"Bees were humming, sweet birds singing,
Music ringing through the grove."
(Joseph Smith's childhood home in Palmyra New York)
One beautiful autumn day in September 2015, church was canceled.
We think the heater kicked on for the first time since last winter and maybe burned some dust or something, but whatever the reason it resulted in the fire station being called and the building getting checked over by the local fire department. The building got the A-Ok to return into, however at that point the ward leadership had already canceled church for the day.
It ended up being a huge blessing because we had a whole entire day on our hands and nothing planned with it. None of the Stryker boys had ever been to the Sacred Grove in Palmyra so we decided that would be the perfect Sunday activity, especially on a fall day in New York.
I love the picture below!
Just me and my two sweet boys hand-in-hand, walking into the Sacred Grove. It wasn't like this huge spiritual experience where the boys knew they were walking on hallowed grounds. But instead it was a simple peaceful feeling, that maybe only Ace and I felt. The boys ran around happily in the autumn sunlight. There was no bickering, no pestering and very few other people were around. We saw a few sister missionaries, and one couple from Australia while we were there. But other than that, my sweet family and I could just enjoy the time together in a beautiful place, on a beautiful day were we could explain some really incredible things to our boys about the incredible gospel that we live each and every day.
Silly faces of course and good thing Ace remembered to wear his name tag.
Right in the sun but you can see the tip of the Palmyra temple poking through the trees.
We found ourselves on the way home too! So that was just an added bonus.
That is so cool. I can't wait to take my family there. I also loved the shirt.
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