The Morning Breaks

With the sun going down so early this time of the year, I have started to plan my time at the temple around sunrise instead of sunset. It's fun to see the light coming from a different perspective.  These first two photos were taken one at the beginning of my time at the temple, and one right before I left.  I love both of them, but am so glad I drove around one more time to get the second shot with the sun higher in the sky.  It's interesting to me to see how even the nasty smog in the sky seems to dissipate as the sun rises.

Look at that beautiful stone surrounding the doorway!  I am so excited to see what the permanent doors look like!

The bricks seem to be all done for the stake center.  Looks like we are getting ready for a steeple.

There is something about seeing those giant stone slabs on a truck that just makes me happy.  It hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it would be fun to see them traveling on the road to the temple.  I'm sure a few people have.

It just gets more and more beautiful each time I come.  

 

Temples and Tumbleweeds

The stone is going up quickly.

The brick on the stake center is moving along as well.

There are the beginnings of a door.  Imagining all the people who will use this doorway makes my heart happy.

The construction workers are now parking on the paved parkinglot instead of on the streets around the temple.

The color of the brick on the stake center goes nicely with the stone of the temple.

These tumbleweeds have been on my mind lately.  Sometimes it's hard to see the good through all the tumbleweeds of life.  As I tried to get high enough above the fence to get some good shots with my camera, the tumbleweeds were prickly against my legs.  

There is a lot of opposition in this world, and sometimes it might seem hard to focus on the good that comes from our Savior and His atonement when there are so many tumbleweeds blocking our view.  But the beauty of it, is that even amid the prickly tumbleweeds of life, we can still build our relationship with our Savior.  It might look messy, like a construction site, but little by little we can grow and become something more beautiful that we could have become on our own. Over time, Christ can help us clear away our tumbleweeds until someday we will be like this beautiful temple.  With flowers all around in the places where tumbleweeds once blocked our view of what we could become.

 

More Beautiful Temple Stone