THE DALLAS TEXAS TEMPLE: Robynn has served in the Dallas Temple on Friday mornings for 17 years. That is amazing!! Other than being married and being a mother, I haven't done any assignment that long! That meant that when Jena and I went to the temple on Friday morning we got to see her as we entered for our 9:00 session and then again when we did initiatory at 11:00. It added to the sweetness of returning to the Dallas Temple which I love from our years there and also that this was the temple that Jena was sealed to us in. I had many sweet feelings and spiritual experiences throughout the morning. I cried almost from the moment I entered the temple until after we left.
You will have to take my word for it because I don't have the actual photo on my computer but this is the same place where we took a picture of us with our family on the day that Jena was sealed to us. (Now the temple has been remodeled since then and things moved a bit, so it might not be the same actual door, but it was the east side of the temple near this location.)
She has grown a bit since that day when she was 10 months old.
Views of the temple----
It was hard to get the whole temple into the same shot. It has an unusual design with the pillars on the ground in front rather than on the roof--similar to the Boise Temple.
After the temple, we headed north again to McKinney, Texas, for lunch. One of our missionaries, Sister Marcia Horrocks, has a son who owns and runs a small restaurant in downtown McKinney. McKinney has an historical downtown with lots of antique shops and art galleries and small shops...and it takes Christmas time very seriously.
It took a while to find parking because it was Christmas time and lunch time, I guess. People were everywhere, shopping, taking pictures, and eating.
We went to the Square Burger and following Sister Horrocks' suggestions, I ordered the sweet potato fries which were amazing. We didn't get to see Brandon as he was busy shopping at the time we were there, but we did get the Brandon discount on our bill.
Here is the outside of his shop which sits in the town square across from the city building.
Jena joined Prancer(?) on a park bench.
Walking back to our car, we passed the Hall County Library--quite an impressive looking building for a library.
I love clouds as you know and Jena took these two pictures of the cloud cover as we left McKinney and headed to Grapevine for Part two of a trip--Family time with the Gibersons.
Before we even ran the door bell, I had to take a couple of pictures of their new home. This was the first time that we have been there since they had it built. I love their whole house, but I was really drawn to the handing ornaments in their front fence...so beautiful and looked good, day or night!
These were old skates of Linda's mother that she repurposed for this Christmas display on their front porch.
Conversation began immediately as my brother, Rick, his wife Linda, my sister, Valerie and her daughter, Kristen were there already and we were soon joined by my niece Tana as well.............and it really didn't stop except for times of sleeping, Church, and maybe for some serious moments during game playing. My nephew, Duncan, arrived later that evening as the Ward Christmas party which we attended.
They had Santa Claus come at the end and after all of the little kids visited him that wanted to (and some who didn't), Jena decided to make a visit as well. I love this picture of her talking to Santa.
Later, I got to talk to Santa myself (out of costume) as Rick had told him that we were serving a mission doing interviews of mission presidents and their wives. He had been interviewed earlier in the year by another missionary that we know. He and I talked for about 45 minutes while everyone else was busy cleaning up. He shared story after story about his experiences. I loved listening to him and I kept saying, "I hope you recorded that one." Each time, he said that he hadn't told that story in his interview. It makes sense, because it is impossible to record every story and experience you have in that type of service. I was glad to share that time with him though and hear those sweet stories.
Meanwhile, Jena was vacuuming the gym floor, so she was fitting right in!
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