Our Temple Marriage

I came across this paper/journal entry that I wrote for a class when Jaren and I were engaged. I'm so glad I did. Maybe one day these words will be a stength to my future daughter when she is striving to enter the temple.

Our Temple Marriage 

By Sarah Winn

April 2009

            As a little girl I dreamed of marrying the man of my dreams in my Heavenly Fathers house. I could frequently be found playing make-believe with my best friends as we imagined our lives with our future husbands. That dream is now becoming a reality as I prepare to get married for time and all eternity to Jaren Lance Dickey. Jaren is the kind of man that I have always dreamed of marrying. He is handsome, a gentleman, a worthy priesthood holder, spiritual, and genuinely kind.

          As Jaren and I have gone throughout our lives, we have kept ourselves clean from the things of the world so that we may one day go to the temple. Jaren entered the Lords House before serving a mission and I get to enter in three days. I am so grateful that we saved ourselves for each other as we have grown up. I am also very grateful that we have helped each other stay worthy and morally clean while we have dated and been engaged.

          In five days, Jaren and I will kneel across from each other at the alter and become husband and wife unto the Lord. What a magnificent opportunity! I will be sealed to the man that I love forever. We will become a God and Goddess together into the eternities. Jaren thinks that he is lucky to have me, and I hope that he realizes how lucky that I am to have him. The more I think about it, the more I realize that we are much more then “lucky”, we are blessed. We are blessed to have each other and to be worthy to enter into the temple.  

          A couple of weeks ago, Jaren and I went up to the temple with our photographer and took our wedding pictures. It was such a neat experience to have Jaren in his tux and me in my white dress standing in front of the temple. It got me very excited for our special day. We are getting married on April.11, 2009. That day will go down as the biggest day in our lives: the day that we went from two to one and the day that we gave ourselves to each other. I am so excited and very ready to do so.  

          It is sometimes hard to believe that all of my dreams and make-believe play are now becoming a reality. I have wished, hoped, and prayed that I would one day find the man that I had envisioned. That day is now here and my heart is full with gratitude to my Father in Heaven for preparing both Jaren and I to marry in His house.   

Time Spent Towards Progress

Life is very busy for both Jaren and I. I'm doing 40 hours a week between my internship and job and then I'm taking 8 credits on top of that. Jaren is still spending about 70-80 hours on school each week and on a basketball team. Somehow between the two of us we are able to keep our apartment semi-clean and are still able to spend quality time with each other and our families. It sure does get stressful at times and so I love having a Saturday morning to just chill. Life is sure is good though.

Jaren and I just had a really good conversation about "time spent towards progress" (using Jaren's words). I hope that I am using my time in a way that will help me progress spiritually, academically, physically, emotionally etc. We got caught up in this conversation after Jaren shared a quote with me from Elder Richard G. Scott about how sometimes we get caught up in things that are not worth our time, even though they aren't bad, that will keep us away from things of more importance. They will keep us away from spending our time doing things that will help us progress in different areas of our lives.

I hope that some part of this makes sense. It has been on my mind tonight and so I wanted to share.

Our Very Beginnings

I was going through some old videos and found this one. I made this video for Jaren before we got engaged. It brings back good memories of our very beginnings :)

Top 11 of 11'

I saw this idea on another blog and I thought it was cute. 2011 was a great year and so I thought that I would share our top 11 of 11'!

11. Jaren and I attended our first professional sports game. This past summer we went to a Diamondbacks baseball game. We picked up To-Go Applebee’s food and then headed to the game where we saw a grand slam! We thoroughly enjoyed it.  

10. We participated in black Friday for our first time together. And we became fans of it! We waited in line for 3 ½ hours (playing games, talking) and in the end we left with what we wanted.

9. Jaren went skiing for the first time in over 10 years. He did awesome! I absolutely love to ski and so I was so glad that we could go together. We hope to go more this year. 

8. We ran our first race. I talked Jaren into running a 5K with me and we both really liked it. I plan on upping the mileage of my races as I continue to train. My sister, Stephanie, has become my running buddy J

7. One of my best friends, Kelli, left on her mission back in January to Ireland. I sure do miss her but am so proud of her.  

6. Jaren completed his internship. He did his internship at a place called Doctor’s Fitness Center and he learned so much. This knew knowledge has changed our lives… literally. Our eating and exercise habits are different now and it is great!  

5. I started a new job. I started working as a Psychosocial Rehabilitation Worker in September and I love it. It feels good to help teenagers one-on-one to improve their lives.

4. We had a summer from a dream in Phoenix AZ. We moved down to Phoenix for four months when Jaren did his internship. We absolutely loved it. The people we met and the lessons we learned will always be in our hearts.  

3. I finished my first semester of graduate school. I am getting a masters degree in Social Work and it has been great. I love social work and learning and so this program has been perfect. 
  

2. My smarty-pants husband found a deep love for physics. It is one of his passions. His mind blows me away. He loves physics so much that he has even thought of going on to get a PhD in Physics instead of going to medical school. He loves it.  

1. I graduated from BYU-Idaho. I got my bachelors degree in social work in April. I still miss BYU-Idaho but I am so proud to be a graduate from that amazing university.

Modesty

The value of modesty has been on my mind lately. I feel like the world is spiraling downward at a fast rate in this category. It truly makes me sad. Modesty is not always "popular" and showing your body seems to be in style. Check Pinterest for example. Some of the things that are posted on there blow me away.

I believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We can stand up for what we know is right. We can dress in a way that shows that we respect ourselves. It is easy to dress immodestly and follow the crowd, but not everyone has the strength to stand out and be an "example of the believers" (1 Timothy 4:12). We can.

A friend of mine wrote an amazing post about modesty a few months ago. I highly recommend you read it. It was inspiring and it really made me think.

In the LDS "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet, it gives very good counsel on modesty. I believe that we all, no matter what our age, should follow the counsel in this amazing pamphlet. The following quote is from it.

"Prophets of God have continually counseled His children to dress modestly. When you are well groomed and modestly dressed, you invite the companionship of the Spirit and you can be a good influence on others. Your dress and grooming influence the way you and others act.

Never lower your standards of dress. Do not use a special occasion as an excuse to be immodest. When you dress immodestly, you send a message that is contrary to your identity as a son or daughter of God. You also send the message that you are using your body to get attention and approval.

Immodest clothing is any clothing that is tight, sheer, or revealing in any other manner. Young women should avoid short shorts and short skirts, shirts that do not cover the stomach, and clothing that does not cover the shoulders or is low-cut in the front or the back. Young men should also maintain modesty in their appearance. Young men and young women should be neat and clean and avoid being extreme or inappropriately casual in clothing, hairstyle, and behavior. They should choose appropriately modest apparel when participating in sports. The fashions of the world will change, but the Lord’s standards will not change."   

The fashions in the world change, but the Lord's standards don't. I believe that. Let us stand together and be an example of the believers!

Christmas Break

I have officially finished my first semester of graduate school! I loved it. Social work is one of my passions. Jaren will finish up his semester this week and then it is Christmas break! We have all sorts of plans for Christmas break. Everything from a full day Harry Potter movie marathon to romantic dinner dates :) I also have a long list of things to do that I don't have time to do during school that I want to accomplish during the break. I love this time of year. Bring on the hot chocolate and candy canes!

I can't believe that Christmas is coming. Today at church we heard talks about Christmas. It got me thinking. How can I make this Christmas season more centered around Jesus Christ? It is so easy to focus on more trivial things (as seen in the above paragraph ;) so how can I focus more on what Christmas is really about? One thing that Jaren and I talked about is focusing on service during the break. Making a goal to do an act of service outside of the home each day of the break would help us, even if the act of service is something simple and small.

At this time of year, some people are hurting. A friend of mine lost her father a few weeks ago. It really put things into perspective for me. It made everything that I worry about seen so small and insignificant. I hope to make this Christmas season a time to help those who are lonely or overwhelmed with life. I think that that is how my Savior would be spending this holiday season if he were here.

Tis' the Season...

Christmas music was playing and the smell of homemade hot cocoa was in the air. Jaren and I were setting up our Christmas decorations. We had opened up our dusty boxes of Christmas decorations and were figuring out how we should set everything up. We needed to remove some of our day-to-day décor to made room for the red and white characters and twinkling lights. Our picture of the Savior was taken down to make room for cute Christmas snowmen (very ironic). A moment later, we realized what we had done. Our actions showed symbolism of what easily happens at Christmas time. With the hustle and bustle of the season, the true meaning can become more and more faded. After our realization, we decided to place our picture of the Savior as a central Christmas decoration in our living room. We want this to become a tradition.  

Tonight during the LDS Christmas Devotional, President Uchtdorf talked about the gift that we can give to our Savior. The only gift that can be given to Him is our hearts. He has given us everything: our families, immortality, eternal life. All that He wants in return is our hearts. President Thomas S. Monson said that "this is the time to rededicate ourselves."

May this Christmas season be a time of service and giving. May it be a time of pondering on the true meaning of Christmas. May it be a time of remembrance about what life is all about.