A New Adventure

This time last year I was feeling rather guilty that I had so much time to myself: all three of my girls were in school, I didn't work, and I had a perfect church calling (YW Secretary) that didn't demand too much time or stress. I had plenty of time to do projects (which I love doing), volunteering in Megan's class and in the school library, eating bon bons, watching soap operas--just kidding. But you get my drift: life was pretty darn near perfect.

Well, that all went out the window these past few months. In September I started working part-time at Megan's school. I am a teaching assistant for the "gifted and talented" students 4 days a week. I meet with groups of students from grades 3-6 (18 classes), each for about 45 minutes a week. I am also the Student Council adviser, and I'm in charge of the Geography Bee, Spelling Bee, etc. So that has gobbled up most of my time when the kids are at school. My leisurely days of showering at 10 AM are over. (What a pathetic whiner I am!)

THEN, the Bishop paid a call to our home a few weeks ago--Nov. 10th to be exact. A lot of changes were happening in our ward. Mike had just recently been released from his Young Men's calling, so I was secretly hoping the Bishop was only coming to talk to him. I was dreading his visit, because I knew our YW Presidency was possibly going to be released. Well, I was partially right. The bishop extended a call to Mike (Sunday School president), and then he asked me if I would accept a call to be Young Women's president. Alas, my worst fears had been realized! I had that calling in Las Vegas when my girls were really young (Megan wasn't even born yet), and I know what kind of commitment it entails. I love working in the Young Women's program, but I hate the meetings and responsibility that goes along with a president's calling. It is kind of like winning the lottery and having a tornado hit your house at the same time. But I said "yes" of course (glutton that I am), and was sustained last Sunday. And so, that is how life as I once knew it ended. And now my "adventure" begins! I anticipate it being a very busy, activity-packed year or two. I hope I have the energy and patience for it!!! Moral of the story: never, EVER feel guilty when things are going great, because circumstances can make a 180 awfully fast.

(The photo is of our young women last summer at camp. Since then we have had several girls turn 12 and come in to Beehives, and about 8 new girls join our ward when the boundaries changed a few weeks ago.)

Wake Up Call

On Tuesday I had a terrible scare with Megan, and it made me realize how much I take my family for granted. I had to take Brooke to her dance class at 3:30, which is about the time Megan gets off the bus. So I asked my neighbor LaDawn to watch for Megan and have her wait for me there. On my way home LaDawn called me and said Megan hadn't come home from the bus. So I asked her to call some of the neighbors to see if Megan had gone to one of their homes. I got home a few minutes later and called the school to see if she had missed the bus. She wasn't in the office. LaDawn came over and told me that no one had seen Megan.

Panic set in. In the past several months, we have had 2 possible abduction attempts with kids from our school, so THAT was running through my mind. I didn't know what to do, so I went to the school (1 minute away) to see if she was waiting for me in my office. She wasn't there either. So the secretary Marianne got on the PA system and called for Megan to come to the office. The prinicipal and I walked all around the school to see if Megan was anywhere. I checked in her classroom, but her teacher said she didn't know if Megan got on the bus because the kids had gone home straight from art. I searched the playground, and when I saw she was nowhere to be found, I called Mike and told him what was going on (in tears by this point). He said "Call the cops, I'm coming home right now."

I went back to the office, where Marianne was keeping a cool head (thank goodness). She asked what other friends we could call. I told her Brea and Ashley. I called Brea's house and her mom's cell phone--no answer--while Marianne called Ashley. I was just hanging up when Marianne said "She's there! She's at Ashley's." Relief swept through me, and I suddenly remembered that the day before Megan had asked if she could go to Ashley's after school. I had said yes, but we hadn't talked about it further to confirm the details. I realized that Megan had assumed it was okay to go home with Ashley straight from the bus. I had forgotten, and it hadn't come up again before school on Tuesday. So technically I guess it's my fault for getting all worked up. But now we have a new rule that no matter what I agree to, the kids have to remind me about it on the day it's going to happen, and call me when they get to their destination so I know they are alright.

When things like that happen, it very forcefully reconfirms how much I love my kids, and how much I take them for granted. I am guilty of not taking time each day to consider what a blessing they are in my life. For those minutes that I felt that I could have lost Megan forever, I was sick and overwhelmed thinking what life would be like without her. It's cliche when we say that our kids are our reason for living, but it is so true! What else but intense, enduring, parental love could motivate us to work, teach, protect, and sacrifice for another human being like we do?

Thankfully, tragedy did not visit our family that day. I got a miniscule taste of what some families who have lost a child have to endure every day. I honestly don't know how they carry on. I thank my Heavenly Father that Megan was safe, and could kick MYSELF for being so forgetful (it's happening more and more). Time to go buy some Ginko Biloba I guess!

Here are some recent photos of my beautiful girls. I can't imagine life without them!



Have you hugged your kids today?

Tagged Again. . .

I really don't like getting tagged, and I know I don't HAVE to do this, but it's much more fun when it's not about me. Plus, I haven't had anything to post lately, so this is a good way to get me to actually do something on my blog.

HUSBAND TAG (from Kim)

5 Things he loves:

Mountain biking

Good shoes

Oreo shakes

Getting outside to enjoy nature

Lincoln Park (editorial note 12/2/08--okay, so I didn't even know that it's "Linkin Park." Shows you how much of an interest I take in my hubby's "likes!" I don't particularly like their music (too much screaming), but he likes a couple of their songs quite a bit.)


5 Things on his "To Do" list:

Rid the world of injustice and crime

Buy iPod docking stations for Danika and Brooke for Christmas

Finish filling in dirt in the bedding area along the side of the house

Finish reading the autobiography of Parley P. Pratt (this is the longest book he has ever read, and he actually might finish it this year!)

Swap the locations of the printer and the scanner


5 foods he enjoys:

Anything and everything from Great Harvest Bread Store

Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa Salad

My homemade pizza

Ben and Jerry's ice cream--pretty much any flavor

Kozy Shack Rice Pudding


5 things you might not know about him:

He has invisible hair

He loves Karen Carpenter songs

He cried during "My Girl" and "Steel Magnolias"

He makes a mean whole wheat pancake

(This is bragging) he graduated 2nd in his FBI Academy class, but really should have been 1st :o)


5 places he's lived:

This question was a bugger on the FBI application (we had to list everywhere he had ever lived, including exact addresses).

Tucson, Arizona

Brazil

Utah (various cities)

Quantico, Virginia

Las Vegas, Nevada


5 quirky things about him:

He loves carrot juice and thinks it tastes like chocolate milk

He has a serious case of wanderlust--he always wants to move

He will NOT EVER button the top button on his dress shirts

He has an entire Rubbermaid tote full of free t-shirts from computer shows in the basement, but he wears the same 3 t-shirts all the time

He is a paradox: super health-conscious, but also overeats (and has little self control with sweets); frugal, but also sometimes a compulsive shopper (especially @ Costco); very attentive to detail when he wants to be, but also ADD when it comes to other things
But I sure love him!


5 people to tag:

Rachel

Sarah Parkin

Debbie D.

Jennifer Jenkins

Kysha

Havin' a Bad Hair Day

This is a favorite poem of mine by Barbara Kingsolver (in her poetry collection Another America). She is one of my favorite authors (The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees). I like to read it when I'm having one of those "bad hair" days to remind me my frustrations are just so trivial. I'm sure I'm violating all kinds of copyright laws by posting this here. The poem is entitled Reveille--which means "a signal to arise." Warning: contains anatomical terminology that may make you blush!

Reveille
by Barbara Kingsolver

I am the woman whose flesh
does not move when she walks,
the nipple-less,
the bloodless, sweatless woman
who cries copious tears from the pressure
of all other prohibited secretions.
I am painted in the colors of no flower
that ever really bloomed,
I do not smell like any living thing.
I am the woman at war with body hair: who
curls her oriental hair,
straightens her African hair,
garnishes her eyelids with hair
and removes it from her eyebrows,
pursues it and relentlessly destroys it,
engaged in war with her mammalian origins.
Literally you have seen me a million times:
the radically altered female who doesn't stand out
in the crowd
of radically altered females,
I remain because
the potential of my body is a universe.
If I should abandon the battle
and turn my pious fury on something
less persistent, more conqureable than my sex,
if I should go away to war
and leave my fields behind, unmowed,
unmanicured, and let the weeds spring up,
if I were to become
the animal that I am, then
what?

Does anyone else ever feel like this?. . . as if the things we do to ourselves in the name of "Beauty" really just distracts us of from real potential and strength? Or that we are sabotaging our own gender by trying to keep up with--or one up--each other in the beauty arena? Sometimes I think it's more about competition with our own sex than for being "pretty" for the male species. Just think of what we could accomplish if we didn't feel obligated to spend our time on such trivial pursuits!!! I know, I'm waxing idealistic, but I just don't like waxing at all! I want off this treadmill!