Binding Families on Earth

Today, among the many things I had to do today, I made time to go to the temple. It is a favorite place for me, and find joy and peace in serving in the house of the Lord, be that as it may as an ordinance worker, or as a patron, it is amazing. I Stand All Amazed.

I found a thick stack of many completed ordinances that just needed the work to bind the children to their fathers and for couples to be bound for eternity. Mind you, it was not without opposition either. My good intentions to get so many other "things" done faded away as I made a beeline to get to the temple today.

I had so many pink cards too from the early 1500s. These were my priority. It did my heart good to be able to be proxy for these dear souls, some of which carry many of my family ancestral names. My Canchola, Sanchez, Rodriguez, Munoz, and Ulloa lines's, were prominent from my list of names. I felt the sweet assurance that yes, I am related and they were present to attend to their ordinances in their behalf.

I could feel the room full of my beloved "antepasados," ancestors. I hope I did them well, and open the gates for them to be bonded with their loved ones forever if they so choose. The more I do this work, the more I have a stronger witness that they are all engaged in this great work there as we are here.

We are commanded to be "saviors on Mount Zion." I am pleased to someday have to report to my kindred and look them in their eyes and feel their embrace and gratitude that I remembered them. My only regret would be that I could do more, and continue forward to make this work a part of my daily life.

May we be so blessed to all be united here on earth to assist in this great work often, I pray. Some of you have expressed a desire for me to give you more ordinance work to do with your families. I see that there is room for improvement on my part to be more consistent and diligent in this effort.

I look to the near future to plan around the time and date Beth will be here so we can share some quality time in addition to our dinner engagement when she comes the end of March. I will be in touch to organize it soon. Promise. Those that can participate will be most welcomed and thanked generously.

Day of Celebration to Remember

I can almost taste and smell the spices, cumin, garlic and the corn tamales of this table spread. They are smells of home cooking, like when I was growing up that my mother always did.


I don't expect too many of you out there in reader land to remember that today is the anniversary of my sealing to my parents five years ago, October 30, 2004. It is a date written on the pages of my heart. It is a special day in my life too that I celebrate each day!

This week I was able to do some sealing work as a reminder of my own. I am always blessed to be able to perform these ordinances for those who have gone before. I have a testimony of the work that we do for our kindred dead blesses us on both sides of the veil. It binds the family as well as our hearts!

I remember the first anniversary of this date. It was a grand re-celebration for me, and my children who live close by in Utah. I planned fresh homemade tamales and it was a Sunday. I had labored all day on Saturday to prepared my meat and tamales. I did and had them frozen and then cooked them on Sunday for our family dinner. I went to church and put them in the cooker. I thought of my sons, who lives in Ohio and Washington and realized they were in church at the time and would call them later.

Well, the day came and went so I called them on Monday before their Family night. Each one was unaware that we had a family celebration of sorts the day before. I mentioned it to Michael first and told him I had made tamales and I had everyone over for the anniversary. He said, he had the strangest craving on Sunday for my tamales! Now how is that for turning the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children? I was overjoyed.

I made arrangement to send Michael some of the ingredients that he was unable to find in Ohio where he lives. They had their own feast after the fact. I still think this is quite an amazing incident. Now, that had to be a hidden treasure to say the least.

Then, I called Matt and Beth, after talking to Michael. They also reported they had the same strange cravings for my homemade tamales too! How can that be, without having something like the power of the sealing to effect them both so profoundly and at the same time, without even knowing we were gathered for our family heritage feast in Utah?

That had never happened in the past, and I marvel at the wonderful feeling of connection unbeknown to each of them. This one is definitely a binding experience with our family. My last few entries have to do with my ancestors and it could very well be that they were also celebrating on the other side too. The veil is thin, a I bear witness of this to be true.

Nothing Like Heritage Food for Family Dinner

Home made guacamole and fresh salsa aka Pico de Gallo with corn tortilla chips

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I admit it, one of my top languages of love is service and cooking for my family! Is it any wonder? I decided to go ahead and make some tamales since Matt was headed back home. I had originally planned to make them for the family bash last week. But it was put on the back burner instead, (pun intended) so to speak.

I worked most of Saturday cooking and preparing the meal. I had bought the meat ten days ago before Michael arrived, and just froze it besides the corn tortilla dough or masa. I hope everyone who sees appreciates the pictures of the table spread out with Tamales, Chicken enchiladas, Guacamole,Pico de Gallo, and mole with Mexican rice, and my homemade lemonade. I am just full thinking about it all over again. Beth has not been a guacamole fan, but Matt told the one I made was really good, and she should try it. She did and is now a fan of my famous guacamole. It must have been the extra garlic, and cilantro and lime juice with Olive oil of course and appealed to her sense of taste!


Believe me when I say there was so much food, I could'nt eat everything and even forgot about the luscious potato salad that sat in the refrigerator until it was too late and everyone had eaten dinner. It must be a Texas thing to have potato salad and tamales on the same menu. Oh well, it tasted yummy the next day at a picnic with some of the grandkids when we went to the park with Beth, boys and Candice and kids with Fillerup's while I was tending them on Monday.

Kind of strange to write and talk about what I did tomorrow. Just know that I wrote this blog days after, :) I took Matt up to the airport for his flight back to Seattle. We had a nice visit on the way up and the heritage food must have really turned the hearts of the children to the fathers. He asked that I tell him some stories about his ancestors, his dad's and mine. He suggested that I write about them in this blog. Thanks Matt for the reminder. I will and soon.