It finally arrived!!! The temple cultural celebration and dedication!!! The youth from nine (I think) stakes had been practicing their parts and getting ready to put on an event for Indiana Temple district members, friends, an apostle and member of the first presidency. I was excited that Xela and Aurora were able to take part in the event.
It was held in the Michael Carroll Stadium at IUPUI. The youth and leaders involved spent all day there. Thankfully the weather was wonderful and there were many red faces by the end of the event (FYI - it had been one of the rainiest Junes in 12 years. When the open house began, it only rained after hours or at night - just one of those little blessings!).
I wish I could have been there with the girls to see it all come together and experience it with them, but it was wonderful to be able to attend the event with the younger three. At first, we were told that only the parents of youth that were in the cultural celebration would be allowed to attend because of the limited seating. That kind of rubbed me wrong, but in the end, almost anyone that wanted to, was able to see it. Here are a few of the pictures that I got while at the celebration, but the best pictures are those that Patience Gaydos (our next door neighbor, YW leader and an "aunt" to my kids) took as she was one of the assigned photographers of the event.
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| Aurora posing for Patience's pic |
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| Shelby from Beech Grove and Xela |
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| Xela and Nanna Bryers having fun while waiting for another run through. |
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| Aurora, Max Dunahee and Lexi chilling in the shade while they wait their turn to practice their number. |
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| Ro in the center, looking for us, while waiting for President Eyring. |
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| Side view of the all day practice, coordinating approx 2,000 youth under the summer sun. All had a wonderful time! Memories to last forever! |
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| Kids ready and waiting for Pres Eyring |
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| Xela in the background coming out to swing. Next to her is Max Dunahee (on crutches) from our ward. He sprained his ankle at school the day before the celebration. |
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| Xela is the second shirt from the front that you see (hair in a bun). This is a rear view of all the temple district youth going out onto the field. Each stake had a different color shirt. Indy North was a bright orange (in case you couldn't tell) |
I wish each person could have a video of the celebration. It was fun to watch, wonderful to feel the excitement of the youth and of all those in the stadium for the dedication of the Indianapolis Temple. I texted my mom and she was able to watch it thanks to a live streaming option provided. The celebration theme was "Gather to the Light" and there was a wonderful song written just for the event as well. Even thinking about it now, almost four month later, tears come to my eyes as I think of what we felt there and the glorious blessing of having a temple in our midst.
The dedication was held in three sessions that next day. Eric, Xela and I went to two of them. The entire family went to the first session where we heard Pres Eyring, the new temple president, President Chipman and a few other general authorities. Then we were able to watch the sealing of the cornerstone with mortar, which they only did at the first session (one reason I wanted to be a the first one). At the second session, I had a friend from my ward in Utah embroider the white handkerchief I'd purchased to say "Indianapolis Indiana Temple, August 23, 2015. Each of us have something to keep from OUR temple dedication.
It's been such a wonderful experience over the last few years from the indexing to the announcement to the celebration and dedication. I truly hope that my kids carry these experiences and feelings with them throughout their lives. I'm so very excited to be able to attend the temple on a weekly basis (as much as possible) and to be able to do baptisms as a family.
I love to see the Indianapolis TEMPLE!
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