New Calling

For the past few years, I have had my favorite calling at church - Primary Chorister.
However,

So I have a new calling.  I am now Stake Primary Chorister.
I know, you're rolling your eyes and thinking, "Wow.  'BIG' change."
But it IS a big change.
All those little people in my ward.  I love them.  I love to teach them.  I love the challenge of thinking of ways to connect with them.  I love to help them feel their Savoir's love for them.  I love interacting with them, and talking to them, and making them feel important, cared about and loved.  It's just a whole lot of love.  I used to get to do all that EVERY week.  That will NOT be the case with this new change.
My last Sunday with the kids did NOT go smooth.  I volunteered to take the whole 40 mins instead of just the usual 20.  Technical glitches with plan A.  Plan B, tried to play the piano with NO GLASSES.   I met my replacement and tried to explain the duties of the best calling in the world in less than 5 min.  I forgot to do something I said I'd do for a friend.   By the time I took my kids home, my emotions got the best of me and I started to cry.  But I had new duties with my new calling and had to rush off.  When I got home, my sweet girls had made this for me:

When you are a family, most callings can be a team effort.  Or at least team sacrifice.  Since this day, the girls have had to step up a little bit and be good natured and flexible on several occasions.  I took this picture one Sunday afternoon when they had to "picnic" in the church kitchen cause Dad had duties after church and Mom was off at another ward in the Stake.

I love them very much and I'm grateful for our little family.

I believe this change is one of life's "stepping stones" that is necessary to prepare us for "stepping stones" in the future.

My first Sunday in the adult class felt . . . . I can't even think of a word for it.
I was no longer teaching.  Which means I was no longer CONNECTING.  I was no longer engaging, plugging in, reaching out.  Not to mention I was no longer physically MOVING for 2 hours straight.
I sat there.  Quietly listening.  In a room that was full, yet felt empty.  I learned something about myself.  I never before had recognized my need to connect with people.

One of my life mottoes has been:
If you want something bad enough - GO GET IT.

So no more Sundays like that first one!  I've made a conscious effort to engage with others every Sunday.  I no longer get to teach, but perhaps I can still connect, plug in, and maybe even help others feel important, cared about and loved.

BONUS PHOTO: Dad's Birthday

OCTOBER

Mother Daughter Camp Out

One of the highlights of the year.  Ranks right up there with Christmas.
Normally, most everyone else goes for a cabin.  Not us.  We tent it.  But this year . . . .
There was rain.  LOTS of rain.  With no end in sight.
So we tried out something new this year.  We teamed up with our dear friends who usually tent-it with us, and rented a "long house."  The verdict:  it was AWESOME.  We loved it.  Rain or no, we may just do it this way every year.  So nice.  Still private.  Still near "nature." (There were no actual windows or doors - just curtains.  So quick.  So dry!
Up above the sleeping area there was a loft.  Which is of course the perfect place for an impromptu glowing dance party.

Museum

 Halloween

SEPTEMBER

 This school year started a new chapter in our lives, and I gotta say, I think I'm still adjusting.  Emotionally I'm all for it and things are going really great.  But I feel I have not yet really mastered the art of juggling my time.  (Hence it is the middle of October, and I am just now recording September's memories.)  Something to work on I suppose.

This summer had it's challenges and I wanted to try and end it on a positive note.  On the last day of summer I took the girls swimming.  We had a really good day.

First day of school.  Literally.  We've done an online school for 6 years.  Along with teaching them reading, writing, and arithmetic, I've always felt teaching them social skills is a priority.  Dance classes - girl scouts - community theatre - gymnastics - yoga.  Anything I can do to give them opportunities to interact with other kids and have other adult teachers.  But this year, the twins were old enough to start middle school.  I feel that in order to be successful in college, and in other aspects of life, they needed to taste, see, understand, and get a feel for, how public education works.  There are unwritten lessons, that I can not teach them.   So we decided to send them to school for 2 classes a day.

Not gonna lie.  The twins were NOT excited about this new endeavor.  It seemed so scary and daunting to them.  Which to me, just confirmed that this was exactly the next step they needed to be taking.
The morning of the first day was a little rough, but it's been smooth sailing since then.  They now happily jump out of the car each day, ready for what school has to offer them.



For some reason, I LOVE watching them walk up to the front door each day.  I'm so proud of them.  I'm so excited for them.

This little miss joined our family half way through the twins first year of home school.  Literally her entire life, she has known nothing but school.  As an infant, she took her naps in a bouncer chair in the school room.  As a baby, she played with rattles and blocks on the floor of the school room.  As a toddler, she sat in my lap as I taught phonics, grammar, and division.  Now that the twins are gone for 2 hours a day, she is finally getting my undivided attention.  And all the twins' school she sat through must have soaked in cause she is whipping through her first grade curriculum.  I keep waiting for it to get challenging for her . . . . . a month in and math is starting to bore her cause it's too easy.

 This is a project that we had fully intended on finishing before school started.  Didn't happen, but we did finish it Labor Day weekend.  I LOVE IT!  I think it turned out perfect!

Our first field trip of the school year was pretty awesome.  We got to see the Lego exhibit over in Seattle and enjoyed the rest of the museum.

 

This month shortcake got a really neat opportunity.  She was invited to a friends birthday party and they got to ride horses.  Such a brave little miss she was.  (Yep that's her on the big one!)

The twins started another year of girl scouts.

The twins needed some wet sand for their science experiment at school, so we threw the rest of my to-do-list out the window, (remember my time juggling problem) and we soaked up some of summers the last few rays of sunshine.