Weekend in St. George

The month of January ended with a fun weekend in St. George. Kristin & Michael bought a house in St George, so Jeremy and I wanted to go down and help them with some renovation/cleaning/painting or whatever they'd let us do. We ended up doing a little moving and cleaning and not much else that was helpful. They had already done a lot and weren't quite ready to start new projects. So, we got to take a couple of naps, go out to a few nice meals, spend time w/ their adorable children, and enjoy a very inspiring church experience at their ward:
A man with Down Syndrome sang a duet w/ a woman, "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus." It was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. I can't describe how I felt. The innocent, eager, sincere look on his face as he sang those words was just so inspiring to me. I don't know how his singing partner kept it together. I just bawled through the entire song. Two young men, both with severe physical disabilities, also reported on their recently completed 1-year long service missions. Both had such positive attitudes about their limitations and it seemed their testimonies were shaped by their circumstances. The second speaker said he was born without femur bones, or essentially, without legs. I wish I could've met him or seen what his lower half looked like to exactly. One thing he related to us was the conversation that may have taken place in the pre-existence as he begged to come to earth. "Let me go! Give me no legs - heck, throw in some acne, I don't care! Just let me go!" Everyone laughed at this, since it was apparent that he had some acne scars. What a great attitude. Wow. He also said "I love myself. I love who I am." I think those of us with complete bodies have an extremely hard time loving ourselves and our bodies, so I was quite impressed w/ his perspective.

We enjoyed the kids and took lots of pictures - especially of Ellie, since she is less mobile than Carter! No two pictures were the same - she has so many different faces - it prompted me to create "The Many Faces of Ellie." Such a cutie!!

For more pictures, see my Gallery.