A Much Needed Day of Rest

We all slept til 8:00 and even than lazed around until almost 9:00!  Of course then we had to race to get everyone fed and ready for church at Pageant HQ.  It rained hard last night.  Thankfully it's supposed to stop this morning and be beautiful for "Our Story Goes On" tonight.  

Sacrament meeting was good.  Sister Gloria Irion (the Nauvoo temple matron) talked about 'light'.  

*  There is a lot of symbolism in the pageant where light is used.  i.e. As we prepare to make temple covenants the clothing gets lighter.  

*  Fulfilling callings, sharing the gospel, etc. 

*  Lanterns are used as families pray.  

*  There are Books of Mormon that light up as families read them.  

*  Our testimonies and our relationship with Heavenly Father fuels our light.  Hold up your light! 

*  The light within us shows to others.

After church we had a quick lunch of pancakes.  We headed over to the Visitors Center for a bit and then went to Carthage.  It was super busy and we had to wait for quite a while.  There were lots of cast families there!  Emma had a hard time waiting and we were really close to just leaving, but thankfully we were called in shortly after that and had a good tour.  It helped that Jonathan and Lauren Mace and her parents were in the tour too.

 After Carthage we stopped at David's Chamber - a pull off just off the road.  It's where Joseph and Emma's son, David, used to come.

 We then went to the old stone bridge that was built by the pioneers.  We took a few pictures together.

 The kids have been a bit crazy today - especially Emma.  She's been so defiant and snarky and just won't take no for an answer.  It's been really frustrating.  We're trying to be patient, but it's been hard.

We've been talking today about whether we'd want to do the pageant again.  Lennard is all for it.  It's been a hard/amazing experience.  Even with the weather being lower than normal temperatures here, I've sweated more than I ever have.  It's been super long day and even shorter nights, but it's also been an experience that I will never forget.  We have learned lots of church history and the whys behind some of the pageant scenes, but more than that, there's just a special spirit here.  As we sit in the grove for our district meetings where Joseph Smith often preached, or see the kids playing in the fields, it brings the pioneer stories to life.  I feel closer to my ancestors, but also to the Spirit.  As we stand on the stage and practice, we get to hear the words the prophet said and it touches my heart.  This next week should be interesting as we get to perform the entire pageant each night.  I'm nervous, but excited too.

We had time to have a yummy dinner of Salisbury Steak.  The kids are off playing outside so hopefully they'll behave!

I guess I spoke too soon... the kids managed to wreck our collapsible wagon.  SO frustrated at them!

Mom and Dad came over and brought us Skor cake for a treat.  I had to go out and find Emma and ended up visiting with Sara Weyland.  Then Louisa came over and started talking too.  Pretty soon the husbands all joined us too.  The kids all ran around and played as we visited.  It was so fun.  My parents left shortly after I started visiting.  We visited enough that we ended up having to rush to get to 'Our Story Goes On'.  Thankfully, Mom had saved seats for us this morning!  Toone's were there (they arrived in Nauvoo today) and Shauna and her family were there too.  The show was amazing.

As we were going in Ben started complaining of a headache.  He'd been running around all afternoon so I thought he was just overtired and had a headache.  I sat and snuggled with him, but he got worse as the show went on. Then he said that he was going to throw up, so Lennard took him out.  About ten minutes later Lennard came to tell me that he was going to take Ben back to the trailer as he was extremely pale and still not doing well.  As they were walking to the truck, Ben threw up.  Poor boy.  Lennard got Advil into him and got him into bed on the bottom bunk.  Mom game Emma and me a ride back to the trailer afterwards.  Lennard and I then spent some time going over the British Pageant scenes/dances in preparation for tomorrow.  So much to remember!