Time to say Good-bye

Leaving Nauvoo…

We left late yesterday evening, Tuesday, September 28th…I can’t fully describe the feelings with justice to how very hard it was to leave this place that became “home” to our family for the past few weeks. It was so much more than a physical house for us…emotionally and spiritually it felt like home. So welcoming, so sweet, so real, so simple ~ so peaceful…yes, even with 16 people in one little home, it was Peaceful…not peacefully quiet, a sense of peace that your heart feels even when your ears may be ringing with noise from little people all around you. Peace that your spirit feels and welcomes and appreciates. Peace that allows you to “feel” all of the essential emotions that sometimes lie dormant inside of us, just waiting for a safe place to come alive again.

We've spent 2 ½ weeks in this beautiful city and I still didn’t feel I could leave it…the Spirit that is present in the streets, in the homes, in the buildings, in the sweet people, and in the Temple are simply a treasure! I believe my favorite experience while here happened on a daily basis…each place we visited testimonies were shared with my children, stories that brought tears to the eyes of the storyteller as well as to all listening will forever be remembered, each detail is immaterial, but each feeling will hold precious memories that I hope will carry our children through a lifetime of trials and that they’ll be able to pull from their memory bank to strengthen them in times of need! I have been strengthened by the examples of the women that I’ve learned about while being here. When I think of what they endured, I don’t know that I could have survived the hardships and trials that they struggled through. I guess because I am a mother and a wife, I can more closely relate to them and to the heartache they felt as they lost their children and their husbands, as they labored so diligently and faithfully to do all that was at their hand.

As we drove away from "our home in Nauvoo" Danielle played the songs that we had come to know and love that were sung to us many nights in the Rendezvous of Old Nauvoo Production. This only added to the intensity I felt as we drove away. The tears were a rollin' and I just had to swallow it up and be grateful to be heading back to my real home with my dear hubby and kiddos....it's so good to be together again! How we missed our sweet Daddy.