date #1

it's time for our twelve dates of christmas!

turns out, these dates are going to be very simple,
and quite personal,
and i'm not going to share everything discussed because,
youknow,
gotta keep some things sacred. :)

tonight we hit date #1.

this involved:

taking a winter walk,
donating all of our spare change to bell ringers in front of grocery stores,
eating dinner, of course,
and sitting at the table
with hot cocoa in our hands
to read this wonderful talk together.

here are a just few of our favorite parts:

"We read accounts of ancient prophets who yearned for the coming of the Messiah. We read scriptures that proclaim the wondrous story of His birth. "

prophets foretold of His coming. they yearned for it. the world lay in waiting for this beautiful event.
it's so amazing to think about.

"When Jesus was born, the joy in heaven was so great it could not be contained, and angelic hosts parted the veil, proclaiming unto shepherds “good tidings of great joy, . . . praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”"

the JOY in heaven could not be contained. to this extent. wow. how absolutely breathtaking!

"The early disciples of Jesus Christ yearned for the time when He would come again. For them, mortality was a time of preparation and growth, of sifting and refining, a time for trimming their lamps and preparing for the return of their beloved Savior."

it is difficult for me when i try to share something that means oh-so much to me, like something cool from when i was growing up, and it isn't received with the excitement i would have hoped for. i imagine upon hearing the news that Jesus would come again, the disciples were overcome with joy. their Savior, Redeemer, the man who died for the world, their very best friend would live on the earth again! they spent their lives making preparations, spreading the message to the people, children, grandchildren, and just hoping that their love and excitement and humility would infect the people. they spent their days spreading Jesus' love. as the years passed, this fizzled out, and people forgot just what Christ's presence brought to this world. we have to seek Him. i think watching the world now, the disciples would be quite saddened, thinking "these people don't know what lay ahead, what joys and blessings lay in following Christ!". it motivates me to do the disciples, to do Jesus and our Father in Heaven proud. every day we are closer to His coming. what preparations are we making today?

we are so grateful to have the Gospel,
to have the love of Jesus Christ,
of our Heavenly Father.
we are so grateful to have forever families
and to have each other,
{even if we aren't technically domestically unified :) }

this season is turning out to be the best Christmas yet,
and it's only december first!

i gladly welcome date #2 as soon as possible :)