But a seer can know of things which are past, and also of things which are to come, and by them shall all things be revealed, or rather, shall secret things be made manifest, and hidden things shall come to light, and thing which are not know shall be made known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known. Mosiah 8:17
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| Back home in Ogden Valley, Utah, which consists of Eden, Liberty, and Huntsville |
A seer would come in real handy at the moment.
Every day, since returning from our mission, I find myself wandering around the house, which seems like a palace after living in our little missionary apartments (which seemed like palaces to us compared to some of the homes we visited). Part of the time I'm just reconnecting, and the rest of the time I'm looking for the wrapped and boxed stuff we stored to protect it from 18 months of accumulated dust. As I float from room to room like a ghost searching for past memories, I'm recapturing things that meant something in our past lives, and happening upon treasures stashed in strange places. Why oh why do we hold on to some of the things we do? And why did I put some things in totally illogical places? Where are our phones? The empty boxes are there. You'd think they would have been stored in the boxes, right? No.
We've been fine for 18 months without all this stuff, so why unearth it all now? Why not just leave it buried and forgotten? But we can't do that. We are now home. HOME. These trinkets, pictures, collections, and meaningful mementos are our history. These things bring joy to our lives when we look at them or touch them . . . and remember. All the cluttery things are part of what makes this our place. Like the so-called clutter of pictures on the fridge:
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| Remembering our soldiers fighting in foreign lands--a son with his team at the beginning of the war in Iraq & Afghanistan |
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| Fridge magnets given to us and pictures of little ones growing up |
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| Holidays and grandkids |
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| Family and more family--priceless treasures are they all |
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| Our bishop and his family--Ercell is their home teacher and the little one on the right was in our Primary class. They've adopted us as grandparents. |
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| Memories of family gatherings and special events |
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| A new grandson growing big and his good parents before he entered the picture (hence the dog) |
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| A few of the family together for Mom/Grandma LaVern's 98th birthday |
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| Good neighbors who look after us and the house--always (including clearing the driveway in the winter) |
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| More grandchildren grown up a lot since we left |
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| Daughters and granddaughters bring such joy and fun memories |
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| Florida wedding with brother giving sister away; daughters were a birthday surprise on our last mission in Georgia; and a visit to Denver with daughter and new son-in-law |
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| Granddaughter's birthday; daughter and one of many horses; a son at the wedding in Florida |
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| More beautiful grandchildren and the first GREAT granddaughter! |
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| More great memories--Dancing granddaughter; Kentucky with the girls; temple work for the family; fishing in Alaska (brag. brag--my fish is the biggest!) |
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| Beautiful family, wonderful wedding--happy days! |
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| More gorgeous grandchildren and the grandson in the largest pictures is currently serving a mission in Mexico |
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| More memories of days gone by--too fast! |
And then . . . the pictures sent to us while in England--More lovely additions to our mural. (Belfast, Ireland is the city mural capitol of the world (even the graffiti is pretty and saved), so why can't we have a family mural (which, for people who don't know us might consider it like meaningless graffiti--how dare them!). OUR PRICELESS, PRECIOUS FAMILY MURAL COLLECTION KEEPS GROWING! A lovely, vibrant, living creation of "art" continues to evolve. Four new great grandchildren were born while we were gone. Three more are on the way. All are one-of-a-kind originals, limited editions (single issue).
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| Some of the pictures got cut off in the scan, but you get the idea of all the important people in our lives. |
So, family is the MOST important thing in our lives and pictures of them are the utmost valued things we own. Pictures and family history would be the items saved first in a fire (next to living people, or course). I put the original fridge photos on a flash drive and actually took them to England with us--had to have a small piece of family with us as we just couldn't hardly bear to be without them. The pictures are now back gloriously "cluttering" up our fridge. Yes, family is all we have when all else is gone. When time moves on, we have the memories.
I know there's a movement out there in the world somewhere to declutter and simplify one's life. Someone has even written a book on how to let go of
things on the premise that we will find our greatest joy when we are unencumbered by items of the world--material possessions and worthless, useless sentimental items to which we've become attached. It is supposed to give people total freedom to let go of everything that does not fulfill a practical purpose.
It seems that in life it is especially important to have emotional and mental well being. So, whatever brings joy to the heart and mind, keep it! Savor it and remember why it is special. Undoubtedly every item is connected to a person, place, or event.
It is a memory holder. That sounds like a practical purpose to me.
I'm glad I got side tracked from finding the other treasures that are hidden away and found pictures of the most important priceless gems that make our house a home and life worth living.
Families are meant to be together forever.
The gospel teaches us how this can be.
