Shine the Light- Ogden Temple and Tabernacle Rededication and Commemorative Community Cultural Celebration Youth Choir and Cast

That's what we just finished. Actually, I don't know if that's it or not, but all those words are in there--in some order or another. ;-)

Does it seem confusing? Believe me, I can empathize. 'Confusing' is a large part of the experience I just had.

Don't worry. It is not my intention to spend a lot of time whining about the hard parts of this experience. But there have been frustrations. How could there not be?

The scale of this thing just astounds me. 2 separate casts of 8,000-10,500 kids performing 15 songs complete with dancing, costumes, scenery, props, and a full choir. And all of this being designed and put out--start to finish--in under 5 months, by a handful of amazing people, but mostly amateurs, none-the-less, and volunteers to boot.

It is a fact that this never would have worked without divine help. It's humbling to think that our offering was worthy of heavenly supplement. But my hat goes off to the hundreds of committed earth-angels too.

I'm stalling. Can you tell? I cannot figure out how to sum up all of the positive points of this experience in one blog post. There's just too much. But to quote one of my assistants, "[A] simple phone call, three months ago, changed my life."

He texted that too me shortly after we arrived at the Dee Events Center for our only dress-rehearsal on Saturday morning. Stage crew were hustling all around. Sound guys were doing mike checks. The choir turned out to be larger than expected, so we were being shuffled across seating sections. And all the youth were doing what youth do--talk, talk, talking.

However, in spite of the noise and bustle, I don't remember ever feeling that palpable "temple" spirit in a secular building the way I did that morning. My feelings were (and still are) so tender about it all, so when my friend texted me and said, "This place is bursting with the spirit of Christ. I need a box of tissues." I felt I had to verify his sincerity.

After he made the statement about the phone call, I replied, "This has been a great experience for me too. These kids have done more to restore my faith in humanity than most anything I've encountered in recent years. They don't even have a clue about the power they carry with them. But I feel it."

His reply, "No they don't. They are pure like I don't remember experiencing before."

I know we've all been told similar things as youth, too. We've all heard about being part of the chosen generation and how much stronger we were than our predecessors, but I believe it now. And I get it. As we move through this life we draw from the support of those who came before or us, then we reach back to support those coming up behind us. The support we received makes us more capable than we would have been alone, so we have more to give those who follow. We build on each other and make the chain of our generations unbreakable.

And it's not just about families. It's about wave after wave of volunteers in God's service. The generations of this church and this work. Pioneers to settlers to farmers and so on up through our respective times.

I'm the kid who is just now figuring out about the power that is in me, that I didn't have a clue about. And banded together with hundreds of others who were raised to be willing and capable, we were able to do something amazing for the current youth of our church, who will take this and build on it for those who come behind them. That's the power. Generations of giving to each other.

So, evil forces that be, good luck. We actually are gathering strength and closing ranks.

First Day of School and A Very Impressive Burn

In an effort to get myself blogging regularly, I'm just going to throw some stuff on here, for a little while. Maybe, with time, I'll get back into doing more thoughtful posts.

Here's Sweety's first day of first grade and Smarty's first day of fourth grade. 

My cute boys were too excited to get to class. They were having trouble focusing on getting a nice picture. :) Silly boys.

They've been at school for two and a half weeks now, and so far so good!

We're seriously hoping that Smarty has a pleasant experience this year. He was excited to be able to sit by his best friend, Rylan. And I hear they've done a decent job of paying attention, even though they're right by each other. Good boys!

And here is Sweety with his very impressive sunburn.

Woops! My mistake. That's not Howie, but it was kind of hard to tell the difference last weekend.

Here he is now, one week after the fateful day.

Last Friday the entire school closed early and walked over to our local aquatic center. I sent my boys in swim shirts, but Sweety opted to leave his at school. He was without sun protection from 12 until 3, that day. It was a ROUGH weekend, but thanks to a priesthood blessing, a gallon or so of aloe gel, and a little medical intervention, he is healing well. Phew!