Sunday, September 28, 2008

Fitting In in Spokane

Spokane has been an i n t e r e s t i n g transition, but over the past few weeks that we've been here, I've seen little miracles take place in our lives. Most of them regard Samantha and her doctors and therapists. We have been set up with some of the best in the city, and I owe all of that to prayer. It seemed that every step I took was blindly taken. However, the past two weeks things have fallen perfectly into place, and those blind steps were actually leading me directly along the right path. Friday was an amazing day for me to see that everything, everything had fallen into place for Samantha.

Last week I received a new calling in church as the 1st counselor in the Relief Society. This was a huge shock because we had only been to church twice. The Sunday morning before I was sustained, I was overwhelmed with worry, thinking of how ackward I'd feel when they called my name, I stood up, and the RS President made hand gestures signaling I wasn't who she thought I was -- it was really someone else she had wanted as her counselor. Luckily that didn't happen. I've been in presidencies before. I was excited about the calling, but I was also very...mmmm...I don't know...feeling like I shouldn't be there perhaps. During our first presidency meeting, I learned about our new president. Two years ago her daughter, Rachel, died at the age of 21. She had a blood clot that traveled from her leg to her lungs. She died in the ambulence on the way to the hospital. This happened 6 weeks after Rachel gave birth to her second child. The story is much longer and more detailed, of course, than I'm sharing. But while she was sharing this experience with us, I knew partly why I was called to be in the Shiloh Hills Relief Society Presidency. It was so I could learn from Laura. I don't expect Samantha to die anytime soon. I didn't feel anything that would make me believe I needed to prepare myself for any imminent disaster. But, I did feel that I needed to learn from Laura, from her experiences, how she copes, how she handles her pain, and how she relies on the Lord. Though our personalities are very different, I think there is much that I need to learn from her because of the experience she has had with her daughter. Even though I'm not expecting Samantha to die any time soon, I am expecting to feel more pain from time to time. I'm expecting there to be more ups and downs, and I need to continue to learn how to deal with that better. I feel that the Lord has arranged this so that I can have close contact with Laura and learn from her.

I look forward to the calling, but I look more forward to creating close friends and learning from their examples.

6 comments:

Teri said...

I'm glad you are feeling like things are fitting together. It's always neat when you can recognize God's hand in your life. I hope Spokane treats you guys well. I love taking trips there as a family. Lots and lots of good memories of Spokan.

Julie said...

Wow! So you made a big move. I had no idea. How are things going for you? I am truly amazed at the blessings that Heavenly Father pours out on us when we least expect them.

Jenny said...

Things are going well. I'm getting integrated into the ward, which makes a big difference, but I'm really having to go out of my comfort zone in order to do that. It's been kind of scary, but good I guess. I've actually been thinking about you quite a big Julie. I hope things are going well for you. Hav you had any other appointments? We're thinking of you guys!

Heidi said...

Wow, Jenny. Wow! Well, every move we have ever made was undertaken through lots of prayer and have always, always, always been about Michael. It was so amazing to us how each place we went had just what he needed. Thank goodness he had what he needed here and he needed stability more than he needed to be somewhere else because this is the longest we have been in one place since he was born. Phew! As for the rest, I admire your outlook and feel your pain (especially about being in the RS Pres--though, if you are the education counselor, that can be a pretty cushy job--and it will help you to get to know people better--so I guess it's really a big blessing all around. Unless you are enrichment night couns. Yikes!)

Lori and Matt said...

You will do great. Not only will this experience helpmyou, but you will be a great example for ALL the women in your ward. Good luck juggling it all, it's amazing to see the way the Lord plans everything out.

Jenny said...

Heidi, I am the enrichment counsler! Scary, especially because we have a Super Saturday coming up that I'm all of a sudden in charge of becasue I don't have a committee! Yikes. I'm the 2nd counselor, but the Enrichment counselor too. the pres. changed it up. It will be busy, but it'll be fine -- good in fact. I figure, life will never slow down, so I might as well smile along the way, right?

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