Glimpses of Eternity

I have been very grateful for the past few months, as they have given me little glimpses into eternity...how family will be the center of it, and how glorious it shall be!

First was Mom Beckstrand's decline as the family circled around to meet her needs, then spend as much time with her at the end, and finally her death, and again family gathered to support one another and say farewell. What a glorious time, since the Plan of Salvation made saying goodbye to her so much easier. We know where she is, and that we will be together with her again. We gloried in the time together with one another!

In the middle of that word came that my Uncle Howard Broderick wasn't expected to last much longer. My father is the youngest of seven children, and ALL of his siblings and their spouses were still alive...until Uncle Howard finally passed away. I made plans to take a week off work and attend his funeral in Phoenix. I got to represent my parents, since my mom had had surgery recently, and couldn't make the trip. It was a blast. He was one of those people who cared about each individual with all his heart, and you felt important to him. He was wonderful. I arranged to drive down with two sets of aunts and uncles: Uncle Glen & Aunt Carol,  Aunt Lois & Uncle Jim, (all in their eighties!) We had a fun trip, ten hours down, ten hours up in a Cadillac, Uncle Glen telling stories the whole way! We were welcomed at the home of my Aunt Mary and Uncle James. Everybody called me "the kid"! What a wonderful opportunity to connect with family I've not talked to in ages, and get a glimpse into eternity where we will have the opportunity to truly reconnect with all loved ones. Mormon funerals are more like family reunions. I took the opportunity to go in different vehicles to the cemetery or sit at different tables at the luncheon, etc., to have the opportunity to renew acquaintances with different family members. Uncle Howard and Aunt Joyce raised nine wonderful children, and I love them all, but haven't spent much time with them in recent years. I begged my Aunt Mary to help us create opportunities to see lots of family while we were there. We went to lunch at the beautiful home of my cousin, John, (my age) and his wife Diane. We had a yummy dinner at Russ & Kanani's house, and a fun luncheon at Aunt Joyce's house with a few of her kids/grandkids there.  I do wish I could have spent some better one on one time with my cousin Jen, who I used to play with  when we were little children...glimpses into eternity!

Then a couple of weeks later we had another funeral, this one for Uncle George Puckett. "The dominoes are falling," was what Aunt Mary said in her notification email. This time the funeral was in Springville, real close. Here was another opportunity to visit with lots of family. My brother, Jacob and I drove down together, in a surprise late spring snowstorm. When we arrived at the church, we skipped the line and went into the viewing room and hugged as much family as we could. Again it felt like a piece of heaven, seeing dear ones we hadn't seen in years. My Uncle George and Aunt Elaine had lived in Tonga when our family went there when I was a little girl, so they are dear in my memories too. Uncle George, who was Superintendent of Church Schools in Tonga at the time even visited the Gilbert Islands, which resulted in our family's mission there later.  I pulled my energy together and we invited all my Dad's siblings to come to our home on Sunday night for a family dinner since all of them were in town for the funeral. It turned out amazingly well. Everyone was here, Uncle Bryce & Aunt Sandi from Anchorage Alaska, Aunt Joyce & Aunt Mary from Phoenix, Uncle Glen & Aunt Carol from Sandy, Aunt Lois & Uncle Jim from Draper, and Aunt Elaine too! Then to top it all off, after dinner we got on Skype and let my Dad and Mom join the party. Neat! It was almost as if they were able to come and be with us! (That is indeed a bit like a blessing of eternity!)

Then with Spring Break last week, Kimberly went to Disneyland on a school trip with the orchestra, Nels stayed home for the job hunt, and Gregory to work, while the rest of went to Idaho to visit with my sister Karen and Dan and their family. I LOVE seeing cousins playing with cousins, and to hang out for days with my sister. I loved that their one year old daughter Miriam snuggled right up to me! We did work projects, went on a trip to a frozen reservoir in Swan Valley, (Heather's daughter, my niece Hysen joined us there!) got square ice cream cones, studied scriptures together, ate lots of great food, played, played and played. We were even there when Dan's parents got their mission call to the California Santa Clara California mission, sharing the opening of the call on Skype. Peeks of eternity!

Then we came home for another wonderful conference weekend, and Gregory looks forward to submitting his mission papers soon!

Glimpses of eternity...!