Meanwhile Coco and Dun Dun decided to do a whirlwind tour (about two days in each place) to visit all the Hastings siblings before spending Christmas with his family because 1) Coco is amazing about trying to see family and 2) they know they're going to be tied down soon with Tiny Homer. On the California leg, they hit Ventura first and then drove down to Oceanside the night of Wednesday, December 21.
Mamo and Pod flew in Thursday morning, December 22. We fetched them and just hung out that day. In the evening, the men decided to see if they could remove the coverings from the cushions on which Ever had barfed (see birthday post) since they still really stank. It was quite the team effort - and entertaining to watch.
Bags requested that we do our traditional caroling that night since it was the only night they overlapped Mamo and Pod. That's always jolly time:
Friday was Arden's sealing. It hadn't occurred to me before Jim read the church handbook on surrogacy that because I didn't give birth to Arden, she wasn't born in the covenant. That is the case, however, so we got to go to the temple and add her to our eternal fam.
The day seemed rather divinely orchestrated. When it was determined that Mamo and Pod would come for Christmas, we decided we should wait until then to do Arden's baby blessing, and we could do her sealing then, too. In November, Pod was called to be a sealer in the Kona temple. We were chatting one night, and I said maybe he could do the sealing. He thought that was a great idea. So Jim and I worked with the stake president to request permission for Arden's sealing, and Pod submitted his request to perform a sealing for family in a different temple than the one in which he was called to serve. Pod's permission came through first; then we got our letter from the Office of the First Presidency granting us permission. (The end of our letter said something like, "Please give our love to the Kringel family." Jim and I were both touched. We really felt the love.) It all came through the week before the sealing. The icing on the cake was that Coco and Dustin were going to overlap Mamo and Pod, so we could do the sealing while they were here, too. It all worked out just right.
Ever is highly interested in the temple. One time we were on the temple grounds, and she really wanted to go inside. I was going to see if I could take her into the foyer, but it was closed for renovations. We've had more than one family home evening lesson on the temple and looked at interior pictures. So one of the best things about the sealing was being able to take Ever inside.
When we arrived, we took the girls into the youth center. (I had no idea that temples have a little child care area, complete with snacks, toys, etc.) When we walked into the youth center, a woman came up to me and gave me a hug. She said I probably didn't remember her; she was Judy Whittaker when she lived in Kona. She's remarried now, with a different name, but she was a friend of Mamo's while I was young. I told her Mamo was there, and after we got the girls settled, I sent Mamo in to say hi.
Throughout the temple, we continued to see people we knew or who knew us. The woman who went over some paperwork with Jim and me seemed to know Pod. She was Polynesian and asked if my dad had been the stake president or in the stake presidency. Then when we went up to the sealing room, we found Bea Steere's daughter. (Bea Steere and her sister were in our ward when I was growing up.) It seemed as if everybody had seen our name on the temple schedule and looked forward to our coming.
When it was time, the temple workers brought our girls upstairs in the elevator. Jim and I were there to meet them when the elevator doors opened. I cried seeing our three little angels emerge in their white dresses and bows. (Judy and the other youth center worker had changed the girls into matching white dresses and had put bows in their hair.) Besides the parentals and the Cocos, it was just Jeremy and Trish in the sealing - nice and intimate. Tyna, who never cries, had just fallen asleep before the temple workers brought her up, so she cried through the sealing. Mamo held her, and Coco took Wrenzy. It was really special to have family there and to have Pod do the sealing.
Pod lingered on the way out talking to all the temple workers about the various connections we had to them. He's such a cute socializer.
Outside, Coco busted out her camera and took some nice pictures. Unfortunately Tyna isn't featured in the first couple:
The whole gang, with Jeremy and Trish somewhat ostracized:
The family:
Team Baby:
The sweetest baby getting loved on by Daddy:
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Coco and Dun Dun at the temple, and they headed straight to the airport. (I'm telling you, the fact that the timing worked out for all this was amazing.)
The rest of us changed clothes and headed to BJ's for some grub. (Jim changed in the BJ's parking lot. Not in the car. Just in the parking lot. Someday the bishop from the Oceanside 4th Ward is going to get arrested for indecent exposure.)
We made a Baskin Robbins stop. Mississippi Mud is a new favorite. Wish they had it all year round.
Then we went back to the temple to enjoy the Christmas lights.
'Twas a lovely day.
2 comments:
It was a perfect day. So so so glad we could be there. Love all your little babies. Sad we missed out on BJ's (I know Jem did that on purpose - he's so vindictive sometimes).
It was a definitely a perfect day. Amazing how the timing worked out!
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