Getting the Riverwalk House into shape.
The main floor of our home is nearly the way we want it with a delivery from the furniture store. I was down there sitting in a couch for about 20 minutes to determine if it would be comfortable for my back. We gave away a nice leather couch in Albuquerque because I couldn't sit in it for more than 5 minutes without the back hurting. Most of the art work on the wall comes from New Mexico but we like it like that. The family room-kitchen is well suited for southwest decor. The last frontier is the basement which is gradually being readied for grandchildren's stays and with the onset of Spring weather, we're moving outside to do pruning and other yard work.

Temples and Faith

About three-quarters of a mile up the road to the east is the Mt. Timpanogos LDS Temple. We were fortunate to have a temple close by in Albuquqerque, but this one is even closer.

Other than their prime purpose as a place to perform important religious ceremonies and covenants, temples stand as a symbol of my personal faith. They are symbolic of (and sometimes quite literally) the connection of our mortal life and that to come, and in this respect they give us confidence and support in understanding why we are here and the places we will be after our mortal lives.

This season we have friends and relatives who have suffered the death of loved ones, including children and grandchildren. If I may express my faith, there is no doubt in my mind that death is a waypoint between this life and the next rather than an end to existence. Our mortal lives and even the death of some seem to occur on an uneven playing field, but the continuum of existence into the next life and eventually as physicaly restored (resurrected) beings assures that unhappy events here shall be rectified by a just maker. Those who have lost spouses and children can have the opportunity to continue with them in the life to come. Recompense will be made for disabilities in this life and the mercy of the Lord will be made clear in these matters. That is one of the reasons why the temple has so much significance for me.

A Smart March Snow

We've had a quite dry winter - more like Albuquerque - and the snow blower we purchased in January is still in the garage unused. Finally a good storm blew through here on Thursday and we awakened to 7 inches on the ground on Friday morning. We still didn't use the snow blower as Winter is beginning to wind down, but rather shoveled the snow from our driveway and sidewalks. The sun came out in the afternoon and by sundown there remained only about 3 inches of snow on the ground. All thoughts are beginning to shift to the yard and gardening.