Best Christmas Pageant Ever!!!

Friday started with me substituting and catching three people cheating on the quiz. I was so sad and hurt that they would do that but my day got much better. That night we, my family, the Platts, Laura and John, and my parents, went to see the "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at the Mesa Arts Center. It was wonderful. I laughed and cried. My children all laughed and thought it was the best show I never heard a peep out of them except laughter. It is so great to have the Christmas spirit. I seem to cry and laugh a lot easier this time of the year. Everything just touches me so deeply. I love it. I wish I could keep this spirit year round.
Saturday was wonderful too. My good friends the Owensbys had their second child sealed to them in the Mesa Arizona Temple. What a beautiful ceremony. After it was all done and I saw their little family standing in the sealing room it struck me that their family is perfect and their children are theirs forever. Even though their children look nothing like them, Zadok and Isaac are theirs and just had to come to them a different way. I am amazed at the sacrifice the birth moms make and the sacrifices Steve and Angie make. I once said that I love Angie's perspective on things but I don't want to have to go through what she has to get it. I will just try to listen and learn from her. The temple truly is an amazing place and we have an amazing gift in that families really are forever.
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. Steve and Angie blessed little Isaac and the Easthopes blessed their little Anna. What a great meeting. Melanie Easthope bore her testimony and gave such a great analogy. Melanie was putting up her Christmas decorations and she has a nativity from Bolivia, where she served her mission. In her nativity the moms carry their babies on their backs to Jesus. She then likened it to her and how she has had others carry her on their backs to Jesus and now she is a mom herself and she needs to carry her own children to Jesus. It was such a great testimony. I know I have been carried many times towards Jesus and I know that I need to carry my own children. I just hope I do the job and teach my children like I have been taught.
It was a great weekend and I love this time of year. I love that people are just a little bit nicer and cheerful. I love that I see Christmas lights everywhere and the Christmas songs are playing. I love that I can play "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" ten times a day if I want to and no one says anything. I am blessed in so many ways and I am grateful that I got to participate in such a great weekend.