A Yin and Yang Weekend

It has been an eventful few days, for both good and bad.

I guess that is really the way life is in general, full of so many moments that shape us and build us into the people that we become.

Sometimes those moments are so sweet we can hardly stand it. Like we might burst from the purity and beauty of the life around us. Other times we wish we could just close our eyes and let them pass by without really touching us, but that is not the way of things. We need every moment we have.

On Thursday, Aubrey got to perform with the school chorus. They had worked on the songs for a while and even though she was off track, she was thrilled to perform with the group. I love being able to see my kids get involved in things. They are amazing little people.

Thursday evening, our canine companion of six years experienced a grand mal seizure. I am not going to go in to that much (reference my last post if you are interested).

We took him to the vet the next day and were told that there was really nothing that could be done. So, Josh and I sat quietly in the office with our dog for the last time. Moka was calm, almost serene (completely out of character for this dog). He just seemed happy to be with us. We got to be beside him as he peacefully passed from this life to the next. We cried a lot, enough crying to remember six years of smiles and aggravation and joy.

We were able to bury our dog on Josh's parent's property. We will miss him. This has been very hard, but we have been surrounded by good and kind people who have helped make it go as smoothly as possible, and we are grateful for that. Finally, Saturday was Josh's youngest brother's wedding. It was a wonderful event and we are so excited for Chris and Tricia. We were humbled to be able to attend their sealing in the Salt Lake temple and had the amazing blessing of watching Chris and Tricia be sealed by the same sweet man that sealed Josh and I almost eleven years ago. It was a good time for us to be reminded of the eternal nature of life and family.

For the family pictures, all the boys were sporting lime green ties, the girls wore dresses to match. They all looked adorable.

We tried to capture the magic of that cuteness at home, but they must have needed all the magic for the reception pictures because things didn't turn out so well here. Oh well.

Still cute though, you get the idea.

I am sometimes grateful for those raw and painful moments in our life because they open up a spectrum of feeling that we sometimes forget about. It is never fun, but that acute, biting sting also reminds us that sometimes there are aches that cannot be cured without the soothing hug of our big brother, Jesus Christ, and His loving and eternal perspective.

No matter what else, those sweet and sour pieces of life are what really make us.

And aren't we glad to be made.