Weekly Review January 25 '13

I didn't even take any pictures this week.  How boring!  Well, that's January for you--unless you are Anna, and create your own holiday.  Really should do that...if I only had time. 

There may not be pictures, but there was a lot going on all week.  I am busy, busy, busy all the time.  The life of a Relief Society president is busy...and exhilirating...and overwhelming...and discouraging...and wonderful.  And somehow worth it, after all is said and done.  But it doesn't make for very exciting reading, I have to admit.  I feel like I am still at the stage where I'm spending a lot of time "administrating" and just figuring out what I'm doing and not nearly enough time doing the really important stuff.  But I'll get there.  And I'm also learning that I have to pace myself, because the reality is that there is always something else that could be done. Sometimes I have to say to myself "Ok, you've already spent 5 hours doing RS related stuff today.  So now you need to stop.  Everything else can wait for another day."

Saturday morning Frank got a call from one of the wards who had a big computer problem come up so he was gone until afternoon.  (He still wasn't feeling well.  As a matter of fact, he is just now starting to act like himself again.  He didn't feel well enough to go to church on Sunday--kept fluctuating between freezing and being too hot.  He had Monday off, thankfully, and he worked from home on Tuesday.  He did go into work on Wednesday, Thursday, and today but hasn't been feeling his best.  Mostly he is just very tired.  But he's doing a lot better than he was.)

The older three boys went to help with a move Saturday morning and went from there to Jared's basketball game, which they actually won.  (Doesn't happen very often.)  Decisively, in fact.  Jared probably broke his finger again, though.  It was all bruised & swollen.  I had to go out on Monday and buy him a splint for it.  (Don't know what happened to the splint he used before.  It disappeared, of course.)  I wanted to go to the game but didn't want to take Seth (who doesn't sit still for more than a minute of two) so I stayed with Seth and got the kitchen floor cleaned, did some Personal Progress, and worked on the ever present RS stuff.  After the boys got back, I had them plan meals for an upcoming camp out and make a list of what they needed and then went shopping.  I got back just in time to get dinner made; the Elders were coming over for that.  One of them is a vegetarian; I tried a cheese enchilada recipe that turned out to be pretty good.  It was productive talking to them about what they'd been doing all week--I discovered that they had gone to find / visit nearly every "mystery person" on my list of RS sisters and could tell me something about them.  Go Elders!  (The reason we have some mysteries is that when the ward boundary changes were made, they automatically sent everyone's records to the ward boundary in which they reside.  There are several people who, for whatever reason, had their records in another ward but who actually live in our ward boundaries.  And virtually all of them are in some stage of inactivity, so it's not like they showed up at church saying "Hey, I'm in your ward now".  Only because I used to be the Primary president, I know who a couple of them are, but most of them are a mystery.)  I had put all of the sisters that I didn't know on a writing list for visiting teaching until I could find out if they would accept visitors or not but thanks to the Elders I already know that some of them would be fine with visitors, some need to stay on the writing list, and some of them have actually moved.  (So yes...I already need to make changes to visiting teaching.  But I'm pretty sure that's always how it's going to be.)

After dinner, Tanner and Jared left for a dance.  Scott helped me clean up dinner and he also helped me get stew made for dinner the next day--it cooked in the crock pot all night.  I kept waking up and smelling it! 

I was up early Sunday because it was my week to go to PEC meeting (I only go once a month).  It was a good day--I got to meet a sister who had just moved into the ward (she usually has to work on Sundays) and the Elders had two investigators come to chuch who stayed for Relief Society, sat on the front row, and seemed to really enjoy it.  We had a really great lesson, too...I was really glad they were able to hear some of the things that were said.  One thing that is nice about early church...I had time to take a short nap that afternoon!  The boys had a fireside that night.  I took them over because I had books to give to some of the people I knew whould be there.   Scott went back later to pick them up, though.

The kids had only 9 hours of school this week.  That's because they were out on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we had a 2 hour delay yesterday because of snow and today they got out 2 hours early--also because of snow.  It's been very cold here.  I know--not as cold as it's been out west, but still...highs in the 20s or 30s and lows in the teens.  Brrr....  Today is especially frigid because the humidity is high.  It FEELS much colder than it is, and it's only about 25 degrees. 

So of course, since it's so cold, the scouts had a camp out planned.  They hardly ever have camp outs, and it seems to me that the only time they actually plan them is in January and they always pick a week end that turns out to be extremely cold.  It never ceases to amaze me...why they don't plan camp outs for the more pleasant months is something I just can't fathom.  At any rate, they decided to take advantage of the days off school and planned a 2 night camp out for Monday through Wednesday.  All three of the older boys went up for the first night.  Scott had planned to come home Tuesday because he had splits with the missionaries that evening.  Tanner ended up coming home with him because all of his extra clothes, sleeping bags, and blankents got packed into a trailer next to an ice chest that unfortunately leaked so all his stuff got soaking wet.  He didn't realize it until he started to get ready for bed.  And, being Tanner, he didn't tell any of the leaders.  So he spent the night (with temps in the lower digits) absolutely freezing and didn't get any sleep.  Please let it be noted that when the boys were packing up, Frank and I repeatedly told Tanner to put his sleeping bag and bedding in a plastic bag to protect it from getting wet.  And Tanner repeatedly rolled his eyes at us and said "How's it going to get wet?  It's not supposed to rain!"  Actually, the whole packing experience was very unpleasant because all three of the boys resented my suggestions, saying things like "I've been camping a million times.  I know what to pack!"  (Yes, and they always forget something important.  I'm not kidding!)  So by the time I dropped them off at the church I was totally frustrated with all three of them.  Tanner was pretty humbled by his experience.  When he called me to say he was coming home, he started out by saying "Mom, I'm sorry, you were right..." and he thought I was going to be mad at him for coming home!  I refrained from saying "I told you so"...I think his miserable night taught the lesson I wanted him to learn quite effectively.  Maybe next time, he'll listen to me...MAYBE!  (Probably not.)

Monday evening Seth and I went with Frank to his office...he needed to get something off of his computer and he didn't want to be in the office when other people were there and pass on whatever illness he had.  So now Seth and I have seen where he works.  It's quite nice!  Hopefully he'll get to keep working there.  (No updated news on that.)

There's nothing very noteworthy to say about Tuesday...Scott & Tanner came home and Tanner took a long nap.  They smelled like campfire and left a lot of dirty clothes in the laundry room.  Scott went on splits that evening as planned and got to experience a few rejections and then an awesome teaching appointment.

Wednesday morning I had a presidency meeting.  Then I went to Wal-Mart.  Then I had to go back to the church to pick up Jared.  After that I worked on RS stuff most of the day.  I met the VT coordinator at the church that evening and she showed me how to print up some reports that I'll need.  I was hoping to put some changes in but hadn't had time to get that figured out.  (And still haven't.)  That was one of the discouraging days.  I always have lots of emails to send or answer, and phone calls to make.  Oh yeah, that was the day we had a flood in the basement too.  The boys were doing several loads of laundry--they had lots of nasty stuff from their camp out--and I forgot to tell Tanner that you can't put more than one sleeping bag in the washing machine at a time.  Hence the flood.  Thankfully the floor is cement but we did have to move a lot of stuff that got wet, including the Christmas tree box.  Everything seems to be fine now, though.

I didn't sleep well at all Wednesday night / Thursday morning.  Woke up before 2:00 and couldn't go back to sleep until after 5:00.  I was pretty thrilled when Jared poked his head in our door at 6:00 and said there was a two hour delay.  I needed those couple "extra" hours of sleep!  (We only got about an inch of snow, though.)  I wasn't feeling all that great most of the day...I had a bad headache and my eyes were watering a lot, in addition to being really tired.  I did get a lot done though, including calling a sister that I had just found out had shingles.  And then calling someone else with a visiting teaching question and finding out that she was at the hospital with her daughter, who has diabetes and had just had a scary blood sugar episode.  I don't feel like I've been able to do much visiting yet, but I have certainly done a lot of "phone visits".  Scott had Institute that evening; he got home late.  I was falling asleep when I heard him come in.

Today after dropping Seth off at school I met with the new YW 1st Counselor to hand off all my YW stuff to her.  (Yes, I got released from that calling on Sunday. And they ended up changing the whole presidency, except for the secretary.) Right after I got home from that I found out that school was dismissing 2 hours early.  I got the budget done before I had to go pick kids up (thankfully, the budget was much, much simpler this week.)  Scott did some work in the downstairs bathroom--he pulled down almost all of the rest of the wallpaper.  The wallpaper that Frank started pulling down last January!  I know, sad.  That's how thing roll around here, though.  Maybe in another year we'll get around to actually painting it.  I was going to try to visit a sister this afternoon but I couldn't get in touch with her.  Next week, hopefully.  It did start to snow around 2:00, as predicted, and it is still coming down 2 hours later.  It's very tiny flakes so it's not accumulating much but it's supposed to get pretty slick.  The Elders called me an hour or so ago and asked if I wanted to go with them to visit a less active sister--I do; she's actually one I've been wanting to meet--so I'll be leaving in a few hours to do that.  In between, I'm sure I'll keep busy getting dinner made, which is what I need to go do now.

 I'll try to have some pictures next week.  

Weekly Review January 18 '13

Last week I got my post written really early in the morning.  This week it is really late at night--almost 10:30.  I'm going to try to get this written quickly, which means less detail.  I'm sure you're all thrilled!

 

Last Friday Frank and I planned to leave on our weekend get away around 3:00, after all the kids got home from school.  I kept very busy all day running errands, exercising, packing, and getting some RS stuff done.  I was just trying to get an email sent off to the bishop before we left when the phone rang...two older single sisters who needed help with a move...immediately!  They actually aren't in our ward anymore but had been having trouble getting in touch with the people in their current ward.  So I ended up sending out another email soliciting help for them from members of our ward as well as getting in touch with the RS president in the ward they were moving into, so they could get help from their new ward.  We ended up getting out the door around 4:00 instead of 3:00, but it all worked out. 

 

We stayed at a Town Place Suites in Falls Church, Virginia.  Our room was pretty nice:

 

 

 

 

And with our Marriott discount, it cost us a total of $19.26.  Can't beat that!  We went to dinner and enjoyed watching a show on Netflix together (Once Upon a Time...a television show we are watching together) without interruption!

 

Saturday morning we went to Arlington Cemetary first.  Neither of us had ever been there.  It was cloudy and misty but (thankfully) not incredibly cold.  The number of graves there is awe inspiring. 

 

 

(The wreaths look amazing, don't you think?  But the economical side of me couldn't help wondering how much money it must have cost for all those wreaths--thousands and thousands of them!)

 

We walked up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  It was a very moving place.  

 

 

 

 

We stuck around to see the changing of the guard.  There were lots of people there, including lots of kids, but it was completely silent.  I thought that was great.  As Americans, we can be very loud and irreverent, but I think deep down inside, most of us realize that the freedom we enjoy daily had a high price for many, and we have deep respect for those who have sacrificed on our behalf.  

 

 

This building next to the tomb was full of plaques and other mementos that have been left on the grave by dignitaries from other countries and all kinds of organizations.  There were also lots of pictures taken when the soldiers from the various wars were interred there (and of the accompanying ceremonies).  Those were very interesting.

 



 

We meandered back downhill to Kennedy's grave.  There's an amazing view of "the mall" from there; it was especially nice the day we were there because of the mist...we could see the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, and other buildings sticking up out of the fog.  It looked really neat but you can't really tell in the picture:

 



 

JFK's grave. The flame is on but it didn't come out in the picture.

 

After Arlington, we drove down to the mall and spent some time in the Museum of Natural History.  We mostly saw the gem collection (including the Hope Diamond).  We also ate lunch at the cafeteria there and then spent some time browsing in the gift shop, where we purchased gifts for each of the boys.  By then it was mid afternoon and we headed over to the National Archives (another place neither of us have been to--yes, we lived here nearly 13 years!):

 

 

It turns out there was a pretty decent line to get into there, and our car needed to be moved soon (you could only park for 3 hours) so Frank went to move the car and we planned to meet up inside.  Unfortunately, Frank couldn't find another place to park.  I had enough time (while he was walking to the car and then driving around looking for another parking place) to get inside and see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  I managed to make it outside just as Frank drove up in front of the building.  I felt bad that Frank didn't get to go in at all, though.  Another time!  I definitely want to go back because there are a ton of intersting things to do at the Archives and I didn't have time to do any of them.  It was really cool to see the originals of both of those really important documents, though.  The Declaration is very, very faded--hard to see a lot of it.  Especially the signatures.  I could barely make out "John Hancock".  But hey, it's over 200 years old!

 

On the way out of DC, we stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt Monument (yet another place we'd never been to).  It's on a little island in the Potomac, actually.  We crossed this bridge to get to it: 

 

 

The monument is nice.  It is probably really gorgeous during all the other seasons.  And when the water features are working (they all had to be drained because they got cracks in the little earthquake we had in 2011 and they were leaking.  Currently undergoing repairs.)  Even in the winter and without the water features working, it was pretty nice.  There's a statue of Teddy:

 

And 4 stone tablets like this one with profound quotes that he said:

 

 

I know you can't read the profound words on that tablet.  But I liked the shadow the tree made on it, so I took the picture anyway!

 

 

We really enjoyed having a whole day together to talk and enjoy being together!  (I did curl my hair that day, by the way.  But it was so humid that I really shouldn't have bothered.)

 

After our stop at the Roosevelt Monument, we drove back to Frederick and did a little (unsuccessful) birthday shopping for Frank.  And then stopped at Wendy's for frosties.  Then we finally went home.  The boys liked the gifts we got them.  Here is Seth with the stuffed T Rex we got him:

 

 

I told Frank we should get one for Tanner too and sure enough, when Tanner saw Seth's gift he said "You better have got one of those for me!"  Well, we didn't, but Tanner liked the 7-in-1 adventure tool we got him instead.  Scott got a robotic pen and Jared got a keychain (he collects them) with a scorpion encased inside.  Seth dubbed his stuffed animal "T Rex".  (He's very original with names!)  But then a few days ago he told me he wanted to name him "Fierce" instead.

 

We are still adjusting to having church at 9:00 instead of 11:00.  I like having more time after church but this week I had a lot to do...lots of phone calls to make and other RS work to do.  Scott had a fireside that night.  My friend Jeanine called me that night so I was up kind of late.

 

Monday was Frank's birthday!  It wasn't very exciting until after he got home from work, though.  I had a RS presidency meeting that morning, then did some more (unsuccessful) birthday shopping.  I made a pie for Frank, too--he wanted that instead of cake.  After all the boys got home, Frank opened his presents:  

 

 

He got some nice cards (including a gift card) and some candy.  I couldn't find any of the other things he wanted but hopefully he'll be able to order them online.  We had Chinese take out for dinner, played Mario Kart for family night activity, and then had the pie:

 

It had chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding, and a cream cheese mixture all layered together--quite tasty!

 

The rest of my week was full of RS stuff--I'm trying to read all the information I have so that I understand better what I'm supposed to be doing.  I had a lot of people I needed to talk to for various reasons.  And I had to re-do all the visiting teaching routes, which was quite a feat.  (Lots of holes to fill in, after all the sisters we lost in the boundary change.  I ended up having to change nearly everything.)  That took a lot of time, but it was kind of cool too because I really felt how important every single sister is to the Lord. 

 

Some days I felt encouraged and other days I felt discouraged.  Tuesday evening I was feeling overwhelmed because it took me so long to do the things I needed to do, and by the time I got to bed (late) I still hadn't finished everything.  I had planned to go to the temple Wednesday morning (it's been closed the last few weeks; finally re-opened that day) and I wrestled a bit with deciding whether to go or not because I had so much to do still but I finally decided to go anyway.  I really wanted to!  Well, Wednesday everything managed to get done somehow.  And after the temple I went right to Wal-Mart to get some shopping done and ran into one of the people I really needed to talk to...one of the sisters in my ward.  Definitely a tender mercy!

 

At the temple, by the way, I did initiatories.  One of the workers was really interesting--she definitely put her whole heart and soul into what she was saying...complete with voice inflections, facial expressions, and dramatic pauses.  It was kind of nice in a way because it made me think more about what she was saying but I also had to resist the impulse to laugh!

 

Other things that happened this week:  Scott was able to do some work on Tuesday--doing lights & sound for an event at the high school.  Frank got the computer set up for the new Urbana Ward.  Scott helped teach Seminary Wednesday morning.  Jared had basketball practice.  Scott had his bishop's interview and all he has left is an interview with the stake president (which he is trying to set up, but it's a little tricky because they just called a new executive secretary).  I got set up on our ward's computer so I can do visiting teaching stuff.  I took kids to the school library.  Scott went to Institute.  Frank got sick.  Poor man!  He woke up feeling very tired Wednesday morning and by early afternoon he was deteriorating fast.  He came home from work and went to bed.  He's had chills, been very tired, slight sore throat and headache, and a little nausea.  He stayed home from work yesterday although he spent a good part of the day on the phone doing things for work.  He's a little better today and he went in to work for an hour or two but they sent him back home--no one there wants to get sick!  Hopefully he will feel better soon.  He didn't sleep well last night but I was totally out from 11:00 until 7:00.  I usually get up around 6:00 to say prayer with Tanner & Jared before Seminary but I slept right through it.  I never heard them get up!  I'm glad they are so disciplined that they get up on their own.  We are very, very blessed that way!

 

Today the budget was really complicated so it took me most of the day to get everything updated.  (And Frank got a lecture on printing receipts when he buys things online...and using the business credit card instead of our personal one when he buys computers for clients!)  I also exercised and went to the church to put in all the visiting teaching changes.  That explains why I am up so late trying to get this done!  Tanner and Scott went to the high school to help with a show and then went to IHOP with some friends.

 

Now everyone is in bed but me, and I would like to be there.  Only 3 more minutes until it's Saturday. 

 

PS from last week--Dad will be happy to know that my book club chose to read The 5000 Year Leap.  So I ordered 10 copies and they have already arrived; trying to get them distributed to everyone. 

 

Oh, and now we hear that Xerox is only going to re-badge about 50% of Marriot employees.  So the job front is not looking as good.   But that seems to change every week so I am just trying not to think about it too much!  

 

Church Callings

It's been a while since I've done a personal history post and I have a feeling they are going to become even more infrequent, but I'm still going to try to get one done once in a while!  So today I decided to talk about what church callings I've had.

Church callings have been on my mind lately, for obvious reasons.  Recording the church callings I've held is pretty simple for me because (being the ridiculously organized person that I am) I actually wrote down all the church callings I'd had once...and I've been adding to it every time my calling changes.  (And I'm glad I wrote them down, because some of the earlier ones I had forgotten all about!)  I'm going to list them chronologically.  So here we go:

I don't have dates for the first ones, but I did record that while I was a youth in YW (back in the Orem 73rd Ward), I served as the 2nd year Beehives 1st Counselor, the 1st year Laurels 2nd Counselor, and the 2nd year Laurels 1st Counselor.  (Definitely wouldn't remember those if I hadn't written them down!  And yes, our ward was so large that Beehives, Mia Maids, and Laurels were divided up into two classes each.  How would that be?)  Those callings would have been sometime between 1980 and 1986. 

I graduated from high school in May 1986, and then I started serving as a visiting teacher--and have ever since.  I lived at home my first year of college, but I don't remember if I had a church calling or not during that time.  I did have one the summer following my freshman year, though:
 
Assistant Nursery Leader, June-August 1987, Orem 73rd Ward (Utah)

My second year at BYU (1987-88), I lived on campus and attended a single student ward. (The BYU 152nd Ward) I didn't have a calling in this ward because there were more people than there were a need for callings. I never got asked to speak or anything, either...never really felt a part of this ward. (Except for visiting teaching and FHE.)

I don't remember if I had a calling the summer after my sophomore year.  But my third year of college I lived off campus and I did receive a calling in my new ward.  I think I have had a calling non-stop ever since then, with a few short breaks in between moves. 

Family History Specialist (included helping to teach a Sunday School class), 1988-89 school year, BYU 23rd Ward (Single Student Ward)
Full time Missionary, August 1989-March 1991, North Carolina Charlotte Mission
Spiritual Living Teacher (RS), June 1991-April 1992, Canyon View 6th Ward (Singles Ward)
Ward Temple Coordinator,  (with Frank, part of Activities Committee) September 1992- May 1994, BYU 25th Ward (Married Student Ward)
Relief Society 2nd (Homemaking) Counselor, May 1994-September 1995, BYU 25th Ward
Visiting Teaching District Leader, BYU 75th Ward (Married Student Ward) (don't know dates...sometime between September 1995 and April 1997)
Relief Society teacher, (don't remember which one), BYU 75th Ward (again, don't know the dates...sometime between September 1995 and April 1997.  I do remember teaching when Tanner was a very small baby...so between November 1996 and April 1997.)
Primary teacher (6 & 7 year olds), June 1997-June 1998, Fayette Ward (New York)
Assistant Nursery Leader, June 1998-September 1998, Fayette Ward
Laurel Advisor, December 1998-February 2000, Christiana Ward (Delaware)
Primary 1st Counselor, April 2000 -November 2002, Walkersville Ward (Maryland)
Assistant Den Leader (Cub Scouts), November 2002-August 2003, Walkersville Ward
Beehive Advisor, August 2003-October 2004, Walkersville Ward
YW Secretary, October 2004-July 2005, Walkersville Ward
Relief Society 2nd (Enrichment) Counselor, July 2005-July 2006, Walkersville Ward
Primary Teacher (Sunbeams, CTR 5) (team taught with Frank part of the time), July 2006-March 2007, Walkersville Ward
Primary Secretary, March 2007-December 2007, Walkersville
Cub Scout Committee Chair, December 2007-July 2008, Walkersville
Primary 2nd Counselor, July 2008-July 2009, Walkersville
Primary President, July 2009-October 2011, Walkersville
YW 1st Counselor, October 2011-January 2013, Walkersville
Relief Society President, January 2013, Walkersville

A few interesting facts about my church callings:

1-Once I moved out of student wards (that didn't have Primary other than nursery and no youth programs), I have spent most of my time serving in Primary or YW, with the bulk of that time in Primary.  From April 1997 to the present (nearly 16 years) I have spent (approximately) 1 year serving in Relief Society, 4 1/2 years serving in YW, and 10 years serving in Primary (I'm counting Cub Scout callings under the Primary "umbrella".)

2-I've been a RS counselor for two different presidents, a YW counselor or secretary for two different presidents, and a Primary counselor or secretary for 4 different presidents. 

3-I've had every calling in the Primary presidency.

4-Because of my current calling, I have managed to serve in the presidency of all 3 auxilliaries within a 15 month time period.  (Not something I was hoping for!)

5-I used to be terrified of Primary, but now I love it!

6-I'm still terrified of Relief Society, but I'm hoping I'll get over that.

7-The calling that has been the most stressful for me (until now) is RS 2nd Counselor...and I've had it twice!  It was really stressful both times...for slightly different reasons.

8-The easiest callings for me have been the secretary callings.  Right up my alley...easy!

9-The calling I think I've enjoyed the most is Primary counselor, followed by Primary President.  The counselor is ahead of the president because I got to do all the same things, but I didn't have to be in charge! :)

10-I've learned something from every one of my callings and I'm grateful for all of them.




 

Weekly Review January 10 '13





Thanks to Frank, I have a few pictures included this week.  Blogger is still acting dumb, but Frank helped me figure out a different way to add pictures so I have some pictures in this post.  There's not very many because I haven't taken very many lately (except on my iPod...need to get my boys to help me figure out how to get them from my iPod to my computer). 

 

So let's start with the pictures I wanted to add last week:

 

 

This first one is a picture I took of the puzzle on New Year's Eve, when we hadn't been working on it for very long.

 

 

I took this picture immediately after I took the first one, to show how many pieces we had left to put in.  We didn't get much done that day, but I worked on it a lot the following day and by Wednesday afternoon, it was completed:

 

 

Can you spot the missing piece?  It's not really obvious in this picture, but it's right behind the man in the bright blue coat, who is standing in front of the bus on the left hand side of the picture.  Funny sequel:  a few days after we took the puzzle apart, Allie found the missing piece in her purse!  Her purse was sitting on the floor next to the table where we were putting the puzzle together, so that piece must have fallen off and landed in her purse somehow. 

 

When I was taking pictures of new salt & pepper shakers a few weeks ago, I forgot to take one of this set, which I received from "Santa":

  

 

The birds have tiny magnets on them to keep them from falling off the branch.  This will be a fun set to get out in a few months, when spring comes.

 

This last picture is showing that Snickers has decided that he likes his new dog bed:

 

 

It is not unusual to find him lying in his bed now.  He really likes to rest his chin on things, like he is doing on the edge of the bed in this picture.  I remember when he was a tiny puppy, he used to come over and lie his chin on my foot, when my feet were on the floor.

 

Well, I better start off this week by explaining how the ward boundary change / calling shuffle ended up affecting us (for those of you who haven't heard from someone else)--otherwise it would be difficult to explain what I did this week.  One of the people that we lost in the boundary change was our Relief Society president, and I was called to be the new Relief Society president.  This was a big surprise to me.  I knew we'd be getting a new RS president, of course, but I never imagined it would be me. 

 

This is how it all happened:  I was just leaving home to take Jared to the church for basketball practice last Wednesday evening when Frank came out the front door and said "when you get to the church, call me."  I thought that was strange, but called him as requested and he said "the bishop just called and wants to meet with both of us at 7:00."  Well, of course that caused me some anxiety, but in the hour I had to wait until 7:00 I speculated a bit and thought that it was much more likely that Frank would be getting a calling than me.  There were a lot more "big" men's callings that needed filling after the boundary changes than women's callings and besides, one of the bishopric counselors had mentioned twice to Frank lately that they might be asking for him back, since he's had his stake calling for so long (it's been nearly 6 years).  Also, I felt pretty "safe" in my current calling in the YW presidency.  It did cross my mind, though, that if it were me getting the new calling that I could be in big trouble.  The boundary change just happened on Sunday.  This was only Wednesday.  Not much time for them to have called a new RS president and for her to have figured out who she wanted for counselors.  Still, I was feeling more curious than anxious by the time 7:00 rolled around. 

 

The bishop started out by saying that now that our ward is smaller, a lot of people with stake callings would be receiving ward callings as well.  I relaxed even further.  Yep, it was Frank getting the new calling!  Then he looked at Seth (who was with us) and said "We're going to give your mom a new calling.  Let's say you're the bishop...what calling would you give her?"  Uh oh...it is me...not so relaxed anymore.  Seth didn't understand what he meant by "calling" and said something like "Oh...I just want to call her what I've always called her."  (Good idea, Seth!)  Then the bishop looked back at me and said "You've been requested elsewhere."  I relaxed again...ok, good--someone else has asked for me.  That didn't sound too bad.  Then he said "Heavenly Father has requested you (my heart drops to my feet) to be the new Relief Society President."  Frank gets this goofy grin on his face and I just stare at the bishop.  I don't think I said much the rest of that interview.  I just stared at him and tried to breath deeply.  Afterwards, I realized that I never really said "yes I'll do it" or "no I won't"...I guess he took my silence as consent!  He did ask Frank how he felt about it and Frank, who was feeling like he just totally got off the hook, said he would wholeheartedly support me (which he has so far, I should add--bless him!)

 

Anyway, that explains why I was totally distracted for the YW activity and why I didn't sleep much on Wednesday night.  The YW presidency meeting we had the next morning was particularly interesting since I couldn't say anything...so I was volunteering to do things I knew I really wasn't going to be able to do.  Besides that, the other counselor started out by saying that she was feeling a little let down that the boundary changes hadn't affected her at all (just because she likes a little change once in a while, not because she really wanted to be in another ward or to get another calling) and when I objected "how do you know they aren't going to affect you?  There's probably going to be a lot of changes in callings because of the people we lost", she responded by saying "What do you mean...do YOU have a new calling?"  And I pretty much had to tell her an outright lie!  Then later she was speculating that the calling changes might affect the advisors, and not us since we were in the presidency...she looked right at me and said "I mean, unless you're the new RS President (hypothetically speaking), it wouldn't make sense for them to release you as a counselor in YW to make you a counselor in RS."  How I managed to keep a straight face I'll never know except that I was still feeling totally shell shocked at that point and nothing seemed very funny.  (And surprise...it turns out her husband got called to be the new counselor in the bishopric.  She had no idea then.  So much for being disappointed that she wasn't affected!)

 

Well, it is hard to explain just how I have been feeling since then.  A few times when I have received a new calling I had really distinct impressions ahead of time and knew it was coming. This time I didn't. I've been kind of amused by how many people in my ward have since told me that they were wondering who the new RS president would be, and that they thought of me. Hmmm...wonder why everyone else saw it coming and I didn't?!  It was really a shock, and it took days for me to wrap my head around the whole idea.  It felt so strange to me.  Part of me kept saying it really isn't that big of a deal (and in many ways, it isn't) but part of me was completely overwhelmed with the responsibility, and terrified, and not sure who I was anymore.  By Saturday I was feeling calmer but even so I woke up Sunday morning with my heart pounding up into my head and I actually got short of breath!  Most of Sunday I felt pretty strange, and Monday I felt anxious but on Tuesday I finally started feeling like a normal person again, albeit a "new normal" person.  It's been better since then.  I was trying to explain to Frank on Tuesday evening how I'd been feeling, and an analogy suddenly hit me.  And at the risk of sounding lightminded or sacreligious, what I said was "it feels like Harry Potter must have felt when he found out he was the 'chosen one'...you know it's really, really important, and you know you have to do it and that you will do it...but you really don't want to."  

 

My head was totally spinning when I left the bishop's office Wednesday night but the cool thing was that even in that bewildered state of mind and even before I left the church at the end of the activity, two names of sisters in our ward had lodged in my brain and I was pretty sure they were going to be one of my counselors and my secretary.  I still had to give it a lot of thought and prayer of course.  One of the former counselors had also been lost in the boundary change but there was still one remaining counselor and the secretary left so I had to decide whether they should stay or not.  I immediately felt like the secretary needed to be released, but wasn't so sure about the counselor.  Actually, I knew that I really wanted to keep her but I had to make sure that was the right thing, and not just my wishful thinking.  As it turns out, it was ok to keep her and by Friday morning I knew what names I needed to submit.  The thing is, when I am getting inspiration I am never really totally sure that I'm really getting it.  And I always second guess myself.  But even in the less than a week that has passed since I was sustained, I've already seen that (incredibly!) that inspiration was right on.  And I'm really grateful. 

 

I've actually done a lot of pondering over the last week and in spite of being overwhelmed, I also feel grateful.  There's kind of this joke in my ward already about how I just go from one presidency to another.  (Facts:  I have been serving in a presidency non stop since August 2008--first as a counselor in the Primary presidency, then as the Primary president, then as a counselor in YW, and now as RS President.  Besides that, I have also served as either a counselor or a secretary in 3 other Primary presidencies, one other YW presidency, and one other RS presidency.)  Sometimes, I admit, I have been a little frustrated by that.  Why do I always get the callings that take a lot of time and energy?  Shouldn't I get a "break" for a while?  (Especially since I am not living in a small, struggling ward.  My ward is very strong, with lots of people who would make great RS presidents.)  I have not been feeling that way this past week, though.  I have been remembering how many blessings all those callings have brought into my life.  It really is true that when you are serving in a calling, you get back more than you give.  Way more!  Why I have been given so many chances to receive blessings for myself and for my family, I really don't know.  But it makes me feel very humble and grateful.  I haven't even done much yet and I have already had some really sweet experiences, and seen the blessings starting to roll in. 

 

The other thing I've been realizing is something that I already knew...but I'm just remembering.  More than one person has said to me "I know you'll do great" or something along those lines.  Whenever I hear that I am reminded of what it was like to be the Primary president, and how all these amazing wonderful things happened but it was always because the Lord was sending my counselors and I inspiration, and it was really Him who had all the great ideas.  We just did what He told us to do.  And I don't kid myself either...I'm fully aware that I didn't always deserve that inspiration.  It came because someone else needed to be blessed and because I was the one who currently had stewardship over that person, no matter how unworthy I might have been at that moment to be receiving inspiration.  I did try...I did try to live my life so that I would be worthy to receive inspiration, but I messed up a lot.  The inspiration came anyway, because it was needed.  It's really the Lord who's going to "do great", not me.  So that's comforting to me, but humbling too and I know I need to keep trying diligently to be the kind of person who is in tune.  I also know, from my experiences as Primary president, that it really is a group effort.  I had so many wonderful people serving with me in Primary and the only difference between them and me is that I just happened to be the person who after all the discussion and thinking and praying was over, said "Ok, this is what we're going to do."  The Lord has been very merciful to me, in allowing me to have all these previous experiences before giving me this particular calling.  If He hadn't, I'd be totally petrified.  (Instead of partially petrified.)

 

Well, if you just waded through all that, you'll know that I've had a lot on my mind.  I apologize for going on so long about it, but I really don't want to forget all the things I've been thinking and feeling this past week.  That was really for my own benefit.

 

Ok, so...as far as what else we did this last week.  Frank got a call from a client Saturday morning with a problem and he ended up being gone literally all day fixing the problem.  He left home around 9:00 am and didn't get home until about 10:00 pm.  I got the usual chores done around the house with help from the boys.  Jared had a basketball game--Scott and Allie took him to that.  I spent quite a bit of time working on Personal Progress--I have most of it done and I still really want to finish it, even though I won't be serving in YW now.  So I finished up a couple of projects and now I've done everything except for the value experiences and project for Integrity.  I hope I'll manage to finish those over the next few months. 

 

Sunday was a bit strange for me, as I mentioned, but good too.  My presidency were all set apart after the meeting schedule ended and that was a good experience.  It was great to listen to the blessings my counselors and secretary received, as well as my own.  One thing that I really thought was great--when I was Primary president, I had two really great secretaries (consecutively, not at the same time) and I really came to consider them as a third counselor in many ways.  One of the reasons I felt so good about the inspiration I received for who I should recommend to be RS secretary is that I could see her being that kind of "third counselor".  Well, when she was set apart, the counselor who set her apart (incidentally, the one who had just been called that day) said "remember that in many ways, a secretary is like a third counselor."  Wow, that was so awesome to hear him say that! 

 

Our Sunday schedule just changed, and we are meeting at 9:00 now instead of 11:00.  So after we came home, the rest of Sunday seemed kind of long to me.  (I like that, though.)  It was kind of a hard day in a way...I came home, looked at Frank, and said "Well, now what am I supposed to do?"  I still felt kind of knocked off my feet, but as I said...I'm a lot better now.  And both of my former counselors from Primary sent me really sweet emails that cheered me up a lot. 

 

Monday was quite busy.  Scott had a dentist appointment that morning and got his mission papers for that filled out.  I had lots of errands to run and little chores to do, plus I needed to find someone to trade a missionary dinner appointment with us, get an announcement out about the RS activity on Wednesday, and find someone to teach RS this Sunday.  (We lost two of our three teachers...one to the boundary change and one to another calling.)  Everything got done and I even managed to exercise too.  We had family night that evening as well.  When Seth came home from school, he told me that I had forgotten to make him a lunch.  Oops!  I guess I was a little distracted.  He wasn't upset at all, thankfully...he actually thought it was pretty cool.  "I 'buyed' lunch today" he said, "and it was pizza!"  He probably hopes I'll forget his lunch every day.

 

Tuesday was also busy...I had my annual GYN appointment that morning.  Then I was taking a sister in our ward who can't drive to an appointment.  Normally I would delegate that task to someone else, but since this sister is not very active I wanted a chance to touch base with her and to get to know her a little bit better.  This sister has some kind of disability--I'm not sure what it is, just know that it is very hard for her to walk...well, movement in general is hard.  It's probably muscular distrophy, MS, or cereberal palsy...something along those lines.  Anyway, when I got there she still needed to put on her shoes and socks.  I asked her if she wanted my help or if she preferred to do it herself and she said she preferred to do it herself.  So I sat and watched her painstakingly, slowly put on her shoes and socks.  Good grief, I take my healthy body for granted all the time!  I can't imagine what it would be like to have simple tasks like putting on shoes or locking a door take so long and be so difficult.  It was a good reminder for me.  As soon as I got her settled back at her apartment, I went straight to book club, arriving farily late.  We had a great discussion about Mere Christianity.  I didn't completely finish the book (I'm still working on it) but since it's a collection of essays rather than a book with a plot, that didn't matter so much.  If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it!  I have just loved it...and it's one of those books that I'm going to need to get my own copy because I'm sure I'm going to want to refer back to it over and over again.  C.S. Lewis certainly had a gift for explaining things.

 

Wednesday morning I had training from the stake RS president all morning, some of it alone and some of it with my counselors.  Then I had shopping to do--both Wal Mart and grocery store, and I also went to the school to hang up some art.  That evening we had a RS meeting.  The CEO for United Way in Frederick County happens to be in our ward and he came to talk to us about ways we can get involved in community service.  He did a really great job and it was very inspiring.  I really didn't have to do anything for the meeting--it was already all planned so all I did was show up and conduct.  (One counselor was sick and the other had to be late because of her son's basketball game.  And the sister who was in charge of the RS meetings was another person who ended up in another ward.  Although she actually came to the meeting...and brought refreshments too.  How nice is that?)

 

I spent yesterday morning (and part of the afternoon) with the former ward RS president, getting up to speed on everything.  Scott kept laundry going for me all day and he vacuumed the whole house too which I appreciated.  After work, Frank took Tanner & Jared with him to the church to run a new cable so that the new ward will have internet access for their computer.  He was going to set up the computer, too, but whoever ordered the computer forgot to order power cables!  So he's going to have to buy those and then set it up.  Last night Frank and I updated the budget. Today I woke up early so I'm getting this post written and it's only a little after 8:00 am.  We wanted to get the budget done early because Frank and I are taking off for the weekend.  I decided a few weeks ago that it would be a nice way to celebrate his birthday...going somewhere overnight together, just to get away!  Frank chose to go down to Washington DC so we'll be staying there tonight (at a Marriott hotel, of course) and spending tomorrow doing sight seeing...without kids!  Sounds heavenly.  I mean, we love the kids of course...but they don't usually want to see the things that we want to see.  I know we'll have fun.

 

This week Frank found out that Marriott has decided to outsource their IT work to Xerox.  However, Xerox is planning to "re badge" about 90 % of Marriott's IT people...in other words, about 90% of Marriott's IT people will work for Xerox instead.  That's fairly good news because it means Frank will probably still have a job.  The bad news is that the 10% who aren't going to be hired by Xerox is the managers.  Which means Frank will probably have a new boss...and that doesn't always turn out too well, we know from experience.  He really likes his current boss and gets on well with him, so we're not anxious for a change.  But we can hope for the best.  And there's no guarantee, of course, that Frank will be one of the 90% that Xerox keeps.  We'll just have to see how it all works out.

 

I'll finish up with a picture of Scott--I took this one yesterday because he needed a picture to submit with his mission papers.  He will be getting those in sometime this week, probably.

      

Weekly Review January 4 '13

Happy New Year to all of you!

Blogger is not letting me add pictures to my post today...I'm not sure why...so until I figure it out, sorry for the lack of pictures in this post.

I'm having a hard time remembering back to last Saturday.  This week is all messed up in my head because the boys went back to school on Wednesday.  That means that Wednesday felt like Monday, and today feels like Wednesday!  Besides that, I had one bad night this week that I barely slept so my internal clock is really messed up. 

Anyway, my planner says (thank goodness for my planner!) that we took down Christmas decorations on Saturday.  That was quite a project and took up a lot of the day. (This included sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming floors.)  I do remember that my back hurt after that so I had to be careful about it.  I also worked on the budget that day and if I remember correctly, I watched the movie A Christmas Carol that evening (the version with Patrick Stewart) and I enjoyed it very much.  Oh, yeah--I just remembered that Scott went to Allie's grandparents house (for a party) and when backing up the Expedition to turn around on their street, he backed into one of the neighbor's mailboxes and knocked it off the post.  Lovely.  Allie's grandpa said it happens all the time though because the mailboxes are out too far and that the homeowner's association usually takes care of replacing them.  He's going to look into it for us.  And thankfully the mailbox's owner was nice about it too.

Tanner wasn't feeling well on Saturday and Seth, who had been quite congested a lot of the week, was unusually quiet and lay on the couch most of the day.  Sure enough, he had a fever Sunday morning but since Tanner also felt pretty sick, he stayed home with Seth so Frank and I were both able to go to church.

Since it was a 5th Sunday, we had a combined meeting with the YM / YW the last hour.  They had a sister in our ward who recently returned from a mission speak to the kids and she did an incredible job.  Scott came in to listen to that which was good for him and I was also especially pleased that three of my Mia Maid girls who usually won't come to class chose to come in.  They sat on the front row and this sister spoke to them directly more than once and said some things that I really think they needed to hear.

Frank, as the stake IT clerk, had some work to do that afternoon preparing for the boundary change meeting that evening.  I dropped him off at the stake center and then went over later for the actual meeting.  It was a good meeting--besides the boundary changes, they also announced that our stake is going to pilot a program that has been tried in some other missions already where the missionaries do not tract anymore but instead do lots of service (to the members and the community) and work entirely off of member referrals (or people they meet through their service).  (This kind of mission would have really worked for me, by the way!)  The mission president of the Baltimore mission was given permission to choose one stake in his mission to pilot the program, and--as he put it--"it took me about a nano second to decide that I wanted the Frederick stake to be the pilot stake."  He also mentioned that with the change in mission age requirements, they expect the number of missionaries in the Baltimore mission to nearly double over the next 3-4 months.  Wow!  That means that every ward will have two sets of missionaries instead of just one. 

Anyway, instead of just adjusting boundaries in our stake, they actually created a new ward as well.  The stake president mentioned that back in 2003, right before they adjusted boundaries with surrounding stakes and we lost 2 wards to another stake, our stake membership was up to about 3500.  Now our stake membership is around 3400, so we have re-gained nearly all the membership that we lost at that point.  Pretty cool!  One of the other wards in our stake (the Monocacy Ward) was most affected by the boundary changes.  That ward was actually divided in two.  The Monocacy Ward was re-named Brunswick Ward and the new ward is called the Urbana Ward.  Our ward was affected as well, though--part of our ward (and part of one other ward) was added to the new Urbana Ward.  There were a few other adjustments to other wards as well, but those were the major changes.  We didn't lose a ton of families, but it just so happens that many of the families we lost hold leadership positions so I'm sure there is going to be some fairly significant calling shuffling going on in our ward for a while (not to mention that our bishop is due to be released in March).  We already know that the calling shuffling is going to affect us but I can't say how yet.  (Although I highly doubt that anyone in my ward has stumbled across my blog and is reading it, I just feel better waiting until next week to give you details.  If you're really curious you can ask Mom, Dad, or Amy because I've already talked to them about it.)  The other way the new ward is affecting us is that they are meeting in our building...we're going to have three wards in our building now which means we're going to be really crowded and scheduling the building is going to be kind of a nightmare.  But that's ok...growth is good, right?  They did say they are petitioning to have another building built in our stake so it won't be this crowded forever.

Anyway, it's sad to see those families go but it's good to know our stake is growing!  We are glad we got to stay in the same ward and it made me feel good when more than one person came over to hug me and say they were glad our family is still in the ward.  (We live in a part of the ward that was the second most likely area to be moved to another ward.  And now we live right on the edge of the ward and are the most likely to go someday up the road if they make more changes.)  The part of our ward that we lost is somewhat isolated from the rest of the ward and there have been rumors ever since we moved here that that neighborhood was going to be put in another ward.  The funny thing is, about 2 weeks ago they finally completed a road that connects to Schifferstadt (the main road by our house) which made that part of our ward much more accessible to us--cut down our travel time from 15 minutes to about five minutes!  The irony is not lost on us.  I'm still really glad they completed that road, though, because it makes a lot of Frederick a lot quicker and easier for us to get to.  We've been enjoying that!

Ok, now that I wrote 7 whole paragraphs about Saturday and Sunday, I'll try to be more concise for the rest of the days this week.  On Monday morning Jared, Scott and I went to the stake center to help decorate for a dance that was being held that evening.  (We were greeted by Alivia's dad from the Monocacy Ward who said "Good morning! What ward are you in this morning?"  which made me laugh.  Alivia's family is in the new Urbana Ward now.  And Allie's family, incidentally, is in the Brunswick Ward now.  And if you don't remember who Alivia is, she's the girl that Tanner went on a date with.)  Tanner didn't come with us because he still wasn't feeling very well.  He laid low that day and didn't go to the dance that evening either.  Seth started feeling better and was climbing the walls by evening.  He's still a bit congested and has a cough but feeling a lot better.  Tanner also has some congestion still but he was well enough to return to school on Wednesday and he's feeling a lot better than he was. 

Allie came to dinner at our house that evening.  We had our traditional appetizer dinner for New Year's Eve.  We also watched the movie The Lake House.  I was supposed to chaperone for the dance (although I didn't have to stay the whole evening) and Jared, Scott and Allie all came to the dance too.  I found the dance rather strange--not many people came.  It turns out one family in the stake was having a huge party and invited a lot of the youth to their house.  There was also an adult / family activity / dance going on in another part of the stake center so there were people everywhere in the halls.  Everyone could go to the family activity but only youth 14-18 were allowed in the youth dance.  Also, the youth were required to dress in Sunday dress but no one else was.  So it was just kind of mixed up and odd.  I wasn't really needed much so I came home around 11:00.  Jared came home with Scott & Allie later--they stayed for the breakfast that was served at midnight. 

At home, Frank and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle.  We didn't get a lot done that evening but we worked on it a lot on Tuesday and I finished it up on Wednesday.  To our annoyance, there is one piece missing!  It's a brand new puzzle but I suppose it's possible we lost the piece ourselves.  We looked all over for it but didn't find it.  Oh well.  The puzzle still looked pretty awesome.  I took some pictures of it but, as I said, blogger won't let me upload them.  We were distracted enough by the puzzle (and Tanner was distracted by the video game he was playing) that we didn't even notice when midnight came.  I started hearing horns blowing outside and that's when I discovered that it was 12:03. 

I can't remember much about Tuesday.  I had a meeting that morning with the Mia Maid advisor to plan a couple of activities and our lessons for January.  We met at Panera (a local cafe) and had bagels while we talked.  After I got home we got chores done and relaxed.  Allie came over again for dinner and joined us for family night (we decided to do it Tuesday instead of Monday).  Everyone made an effort to go to bed earlier, although Allie & Scott watched a movie.  I stayed up to chaperone them and by the time I convinced them it was time for Allie to go home it was 12:30!  So I was pretty tired Wednesday morning.

Even though it's hard to have vacation end, it feels good to be back on a somewhat normal schedule.  Frank didn't have a very restful vacation, I'm afraid.  He had a lot of work to do for various clients.  I ended up taking kids to school Wednesday morning because the person with the big van who usually takes them was having brake trouble.  I did the same this morning (the big van is in the shop getting fixed).  Even though I was tired, I had a pretty productive day with no one else home to distract me (Scott doesn't count).  I got caught up on most of the grocery shopping and a lot of other things.  Scott got a haircut and he also had a job interview at a new sandwich shop that is opening up.  That went really well and they will get back to him in a week or two.  They don't open until February 9th though so I don't know if that one will work out.  He has also talked to a few people he knows and it looks likely that he will be able to pick up a few lighting / sound type jobs to do soon. 

Jared had basketball practice Wednesday evening, then he and Tanner had an Eagle Court of Honor to attend (for Scott's friend Neil).  Scott went to Allie's house for the evening  (They also went to a movie that morning...and to lunch afterwards.  All on gift cards, at least!)  I had a class activity with the Mia Maids--only one girl showed up, though.  (We lost a few in the boundary change and our class had only a few active girls to start out with).  We made modge podge picture frames and the one girl who came did a beautiful job on hers.  I didn't do so well on mine--we had just found out about how the calling shuffle was going to affect us and I was feeling quite distracted.

Thursday morning I had a YW presidency meeting.  I hadn't slept well so I was feeling kind of zombie-like.  I also took kids to the library at Seth's school that morning.  I took a short nap in the afternoon and then Frank and I (he was home by then) got some grocery shopping done.  We picked up dinner at McDonald's for everyone on the way home since we were running late.  Allie was over too because she and Scott were going to Institute.  I was still tired (nap wasn't enough) and I had a bad headache; Frank was tired too so we went to bed right on time.  I didn't even hear Scott come in a few minutes later!  Thankfully, I slept a lot better and Frank did too.  We both woke up really early this morning (around 4:00) though.  After I got everyone to school I was trying to read something and felt really sleepy so I decided to lie down for a few minutes.  Over an hour later, I woke up!  I didn't expect to sleep that long but I feel a lot more rested now.  I worked on the budget the rest of the morning.  Frank and I just got back from picking up Seth at school.  Scott helped with a few chores / errands and now he is gone to Allie's house until tonight--she is having a party with a bunch of the YSAs.  She is going back to school on Tuesday and I expect we'll see Scott a lot more after that.

If you want to read a good book, try Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  That is what we are reading for book club this month.  I haven't had much time to read it and I fear I'm not going to get it done in time (we meet on Tuesday) but what I've read I have really enjoyed.  It is very profound.