Day 8 - Kirtland, OH

We spent day 6 and 7 in Chicago, enjoying a much needed break from the car.  It was great to be able to spend Mother's Day with Jeff's family.  Jeff gave me a great Mother's Day gift - a WHOLE DAY without having to take care of our kids.  It was the best!  I love my kiddos, but every mom needs a break every now and then, especially when you've been in the car with them non-stop.

On the 8th day of our trip we got up really early and drove to Kirtland, OH.  I loved Kirtland.  I had never been there before and I was very impressed.  It was really neat to visit the Kirtland Temple and think of the monumental events that took place there.  We got to sing "The Spirit of God" inside the temple before we left which made me think of all the miraculous things that happened at the Kirtland Temple dedication.

The temple was really beautiful and being inside reminded me of being inside of a temple.  Upstairs there are windows connecting the rooms to let in more light.  All of those windows are symmetrical and looking through them reminded me of looking into the reflecting mirrors in the sealing room or celestial room.

The church has a couple of blocks restored to how they would have been in the 1800's and that was really neat.  I especially loved being inside the Newel K Whitney Store.  The upstairs of the store was where the prophet and his family lived for a while and where the school of the prophets was held.  That was also where Joseph received the Word of Wisdom revelation.  The Spirit was very strong there.

We also visited the Whitney home.  I thought it was so cute!

They had a working sawmill where the people in Kirtland would have gotten their lumber and where the pulpits of the temple were made.

And being a chemical engineer, I really enjoyed seeing the Ashery and learning about the early "chemical plants".

Kirtland is definitely worth the trip!