Turnover

The temple was turned over to the temple department on February 19th.

I ran a gamut of emotions for the last couple of weeks before turnover  between depression and discouragement to elation and joy.  Some of it had to do with everything that was going on at the temple. 

It was interesting to me the things that went wrong the last few weeks before the temple was turned over.  It got to be that something new seemed to be going wrong almost every day!  I finally just had to laugh—it all seemed so over-the-top!

I know to Mark it was no laughing matter, however.  He has been so incredibly stressed out!  And he worked so long and hard to get everything ready for turnover, as did so many others.

I wrote him this email one morning after my morning prayers.  This message seemed so appropriate:

In part it read:

"As I was praying this morning and it started to rain hard, I just had to laugh because here was another obstacle being thrown in your path! 

"I was reading today in the Book of Mormon about the incident where Nephi's bow breaks and he is unable to provide food for his family.  In the student manual, a quote from Elder Richard G. Scott caught my attention.  I hope this will encourage you:

'May I share some suggestions with you who face the testing that a wise Heavenly Father determines is needed even when you are living a worthy, righteous life and are obedient to His commandments. (Personal emphasis added)

'Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously.  (That's for sure!)  'When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Proverbs 3:11-12).  He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion, which polishes you for your everlasting benefit.  To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain' (Ensign, Nov. 1995, 16-17)

"It may be that these experiences are just what are needed for the next temples you will work on-as hard and frustrating as it is right now...  I know this will all work out.  I know you will do your best as you always do.  I am thinking of you and my prayers are with you."

(mushy stuff deleted)

Throughout this time I enlisted the faith and prayers of our family.  I'm grateful for their love and support and prayers.  I believe they really helped.

I went in to the temple on the Friday before turnover to clean the inside and I couldn't believe what was happening.  Sidewalks were torn up, plastic everywhere outside, a big dumpster onsite, crews everywhere, the font torn apart.  I walked into the Celestial room and saw everything covered in plastic and I started to cry. 

Everyone worked hard all weekend, including me cleaning.  By the time everyone came on Wednesday for the turnover, a miracle had taken place.  Everything was cleaned up, a crew was working on the outside making sure trash was cleaned up, but the sidewalks were finished and the inside was completely cleaned.  The font was still torn apart in one area where the leak is located, but everything looked great.

I had gone back and forth on whether or not I should go over to be at the temple during the turnover and tour, but in the end, I felt it was important for me to go as a show of support for Mark.  I’m really glad I went.  It meant a lot to him and I think it meant a lot to Cory Karl and Bill Smith.  They both give me hugs and Cory always puts his arm around me and tells me how much he loves Mark and “when is he going to learn Spanish?”  (They are now over all of the international temples and special projects).

After everyone got there, we met in the chapel for the main meeting.  We opened with a prayer, and then Mark went over everything, answering questions.  He did everything with confidence, even though he’s never done a turnover for a temple before.  Cory told him he did great!

Those that were there that day included the temple department, ecclesiastical side, the temple department building side and Suffolk head guys, including a couple of vice presidents.

Everyone was so complimentary and pleased with how beautiful everything was.  Through all of this I took pictures and watched Mark.  I see how he has grown throughout this process and I am so proud of him!

An appreciation lunch had been arranged at “Brimstone Wood Fire Grill” restaurant for our construction group and Suffolk’s leadership group.  It went very well.

I went on home after the lunch, and Mark and the others went back to the temple to discuss what more needed to be done.

That evening, we ended up at an Argentinean beef restaurant- a small place, but the food was awesome!  It was a wonderful, relaxing evening.  We stayed for quite a while just visiting—a celebration dinner for sure.

We have been asked to stay until after the dedication.  I was a little surprised, but of course I said it was fine.  I had geared myself up to go home in March or April, so the next day I was down a bit but I just needed to readjust. 

I’m fine now.  Mark will be flying out every week to Hartford one week, then to Salt Lake the next.  I will be alone four days out of the seven, but he has things he has to get going on.  It will give me a chance to really work on the history.  If I stay busy, I should be okay.

Mark continues to go to the temple when he's here. When the temple president and recorder finally come on, he may end up working at home. 

I had the opportunity to fly to Salt Lake with Mark on the 28th of January.  He flew back for business, but Gabe was getting baptized that weekend, so I came too.  It was so great to see the kids and grand kids.  The baptism was nice and we had a lovely family get together afterwards.  I'm really looking forward to going home and spending more time with family.  Lyndsay's mom, Melody and her lovely grandma was there too.  My kids are so lucky to have such great in-laws.

Jonathan and Gabe

Jonathan, Lyndsay, Gabe, Reagan and Felicity

Two of my lovely granddaughters:  Maisen and Celeste Dailey.  My camera died after that, so there were no more pictures.

The air conditioning in our Jeep died.  The weather hasn’t been terrible, but it has been uncomfortable driving the car without air and just rolling the windows down.It's not the first thing that has gone wrong.  The CD player died quite a while ago. The windshield is pitted, the side driver's mirror needs replacing, and it has been overheating sometimes.   We finally realized with everything that has gone wrong with the car the last little while that it was finally time to get a new one.  The jeep had 154,000 miles on it and we have had it for 10 years.  It's been a great car, but it really was time. 

We bought a Chrysler Town and Country van.  It seats seven.  We decided on a van because we know when we get home we will want to take kids and grandkids places.  We had talked about buying a regular car to travel home in and then getting a van in Utah, but then we asked ourselves why?  It was a long drawn out process, but we settled on one fairly quickly; it was just the process of getting the price down, then the financing and everything else.  We left to go around 5 and didn’t finish until about 10:00!  Everyone who helped us were awesome!

We love our new van!  It has some great features including doors that open and shut themselves and Bluetooth, plus a lot of other features I haven’t figured out yet.  We have a free year of Sirius radio.  I’m going to really enjoy that.  Mark says we should get a sign on the back that reads "Grandma's Taxi", but I think it should be Grandpa's taxi.

Happy New Year!

We had a nice New Year's Eve by going to see "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."  We really liked it!  It was funny, and uplifting with some romance.  It was clean--just a feel good movie.  We had dinner at Wendy's--not so fancy, but that was okay.  A lot of places had closed up so their employees could have the evening off.  Good for them.

We didn't stay up to see the New Year roll in.  I remember the first year we were here.  Our stake had a celebration out in the Everglades.  Everyone brought food to share and chairs.  There were lots and lots of mosquitoes, but people gave us bug spray.  It was nice to meet new people and visit.  Several people had brought their old Christmas trees and when they got thrown into the fire, boy did they burn!!  There were fireworks at the stroke of midnight.  It was so damp out there, no one worried about a fire hazard.  That was a fun evening.  We felt welcomed right away.  We'll take many memories like this away with us when we go home.

New Year's day, we enjoyed the Rose Parade while we cleaned and put away all our Christmas and cleaned the house.  I haven't really watched the Rose Parade for years, so it was fun to see it.  The work that goes into those floats are amazing!

We spent a couple of hours at Walmart and ended up getting groceries there.  We found some movies for $5.00, so we bought "Second Hand Lions," "Pride and Prejudice," and "10,000 BC."  We watched the last one while we ate pizza.  It was pretty good, actually.

We had a lovely Christmas.  We had been invited to spend Christmas Eve with the Christensen family.  Mindy is the Stake Young Women's President, so Mark and I have both worked with her, I at girl's camp and Mark because he is involved with the scouts in both wards.  They served "roast beast" (The Grinch) and Yorkshire Pudding, which I'd never had before.  I brought a fresh fruit salad with whipped cream on the side.  Everything was delicious.

Best of all, however, was just being part of a family celebration with young children.  It was boisterous, noisy, happy and filled with the excitement of Christmas.  It's what makes Christmas so much fun.  We really look forward to being home with family this year.  

Christmas day, we made our traditional biscuits and gravy breakfast with scrambled eggs and orange juice.  We had invited our neighbors below us, Jimmy and his son T.J.  We had also invited our friend's brother, Lance, who is here alone going to medical school, while his family is in Utah.  He brought sticky buns.  Yum!

The rest of the day was pretty quiet.  We ended up at Ft. Lauderdale Beach, walking along the water.  It was windy, so there were waves.  But it was fun people watching and just walking.  There were a lot of people out, especially in the picnic areas.

One of the most wonderful parts about this Christmas was the amazing generosity and kindness that was shown to several of our family members who have been struggling financially.  The Lord has truly blessed and looked after our children while we have been so far away!  One was blessed with the 12 Days of Christmas, another with anonymous gifts and money.  I am so grateful for the sweet service that was given!

Every good thing has to come to an end, and it seems to fly by much more quickly these days.  We're already several days into the new year!

There's not much more to be done at the temple--just odds and ends things.  We should be able to finish the celestial room chandelier in a couple of weeks.  It is so beautiful on the inside, especially now that all of the furniture and paintings are in.  It's difficult to describe the wonderful spirit I feel there, especially in the Celestial room.

I know our time here in South Florida is winding down.  I think one of the best things about being here, besides the temple, is how much I have come to treasure, even more, my relationship with Mark.  He truly is my best friend.  I love the time we get to spend together, even if it's just walking around Costco and Home Depot.  There really is something to be said for being married to and having a history with the same person for over 38 years!  Maybe it's an age thing.  Still, it's nice to know we still love each other after all these years.  He still makes me laugh!

So have you all made New Year's resolutions?  I need to quit mulling over mine and just do them!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Thanksgiving and This and That

We had a wonderful, yet unusual Thanksgiving.  We spent Thanksgiving on the beach.  We took our bikes to Hollywood Beach and rode along the boardwalk.  It was a beautiful day; windy, but still pleasant.  The wind kicked up the waves.  Normally, they are calm like Ft. Lauderdale beach.

We were lucky--we got parking right near the beach and near bathrooms.  There were quite a few people there, riding bikes like us, roller blading, walking, some were sun bathing and some were playing in the ocean.  I think many were spending their time there until it was time for their turkey dinner.  At least that was the case with a friendly couple who stopped to talk with us while we were sitting on a bench looking out over the beach.

We rode our bikes for quite a ways and ended up at Dania Beach and the pier.  We paid to go up onto the pier where we could really see a lot more.  It was interesting to notice how green the water was.  The water is quite shallow until quite a ways out.  Naturally, the water gets a darker green as it gets deeper. There was a wind surfer out on the water.  His board reminded me of a snowboard, with places for his feet.  He looked like he was having a lot of fun with his parachute.

The wind was whipping pretty good up there on the pier.  There were a lot of fishermen--and birds--probably hoping to get lucky with someone's fish, or fish innards.  I was delighted to see a pelican!  I'd never seen a real one.  It seemed pretty calm, it was probably pretty used to people.  I took several pictures, but when it hopped up on the bench, Mark sat down and they just looked at each other.   That was perfect!

 

Miami in the distance

Fort Lauderdale in the distance.

By the time we left, there were two wind surfers.

Our Thanksgiving dinner when we finally went for one was at Ruby Tuesdays.  It wasn't a traditional dinner, but good nonetheless.  It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful day. ( I always think of that Beatles' song when I think of Ruby Tuesdays.)

It was nice having the weekend off.  We went through stuff to get rid of, or give away.   The job trailers are being taken off the job site at the temple and we needed to make some space for stuff he needs to bring home.

Right now we are working inside the temple in the administration area.  The earthwork guys graded the employee parking lot and will move the original top soil back so everything can regrow.  The trailers will be gone soon.

The furniture and paintings arrived last week, along with the church's designer.  Everything moved along pretty well and by the end of the week, everything was in and the paintings hung.  Things went so well, everyone from Salt Lake was able to go home.

There are just odds and ends things that need to be done now.

It's interesting how some people think it's okay to come onto a job site and come in, because they happen to be members of the church.  The sign outside the gate warns people that it is a felony to trespass, (in Spanish and English) but that doesn't seem to faze some people.  The best story was a man who brought his son in and wanted to do baptisms for the dead!  I don't think the font was even completely done at the time, but there certainly wasn't any water in it!  I just shake my head.

We got our Christmas stuff up, what little we have.  Actually, we put it up the day after Thanksgiving.  I did something to one section of lights as I was fluffing the tree, so there's only lights on one section of the tree because the top part is out too.  Oh well.  It's fine.  I had a hard time with all the Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving.  Now, that Thanksgiving is over, I listen to Christmas music all the time.

Mark flew to Atlanta on Friday.  He's taking care of a remodel project there.  He flies home to Salt Lake on Wednesday.

Donny and Marie Osmond had a concert last night in Plantation.  Members of the Church were offered free tickets, so Mark and I went!  It was fabulous!  They did a great job.  Donny likes to go into the audience.  So many women give him hugs.  It's amazing how many people still have memorabilia of him.  When he came down our aisle, the lady sitting next to us thrust her Donny doll into his hand so he could see it.  He looked at it and then took my hand (I was sitting near the aisle).  So I can say I got to hold Donny Osmond's hand for a second. 

He was laughing when he got onto the stage the first time he went out because some lady had goosed him!

It was such a fun concert!  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was after midnight before I got to bed.  (football game for Mark=2:00am)

We had a lovely dinner at some friends this afternoon.  They are originally from Brazil, but have lived here quite a while.  We got to know them shortly after we first came.  Bernadeth and Victor Silva.

We also got an invitation to Christmas Eve dinner today from a friend who's the Stake Young Women's President.  We've worked with her and her family through the youth programs and Savior of the World.  I'm looking forward to it.

I saw that St. George got snow and someone was saying they were talking about cancelling church.  (I'm rolling my eyes, but there must be a lot of people who really don't know or remember how to drive in the snow.)  As we hear about your snow and cold, I can't help but feel grateful for the warm weather here.  It was 83 degrees on Friday!  I'm looking forward to going home, and yet, every day we're here is a gift.  When the time comes (sometime in March, we think), it will be hard.  We will miss the wonderful people we've grown to know and love here.  We are so blessed!

I love this quote from President Monson:

"...to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven."("The Divine Gift of Gratitude," Ensign, Nov. 2010)


May we all live in gratitude, no matter what.

Temple Walk

Our stake had a temple walk Saturday.  For those who know this area, they walked from Bergeron Park to Vista View Park, which overlooks the temple.  It is around eight miles.  Mark was asked to speak, so he met them on top of the hill and spoke to them for about 15-20 minutes.  He said there were about 160 kids and leaders there.  It went very well.  One of the stake presidency President Rincon, was at our Sacrament Meeting today and complimented him on his talk.

View from Vista View Park

 We've had a wonderful experience at the temple putting crystals on the chandeliers.  The celestial room chandelier is finally ready for us to hang the crystals.  It's about 2-3 times larger than the others.  It should be a wonderful experience for everyone who participates.  I'm looking forward to it!

Weekend Update

Our Primary Sacrament Meeting presentation was today.  We had a rehearsal Saturday morning for all the kids and the presidency had a pizza party for them as a reward.  The presentation went well and the kids did great.  I made some mistakes, but most of it went all right. (Actually, I want to say I was moderately awful, but maybe it wasn't that bad.)

I'm glad it's over.  Now I am preparing for the stake Christmas program.  Each ward is preparing a musical number.  And we are also preparing to sing at the end of the month and then our own ward Christmas program. 

Along with all of this, I still continue to write the history of the temple.  It's getting down to crunch time, because our missionaries, Elder and Sister DeGraffenried will be leaving to go home for Christmas.  I have been going to the temple every day to write.  I'm so grateful for Mark's daily journal of the job.  It is the only way I could do this. 

Christmas movies are in full swing already!!  I am just not ready for this yet, but Mark is loving them!  I just cannot get into the spirit yet.  I don't want anything Christmassy to start until after Thanksgiving!  I usually make him put his headphones on.  : (

It's going to be a very busy rest of the year until we get everything finished.  Furnishings start coming in December.  That will really be exciting!

Temple Chandeliers

Last week we hung crystals on five chandeliers in the sealing rooms and pass through.  It was a wonderful experience for everyone who was involved.  Our mission president's wife, Sister Anderson, helped me find people to come help.  She enlisted the help of some of her sister missionaries so we could have people from all through the temple district to help us.

Monday our crew leaders came to help us set up the rooms.  The men moved heavy boxes of crystals from the job trailers into the temple.  We set up tables and wrapped ladder feet with socks for the carpet.  Shannon Shepherd and Regan Hall had come from Utah representing Swarovski to help us with the installation.  They are sisters.  Their mom started their business and they all work in it together. 

It only took us two or three hours to get everything set up, so we all went to lunch afterwards. 

Tuesday started the actual work on the chandeliers.  We had two shifts everyday-8:00-noon and 1:00-5:00.  We had a variety of people helping us:  some of the sister missionaries who had helped me get the names, some who were newly baptized or who had been inactive and were wanting to come back, plus I found that most of the stake president's wives in our temple district came and some of the men as well.  I had a lot of names and it seemed the list just kept getting longer.  I just decided that it would all work out no matter what and there were some people who didn't show up, so we worked with those who came.

Mark had two scaffolding set up in the pass through area because there are two chandeliers in that room.  That really helped, but oh boy it was really high!  I did actually climb up there and work for a while.  I sat next to a woman who had been recently baptized and was just learning about the gospel.  It was fun explaining some things to her as we all talked.  I was grateful I could sit, it made it a lot more comfortable working. 

The chandeliers were designed especially for our temple and Florida.  They are unique and the design will not be found anywhere else.  There are thousands and thousands of crystals hung on each chandelier.  The final results are magnificent!  It took us both Tuesday and Wednesday to finish the five chandeliers. 

The crystals come from Austria.  They are machine cut precisely to the correct dimensions.  When the light shines on them, you can see the colors of the rainbow throughout the chandelier!  What a glorious sight!  Only the best for our temple!

We always met with everyone first in the trailer, where Mark or I would talk to them about the rules.  We sometimes read a scripture and always had a prayer with the group before we started.  Everyone had to wear white socks working on the white carpet, or foot covers.  It was nice for them because we took them through the front door and then to the back where we were working, so they got to see a bit more than just the area where we worked.  It is so beautiful!  Everyone loved it

The carpet cutters were there as well.  It's amazing to watch them work.  First they draw out the design with a permanent magic marker, using a stencil.  Then they take what looks like electric shears and cut the design.  They worked most of the time we were there in the Celestial Room.  The design runs through most of the room, so it was a big job!

Part of this experience was just getting to know the people who came.  It was a pleasure to work with each and every one.  One of the men who came is from Tasmania.  He served his mission here.  There were people who were a bit rough around the edges, but who love the gospel.  The former mission president's wife flew out from Salt Lake to help us. They were still serving when the groundbreaking happened but were released about a week afterwards. What a reunion that was!  She knew everyone!

We finished Wednesday by wrapping all of the chandeliers and sconces with plastic to protect them from dust.  The carpet shavers are still working.  We got all our trash out and just cleaned everything up.  It was deeply satisfying to close each door to the finished chandeliers, seeing the results of everyone's hard work.

This experience has been a joy for me.

Hosting

We've had a busy week.   The contractor and subcontractor for the Fort Collins temple came to tour our temple.  Then on Thursday, Mark's bosses from Salt Lake came:  Cory Karl,(now is handling international project)s Brent Roberts,(managing director of Special Projects) Jared Doxie, (who's taking over for Cory for the United States), Bill Williams (director for the temple architectural and design), David Child (he deals with architects and contracts). plus our architects and contractors. 

Anyway, there was a huge tour.  They were very pleased with how everything looks.  Mark had ordered in Jimmy Johns for lunch because there were some early flights. 

We're getting ready for our chandelier project next week.  We set up tomorrow and then the actual project starts on Tuesday morning.  I think it will be a wonderful experience for all who participate.  I'm looking forward to it.

From Left to Right:  Dave Griffiths, me, Mark, Jared Doxie, Brent Roberts, Cory Karl, Elder and Sister DeGraffinried, David Child, Darrell Zwick, Ben Schrieder, Bill Williams and David Fletcher