I have a family here on Earth

Just as a warning before I begin, this may be another one of those cheesy posts, but I am going to do it anyway!

I have two thoughts running through my mind right now. The first is about our lesson in Relief Society today. We discussed the return of Elijah to bestow the sealing keys to Joseph Smith and what that means to us. I know that this is a very common topic in our church to discuss, but it hit me how wonderful that knowledge is. When I married Mike in the temple, I married him for here on Earth (time) and forever after (and all eternity), which in turn sealed our beautiful boys to us forever. What an extraordinary knowledge.

As we sang the closing song, "Families Can Be Together Forever," I noticed the chorister was crying, and I am pretty sure I heard more sniffles around the room. I thought about how, more than probably any other topic (other than the atonement of Jesus Christ), I see more people get emotional when talking about families. I think it is because one of the main purposes of our lives here is to form eternal families. We are created for this and so it is inherent in us to find joy in the thought of living with those we love forever, even after they have passed away. I remember distinctly, soon after Jordan was born, understanding so much clearer why we would refer to the Plan of Salvation as the Plan of Happiness - I felt so much joy knowing that that little baby was mine forever.

The next idea I have been thinking about a lot lately is creating a home. As I listened to the lesson today, I thought about how this ties in perfectly - we need to create a place where our families will be safe from the world and the influences therein.

I remember soon before I got married being completely excited when I realized that I could make my home whatever I wanted it to be. I had been living with roommates for about seven years before that, and though I didn't have problems with most of them, I still had to compromise on our living space. But in my family I could make it whatever I wanted. I could choose what came in and what influences would surround my family while they were at home (at least for the most part). If we didn't want certain tv shows, games, music, language, etc in our home, then we could make it that way. Wow! I was so excited. Mike and I thoroughly discussed many of these ideas before we got married because I wanted to make sure we were on the same page, that's how important it was to me. Now, I know that I still have the tv on more than I want to, get frustrated more than I care, and other imperfections, but I love that I can try to make a place for my family, to protect them, to teach them the gospel and how to recognize the Holy Ghost, to help them stay worthy, and to try to make them happy to be part of our eternal family.