Saturday, August 4

Dianna and I enjoyed the 5:30 a.m. temple session this morning; we were asked to serve as the witness couple again and I assisted at the veil. One lady became so emotional and wept nearly the whole time she was reciting her message at the veil; she was probably in her 70s and must have had a very special feeling as she was preparing to enter the celestial room. As she passed through the veil, she raised her arms a little as if she was actually entering the celestial kingdom. I was also touched by the spiritual feelings she was feeling. We enjoy our weekly Saturday morning temple visits. I was a proxy for one of Dianna's Croatian ancestors--great way to start the weekend.

Then we assisted in cleaning the stake center, preparing the building for Sunday.

After returning home, Dianna wanted to work on the 72-hour kits so we got everything out, threw out the old, and did an inventory of what we have and what we need. We also cleaned out the storage shed and through out lots of stuff--actually we'll give a lot of it away, including the girls' costumes that no longer get played with and wedding stuff that probably won't be needed again for (hopefully) several years.

Called my mom and she was enjoying visiting with Betty, Leah, and Hawaii visitors (Alana and Frank's mom), who are spending a few weeks in Iowa. I was there a week ago, helping my mom with her photo albums and organizing her kitchen. Today she was showing lots of the pictures we had organized to everyone--she seemed relieved to have them where she could access them and where everyone could see them.

Well, this is an experiment to see if it will be a useful tool for me to keep my thoughts and musings. I don't know if that's the best word--it means "To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation." Perhaps that's what a journal should be, though.