yahtzee and watching movies.
Saturday we woke up and collected some rocks to paint and did some water colors
and bike rides. Then we drove out to Big Spring to explore and went swimming at
the dock. We came home and got dry and resumed activities like art and bike
riding and dinner prepping. Addie took the boys on a bike ride to meet up with
some of our Livingston friends who have a cabin down the road. They came back
with some of those kids and we grilled brats and had a campfire (until they
came and told us there was a fire ban—oops!). I did write a letter last Sunday to one of our
missionaries that captures our trip really well, so I will share a bit and go
from there.
August 20th: “I am sitting outside amongst the pine trees
watching the sunset over Henry’s Fork of the Snake River in Island Park Idaho.
We rented a cool “tiny house” cabin for the weekend and it has been so awesome.
Sometimes it is nice to have a little forced togetherness with teenagers ;) It
is so peaceful-- we have enjoyed walks, bike rides, river swimming and floating
(in perfectly clear spring water--so fascinating watching the fish and plants
pass by), painting, writing, grilling, s'mores, singing, dancing, napping, and
even a sacrament meeting this morning with about 400 other campers. It was
great….
We had a very sweet family night just now. We chose a
new family theme for 2017-18 school year. We chose “We Can Do Hard Things”
based on Elaine Dalton's 2010 conference talk, and then Richard gave each of
the children a Father's blessing. The spirit was powerful and I am so grateful.
My family of origin was not a stable one most of the time, so times like these
are answers to fervent prayers I said as a youth, a missionary, and a young
adult to please give me a partner who had a matching vision of a celestial
family and would give his life to make it happen. I waited a long time, but my
prayers were answered so fully, sometimes I have to pinch myself because I
can't believe how good my husband is and how wonderful our life is. Of course
we have had hard times and challenges, but they haven't come between us--they
have bound us together and made us stronger. I painted a little sign for our
home before we got married and it says, “Love is what you go through together.
--Jeffrey R. Holland” and I know that it is true. I am feeling immensely
blessed tonight...
The sunset [was brilliant over the pine trees tonight]. I'm
listening to the Churchtastic music mix
we made for you and it makes my heart overflow. I just peeled a tangerine for
Ammon and I love that smell. All my senses are so happy right now. I am indeed
glad that I live in this beautiful world Heavenly Father created for me. For
us. And for my hubs and the beautiful people we made. Life is sweet."
The next
morning we cleaned up our cabin and headed south to the path of totality in
Rexburg, Idaho (about 40 miles from the cabin). From the time we pulled on to
highway 20 everything was busy and magical. There was definitely excitement in
the air, though I was not prepared at all for the awesomeness that was to
follow. It is hard to put into words how truly awesome a total eclipse is, and
I admit to be being a doubter—this whole trip was Rich’s idea. I am attaching
an essay that captures many of my feelings at the experience. Aside from all
the symbolism, I was amazed at how light everything was right up to the last
sliver of sun, and I was kinda disturbed by how cold it got and how fast. It
hit me how dependent we are on the sun. And then of course my mind formed an
allegory for The Son. I was also shocked at the emotion we all felt. It was
kind of primal and uncontrollable—everyone whooped and hollered when the sun
disappeared and the corona blazed in a ring around the moon. But two minutes
later when the sun reappeared, our kids simultaneously and spontaneously burst
into song: “Here comes the sun/ Here comes the sun and I say/ It’s alright/
dadoodedadoodedadoodedadoodledoodle…” Pure delight. I’m so glad we went!
After the
eclipse was mostly done, we drove into town and met my brother Michael and our
friends Kurt and Debbie for lunch at Café Rio, then went over to Michael’s to
spend some time with his cute family. I love Rexburg! Rich headed south to spend a few days in SLC
and see Depeche Mode. The kids and I headed out of town at 3:30 and got stuck
in traffic near Ashton around 4pm. Little did we know, we would spend the next
4 hours driving up the hill to Island Park—41 miles in 4 hours. As soon as we
passed Ponds Lodge, it was smooth sailing all the way home. I was amazed at how good our kids were! Even
after that torturous traffic jam, everyone was still in good spirits and agreed
it was totally worth it. They are the coolest.
Tuesday
8/22 we spent the day preparing for school. Mostly we were at the middle school
with James, practicing his locker combo and walking to classes. It’s hard to
believe my “sweet baby James” is going to middle school with all those gnarly
pubescent kids—but it’s happening and he seems pretty happy so far. James
started school Wednesday, and the rest of the kids started Thursday. We woke up
at 5:45 to get Addie to seminary, read scriptures, have breakfast, and drive
kids to 3 schools. Richard got home from Utah about the same time the kids got
home from school. It was a busy day and night, and so was Friday, but we survived
back to school (including dental appointments, sports physicals, parent
meetings, etc).
This
weekend we enjoyed stake conference with Elder LeGrand Curtis. Rich and I went
to the meeting Saturday night. I loved how he tied all the speakers’ messages
together by explaining the First Presidency’s initiative to strengthen the
faith of the members, which began back in 2012-ish. I think it is interesting and
simple and so very cool that the answer to their prayers about how to increase
faith was to Keep the Sabbath Holy (Exodus 31-as a SIGN of our relationship and
commitment to God)—to prepare for and revere the sacrament (D&C 59-to keep
ourselves UNSPOTTED from the world—yay that, I am so tired of The World!), and
DELIGHT in the Sabbath (Isaiah 58)—a day to do things HIS way, not OUR way, and
to strengthen the feeble knees, to lift up the hands that hang down, and to “find
our families” as we spend time together on that holy day. If you stop and think
about how powerful it is just to keep that one commandment “in totality”—we truly
will keep ourselves unspotted. We will be clean, we will be rested, we will
have discernment, we will keep our families united and happy, we will have
personal revelation and increased closeness and trust in God…totally inspired
direction on how to survive the last days of deception, distraction, and
destruction. Personal purity and communion with God and companionship of the
Spirit. His message today was along the same lines—encouraging us to be
steadfast and immoveable in keeping covenants, nurturing testimony, partaking
of the power of the Book of Mormon each day. All simple, doable things that
have potent promises attached.
We enjoyed
a quiet afternoon here as a family, Addie made us a creole dinner of gumbo and
beignets—totally gourmet and DELICIOUS! We facetimed with Aunt Dana as she is
riding out hurricane Harvey in Texas. We enjoyed a missionary fireside with
siblings Terin Bowden (Texas Lubbock) and Will Bowden (Portugal Lisbon)
tonight, and everyone went to sleep fairly early. I’m excited to get back in to
the groove of the school year!
We hope
all is well with you, our beloved friends and family. We have had some great
times together lately and wish we could share them with you. We hope life is
just as sweet for you and hope you know we love and miss you. Have a great
week, keep in touch!
Love,
Jamie, Richard, and Family
***
photo by our friend Mitch McClellan in Rexburg
Thoughts on the Eclipse by Rob Eaton (from facebook)
I had read all
the hype, and I had a hard time imagining there was any way a total solar
eclipse could live up to so much promotion and praise. One account was so effusive that even my young nephew dismissed it
by saying, “It had too many superlatives.” Surely nothing could be that good.
If I had not lived plop in the middle of the zone of
totality in Rexburg, Idaho, I don’t know that I would have traveled far to see
it. When I mentioned it to my brother a month ago, remarkably enough, he hadn’t
even heard about it yet. But before I could even say anything about it, he
said, “It seems like every eclipse that comes along is supposed to be the only
time in the next 57 years you’ll be able to see something like it.” He hadn’t
been that impressed with what he’d seen in the past, so he wasn’t interested in
driving a couple of hours north to reach the zone of totality for this eclipse.
I don’t fault him. If I were him, I might well have
looked at a map and figured, “I’ll just stay here and see 75% of the eclipse
and get 75% of the benefits. Why go all that way just to see the sun all the
way covered?”
But with solar eclipses, I learned vividly and
personally today, there is a world of difference between even 98% of an eclipse
and 100%. We watched with interest and amusement during the partial phases of
the eclipse, but right up until a few moments before we witnessed the total
eclipse, it seemed like not much more than a pleasant astronomical quirk
visible only with special protective glasses.
But as the moon began to totally cover the sun and
we witnessed the diamond ring and the corona visible only with a total solar
eclipse, I was absolutely blown away. I thought I would remain calm, but I
couldn’t keep the emotions I felt inside. And neither could most of the people
around me. As one writer had predicted, it was as if it touched something
deeply primal within us. No photograph or video I’ve seen of this spectacular
phenomenon does justice to it. It is simply the most amazing thing I have ever
seen.
Afterwards, my nephew volunteered to his mother: "Now
I know why they used so many superlatives."Despite all the hype, we
discovered a total solar eclipse had not been overrated.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, this experience has
reminded me of three important lessons. First, heaven is not overhyped; eternal
life will be worth every sacrifice we could possible make to partake of it.
In one of my otherwise favorite songs by Train, the
singer asks of a friend returning from some kind of cosmic journey, “Did you
make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded and that heaven is
overrated?” Just as my brother assumed a total eclipse had been oversold, much
of the world today has come to believe heaven is not real or that it can’t be
all that. They doubt the reality of an eternal existence with God so exquisite
that Peter described it as becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter
1:4). I believe that one day, everyone will be as convinced of the desirability
of eternal life with God as those who witnessed the total eclipse today were of
its stunning glory.
Second, I was reminded that there is a dramatic
difference between the blessings that come from sort of following the gospel of
Jesus Christ—being in the zone of partiality—and striving to following Him and
His teachings with all our hearts—the zone of totality. One of the reasons my
brother and I underestimated how rewarding the total eclipse would be is that
we based our estimates on what we’d witnessed in prior partial eclipses. But a
total eclipse isn’t just twice as beautiful as an eclipse where the moon covers
half the son; it is exponentially better.
And so are the blessings that come from living in
the zone of spiritual totality. I’m not talking about a place where we are
perfect, and I’m certainly not talking about a condition we achieve through our
own efforts alone. But I am referring to a state of mind and heart where we
jump in with our whole souls, holding nothing back but relying on Christ to
realize our divine potential. The blessings of spiritual coronas and diamond
rings come not to those who merely go through the motions and occasional effort
it takes to reach the zone of partiality; they come to those who yield their
hearts and souls to God in the zone of spiritual totality.
Finally, now that I know what a rare and exquisite
experience a total solar eclipse is, I regret terribly the fact that I didn’t
try to persuade my brother and his family and all my siblings and children who
lived elsewhere to join us. What a terrible waste it was to have a home located
in the heart of the zone of totality with only 5 guests. I wish I’d been more
like some of our neighbors, who had family members and friends stuffed into
every bed and couch and spilling over onto their lawns.
For those of us who have lived the gospel of Jesus
Christ enough to know just how exquisite its blessings are, there is a special
responsibility to find ways to help others come to understand or even consider
the possibility that it will be eternally worth the sacrifice to come to the
zone of spiritual totality.
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