General Conference Weekend

I like these pictures of Hallie.  They are so hopeful and innocent. 

General Conference begins tomorrow.  For those of you not familiar with it.  It is a semi-annual gathering of leaders and members of our church for two whole days.  The meeting is broadcast live and anyone can watch it (go to http://www.lds.org/).  It is an opportunity to have two straight days of uplifting spiritual messages and to draw closer to our Father in Heaven.  I love General Conference.  It feels like such a fresh start.  I love great quotes and motivating reminders.  This is eight hours of that. 

General Conference is always an interesting gage of time.  It is interesting to see what happens in between April and October.  For the April 2009 General Conference I was days away from delivering Claire.  Come October of the same year, I already had a chunky five month old.  What a contrast.  This year, of course, has been the biggest change in between two conferences.  Days after last conference, we lost Chris' brother Mike.  At the same time, my Dad had an onslought of uncomfortable symptoms.  Those symptoms actually were maifestations of his gastroeintestinal system shutting down from a rare stomach cancer.  A mere two months later we were burying him too.  We've had a lot of shock and a lot of grieving.

But we have also had so much joy!  2010 has been so tumultuous but so tender.  The Lord has not abandoned us these months.  Quite the contrary -- he has carried our burdens.  We have witnessed miracles and tangibly felt his love.  So while we anticipate Conference tomorrow, I am proud.  I am proud that we had the faith to face the trials we did.  I am grateful that Jesus Christ heals as much as we are told He does.  He does!