When I was five years old, I was Mary Poppins for Halloween. It was my favorite costume ever. I really wanted to be Mary Poppins. I love every single song and my children have grown up hearing me sing those songs as an answer to their questions now and then. My life has been regulated and carefully swayed by Mary Poppins: a thing of beauty is a joy forever, spit spot and off we go, Splendid, splendid! Pie crust promises: easily made, easliy broken. I even sang the lullaby Stay Awake to get my children to sleep. I have told a couple of people in my life that they are "practically perfect in every way"--just like the famous nanny, or well begun is half done (in other words, tidy up the nursery-or playroom in my case) in every job that must be done, there is an element of fun, you find the fun and snap! I love LOVE Mary Poppins! I often tell those in my household: Enough is as good as a feast or I love to laugh! So it seems fitting that my feelings this week as one son comes home from a mission, one departs, one who has been away for a long time returns, that I wrap it up in another quote from the script from the very beginning of the show and the central focus of it's meaning:

WIND'S IN THE EAST, MIST COMIN' IN.

LIKE SOMETHING IS BREWIN' ABOUT TO BEGIN

CAN'T PUT MY FINGER ON WHAT LIES IN STORE

BUT I FEEL WHAT'S TO HAPPEN, ALL HAPPENED BEFORE.

This week in my own life, I am excited, nervous, happy, anxious, ready, not so ready. Sure at moments and at others, not so sure. Change is in the air, that is for sure. As a mother, the only thing constant is change, but as my children get older, the changes are more permanent and affecting. So, I "look to the future with joy" (this one from Grandma Hazel) and increase in faith. If you look closely, you will see my "carpet bag" sitting next to me in the above temple photo. And I try to remember Change is as good as a rest.