After our very tearful good-bye to friends at The Hill we headed back to the trailer and began packing it up. We thought it would take an hour to clean up our little 2 week home and we were SO exhausted that we prayed it would only take an hour to pack up. Well, about 4 hours later we finally finished. We cleaned up that place spic n span, loaded up our car and went to say good-bye to the Sacred Grove and the top of The Hill one last time.
We were beyond exhausted but it was important to me that we do this.
In the Sacred Grove we had a nice family chat on a bench, deep in the Grove, reminiscing of what we had just experienced. I bore my testimony to my children telling them that every last teeny tiny part of that Pageant was TRUE. It is either true, or it isn't and I for myself know it to be TRUE. I asked them what they thought and they all said that it was the greatest thing that they had done in their short lives; they would never forget it; and they also know that it's true. We felt the Spirit together as we walked quietly out of the Sacred Grove for the last time.
What a blessing it has been to be part of such an amazing experience.
Our hearts all were full of gratitude!
We were so late in getting to the Tripps home for dinner that I called ahead and told them to go without us. We were coming, but I also felt strongly that we need to have a family wrap-up moment together about our experience in being in the Hill Cumorah Pageant.
We went to the Tripps 30 minutes away where we had waiting for us the most delicious BBQ chicken dinner waiting. We were not only starving but tired and ready for some home cookin'. We were not disappointed. They treated us so well.
We ended our New York time how we began... time with the cousins.
We stayed 3 nights with them and had a great time.
We went to a baseball game.
Maryn and Garrett replayed a picture moment they did when they were probably 5 and 6, except now so much older, and taller.
Grammy and Poppy had moved to a nice little condo with a pool. It was so fun to relax and swim. My children sure needed some relaxing time.
We had a great time together.
I just have to insert here for some that might think it be weird that I spend so much time with the ex-in-laws.
Actually, it was not weird.
It felt good and natural to be with them. They love me and are so appreciative of me and what I do. They hate the situation that I've been placed in. The first night as I was sitting at the grown-up table I wanted to just get it out there, so I told Lorey, Kelley, Rick and Karen that it felt nice to be with them. It felt normal. I had missed them a lot. Of course they all started to cry with gratitude because they loved that I would take the time to be with them. They expressed their love for me.
It was all good.
After a delicious breakfast at Lorey's we hugged and headed off to our next destination:
Crawfordsville, Indiana to visit the Jensens.
It was so great to see Rachel, my long-time friend. We met our very first year at Pageant when we were 16 and our families became instant friends. So much to share about Rachel but sufficith to say that I hadn't seen her in years. I think Maryn was a tiny baby when we last saw them, although we have corresponded a bit over the years. It was SO GOOD TO SEE HER. She looked just the same. We felt like we were the same, sort of.
They built a home next door to her parents home which I was familiar with.
We took a walk in the meadow, crossed over the stream, saw the pool where we swam a few times when I was a kid, and got eaten by a million mosquitos as we wandered in the woods.
The kids had fun exploring too with the 3 of the 7 Jensen kids who were home.
When we saw the dirt on our cry we got a little sad because it was Palmyra dirt.
So fun to be with Rachel.
We stayed up way too late talking after we got everyone in bed.
I was exhausted and needed my sleep to drive but we had years and years to catch up on.
We haven't changed a bit from those days long ago, right?
Just a fraction of the mosquitos Kaden got in an hour of playing outside.
It's always nice for me to have my kids be in the home of my old friends or good Mormon families. Before all the kids went to bed Darrin called us all for a devotional together. We sat around reading scriptures together. I love for them to know that we aren't the only ones... praying, FHE, scripture reading is what we do if we want to be happy and there are many families around the world who do it too. I love that they felt comfortable enough to have us join in and share that special time with them reading the scriptures.
After an early breakfast and shooting bows and arrows with the kids we left around 10 to get to our next destination... Nauvoo.
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