A Sunday At The Memorial

This Labor Day weekend we spent down in Rutland with Robbie's parents and our friends Josh, Lacey and Sarah Price, who came up from New Jersey (where they are doing an internship) to spend the long weekend with us. We did a lot of fun things. One thing we did while down there was to take a trip to the Joseph Smith memorial in South Royalton, Vermont on Sunday afternoon after church. What a wonderful place to go!! Robbie and I have been there multiple times for church activities and even to talk about marriage (before getting engaged). My parents, while doing our family history work, found that we are related to Joseph's mother, Lucy Mack, so visiting the memorial is even more special to me. You can read a bit about the memorial at http://www.lds.org/placestovisit/location/0,10634,1813-1-1-1,00.html.

Besides the pillar that is located on a hill there to honor Joseph Smith, they also have the cornerstones of the home he was born in, the original hearthstone from his home and a rocking chair made by Joseph. Also located nearby are the foundations of the homes of Daniel Mack (Lucy Mack Smith's brother), Solomon Mack (Joseph's grandfather and Lucy's father) and an old stone bridge that they believe was there before Joseph Smith's family moved there. Every year they put lights up at Christmas and they used to do a live Nativity scene, which we were lucky to participate in one year while I was in high school. The visitors center is a wonderful place to learn more about the site and Joseph's life.

The memorial has such a wonderful spirit there and it was so needed. I have been struggling so much with us being unemployed and with what else we need to be doing in order to find a job. I want so badly to be able to move on with our lives and to do what we should be doing in order to progress and grow and to continue to let our family grow. All the stress and sadness over our situation has been taking its toll on me...mostly spiritually. To go to the memorial and feel the Spirit so very strongly was so wonderful and so needed. It's so peaceful there and I am so glad we had that opportunity.

While there Robbie took some wonderful pictures of the girls. He really does a wonderful job getting some good shots of the girls. It was a wonderful way to end our time there.