Joie: Families Can Be Together Forever

Joie is brave. When she first came to our family I thought she was that way because she had to be, but as we've gotten to know her we can see that courage is truly a part of her personality. She goes after life with energy and excitement. She was brave to share some of her really personal feelings about the loss of her family when she spoke in church. (Picture taken ice skating Saturday. In just two weeks she's turned into quite the speed demon, and has signed up for lessons.)


The Family Proclamation says, “The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave.”


After my family died, one of my favorite songs was, “Families Can Be Together Forever.” The words of this song are:

"I have a family here on earth.
They are so dear to me.
I want to share my life with them through all eternity.
Families can be together forever
Through Heavenly Father's plan
I always want to be with my own family.
And the Lord has shown me how I can."

Before my family died, I loved them very much. We were happy and had a lot of good times together. I didn't want those good times to end. It was hard to lose all the people I loved, but it helped me know that I will see them again and will will share our lives again for eternity. My parents were sealed in the temple and I know that means we can be together forever one day. Now I have two families. I will be together forever with both families because my moms are sisters and their parents were also sealed in the temple for eternity. The chain of eternal families is unbroken if we all choose to keep our covenants and return to our Heavenly Father. Now we are adding one more person to our family. Sometimes it's hard to get used to a new person, but we also have a lot of fun together.

Joie added some things to her talk that made it very personal. She said in her talk that she remembered something her old bishop said at the funeral of her family. He told her how this wasn't their first good-bye. She talked about how remembering that they said good-bye before they came to earth, then were reunited on earth helps her think about being reunited again with them some day. She also described how the testimonies and faith of her parents helps her when she misses them, and how she remembers the example of their lives.

(Link to the story of our family speaking in church.)