Tender Mercies

These are Marshall's actual eye color--no filtering or editing. Look at how blue they are!  Kansas City Temple, US Figure Skating Championships at the Sprint Center, Ethiopian food for dinner. It was a full day of birthday fun--my 27th birthday, and last birthday without children.  Ladies, you know those moments where you start crying for no real reason whatsoever, and then five minutes later you are back to being your awesome self again? Whatever you want to call it, be it hormones, pregnancy, fatigue, PMS, or just being a woman,  I had three of these moments during my birthday. Oh it could have been a miriad of things, but I think the main reason was that I was exhausted, with not sleeping well for too many consecutive nights. I wanted to say I ruined the entire day, but my sweet man reminded me that I had more "thumbs-up" moments than "thumbs-down" moments, so the day was a success, and not at all ruined. How right he was!  My birthday was a ...

You ever hear that saying, "If life gets too hard to stand, kneel" ??  Well, life had gotten hard for me. Everything around me was great--I had my bills paid for and a comfortable life and a family to love--but it was the stuff inside my head and heart that were hurting. Nothing I did seemed to help for more than a few hours. I am at a crossroads in my life right now where I am trying to choose between many good options for where to steer my life. I seemed to be at a roadblock and didn't know what to do. Finally, after weeks of searching and praying and talking to trusted friends, a light emerged in my life. However, it was only after I decided to go to a place where I knew I would not be distracted from the demands of life, where I would truly be able to look within myself and seek an answer, that I was able to find what I was searching for. This place for me was the Kansas City Temple.  It is inside the temple, a place I believe to be the House of the Lord, tha...

15 hour car drive to central Utah, 3 days with the Adams family as we celebrated the wedding of two love-birds, a 7 hour reunion with the Whipple family, and then a 15 hour trip back to Kansas.  Phew, I am tired!   Family is worth everything though, and these pictures capture some great memories. Wednesday morning session at the Manti temple with the family.   It's official! Joseph and Bailee together forever. June 11, 2015 Manti, Utah LDS Temple  Hopefully someday we will be close enough to hang out.  My cute little nephew said that "his favorite cousin is Aunt Jenessa." My heart just melted.  He needs one of these A Mini Whipple Family Reunion: My mom, dad, and brother drove out from Arizona JUST so that we could all be together as a family for one day! I love them all. Ice cream stop at the BYU Creamery. It was my first time. I guess that's proof that I didn't go to BYU! Awe, Sisters!! Family minus ...

Happy Easter!!  As a child, Easter was fun. We would decorate and hide eggs, have Easter parties at school, and receive a small gift from Mom and Dad. Although I am a devout Christian, as I have gotten older the holiday just comes and goes for me without much forethought. Yes, I enjoyed the day to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, but there was no real  effort on my part.  Until this year. 2015 changed my view point forever.  Back in January as I was unpacking boxes after our move to Kansas, I received a phone call from my soon-to-be friend, asking if I could help out with the annual Walk With Christ  event our church put on each Easter.   Walk With Christ   takes visitors through the life of Christ in a 30 minute tour, beginning at Bethlehem with his birth, through his life as a child and baptism, his ministry, the Judgement, Gethsemane, Crucifixion, and finally His Resurrection on the third day. Though I was over my head i...