The Laie Temple has been closed for renovations for nearly 2 years and it will re-open on November 22, 2010. Prior to its rededication, the church gave everyone the opportunity to tour the newly renovated temple. What a wonderful blessing for our family to be able to share this special event together!
For the last month, we've been trying to prepare the kids through our Family Home Evenings for our temple visit. We've talked about how special and sacred the temple is, we've talked about the rooms we would see, we've talked about how we should act in the temple...so my hope was that they wouldn't be running up the stairs or yelling trying to hear their echo. Let me just say that they did very well while in the temple - I was very proud of them!
We decided to go to the open house yesterday afternoon. It was a "long, long, long" trip according to the kids. And sometimes Laie does feel like a long way away to us too. But, if I've realized anything while the temple was closed and not accessible, was that it truly is a blessing to have a temple just a short drive away.
We got to the temple just as the HUGE tide of visitors was dying down - since it was the Veteran's Day holiday, it was understandable that it would be busy - but we heard that it was crazy busy earlier in the day! Whew!
(for missing that!)Each of our kids had a different experience, I think, which is a good thing and since they are all of different ages...it is expected. The open house tour starts with a 12 minute video where they share the reasons why the temple is such an integral part of our faith and also the history of the church here in the islands. Then, you get to walk through the temple with a tour guide.
Prior to going through the temple, a host mentioned no picture taking in the temple, no cell phones, etc...they also mentioned that there were cookies in the refreshment tent after the tour - Austen perked up at the prospect of getting to eat cookies. Oh, by the way...the cookies were SO GOOD according to my 4 cookie experts.
One thing that I'll treasure is watching my children experience the temple for the first time. Here's a bit of my observations:
Dallen, 9, was very attentive through the video presentation as well as through the temple tour. He listened closely as the guide explained each room. In one of the instruction rooms on the 2nd floor, as they were explaining the murals on the walls representing our lives here on earth, he leaned over and whispered, "Is the Celestial room on the third floor?" I nodded. He said, "Oh, I get it." He explained to me later what "he got" exactly and I was in awe of my son who understood that we need to work our way back to heaven in order to be with our Heavenly Father again. He was solemn, reverent, and interested throughout our visit. He told me later that the Celestial room was the nicest. I agree with him.
Austen, 6, walked reverently through the temple. He normally speaks loudly and likes to run and jump in order to get most places. But as we walked through the temple, he was as reverent as a Mother could want their 6-year-old boy to be. He tried out a chair in every room, sitting on each for a moment before getting up again. He did ask once how long more would we be in the temple because he was looking forward to the cookies.
Brennen, 4, walked through the temple - never running, jumping, or speaking loudly. Whew! As we were preparing for our temple visit, we reminded him that the temple is the Lord's house and that he lives there. So, Brennen was fully anticipating that he would see Jesus Christ there. In each room, he whispered to me - "I don't see Jesus Christ yet." I tried to explain, as I had prior to coming, that you can feel Jesus Christ in your heart while you are in the temple. But, through each room, he kept informing me that he didn't see Jesus yet. After our tour, he wasn't at all disappointed that he didn't actually SEE Jesus Christ. But I did notice as we were leaving the Temple Visitor's Center, he climbed onto the base of the Christus - to which I said, "Brennen, get down!" - and he quickly put his hand on the statue's foot. Then, he jumped down and ran to me saying, "I touched Jesus Christ!", smiled really big, and then ran outside like the 4-year-old boy he is. It really was a testimony to me of the love that our Savior has for the little children and of their innate knowledge of his love for them. My normally shy little boy really wanted to see Jesus Christ. He wanted to have some sort of physical connection to Jesus Christ and he finally found a way to do it. Thinking back on it, I have a greater understanding of just how wonderful and kind our Savior must be, where little children would flock to even his image in similitude. Oh, and later on Brennen mentioned to me that he "felt Jesus in his tummy." I think he meant in his heart but since he's so small, they are relatively close in proximity. :)
Chyler, 2, loved the Bride's room. She absolutely loved the mirrors and those lights. She kept touching the crystal on the lights of the vanity. She and I had a special moment as she looked at herself in the mirror with me behind her smoothing out her hair. She looked at me and I looked at her in the mirror and I realized that the day of her own marriage would come sooner than I think or would like, for that matter. I often wish my kids would "grow up" because little ones can be so demanding. I often say that I don't really think I'll miss this age. But, I'll probably miss this age, right?! I think that when they are off on their own with their own families, I'll miss having my own little family and having them here with me all the time. I'll miss the time where they'll see their Mommy as the most important person in their lives. As we continued to walk through, Chyler wanted to hold my hand...which she never likes to do. So we walked hand in hand through most of the tour - she only let go to try to pet the oxen in the baptistry.
I hope that through this experience, they will get a slight understanding of how sacred and special the temple is and that it truly is the house of God. I'm grateful that they got to see the place where Mommy and Daddy come each month when we say "we're going to the temple!" They'll remember the rooms that they saw and know that we leave them because doing the Lord's work is so important. I hope they remember that our family is sealed for eternity and that we'll be a family for eternity...if, like Dallen observed, we work to get back to our Father in Heaven. They may drive me nuts on a daily basis but I can't see myself without my family. As he said in the video presentation, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland could not envision heaven without his wife, without his children. It would not be heaven without them. It wouldn't be for me either.
