Life in General...

May 20th, 2007 things took a dramatic change in our Church.... Or the Edmonton west area did... Borders were changed, a new ward was made and one building was made so full that you can hardly breathe... Goodness help you if you loose your child during the class changes with over 400-600 people in the hallways!

We ended up leaving the ward that Tyler and I had been in since we were married (we were moved around a few times since we had been living on the border and people got confused).... At that time it was going on 4 years.... We had grown with this ward...Our children only knew this ward.... And then on the May long weekend we drove in from the cabin for a urgent meeting called for the Stake.... Once there it was announced that the following Sunday we would be in a new ward... No time to say goodbye to our hard-earned friends (it took us forever to make some close friends...) among other things. Children cried, heck even adults cried... I was heart broken. We had heard the rumors and knew that we would be moving since right across the street from us was a whole other ward... It wasn't rocket science. Even though, we were heart broken.... And a bit upset that it was happening in a week!

Almost a year later and I still feel out of place. It's not completely the wards fault... We went from a strong, growing, and secure (and fairly 'high end') ward to one that has a 60% less active rate... Right off the bat you need to decide if you're going to sink or swim... Will you be weighed down by the amount of less active in the ward? Will that make you feel as though maybe you shouldn't be here? Are you 'home sick'??

I was. Our time changed to 9am, which is killer for us. We are not morning people. And with Tyler's shift work 6 days a week... well....things didn't go well for us for awhile there. Somehow we survived the summer months (although a lot of time was missed from me working weddings late) and then the fall months kicked in... We would all take turns with illness... And Sunday seemed like the only day to 'heal' so sleeping in would happen which then wouldn't help the other grown-up want to get out of bed, get the kids ready and go to Church...

It's the New Year now... Our time changed from 9am to 1pm.... Some would think 'OH YEAH!'... And it totally is that but it's also a 'Ugh' since we don't get out until 4pm. That's your day! Do I sound too picky? *L* Probably... But I prefer 10-10:30am start time. Not too early and it doesn't take up your whole day! Yay! Anyways, I've made it a goal to go to Church every weekend with the allowance of one weekend to be sick, tired, etc. Only if I can't possibly drag myself out of bed.

Shortly after we moved into this ward everyone started moving out! *L* No kidding... Our ward ended up being the fresh new families and the elderly. There isn't much in-between (honestly, lots of little kids but not many around age 7 and such).... We moved over with the R's*, the D's*, the S1's* and the S2's*.... The S2's moved without much notice (they had no choice) and some of us had no clue! D's and R's moved into new houses (D's moved right out of Edmonton! *L*) and now it's down to us and the S2's....From the bunch that we knew well in our old ward.... This April we'll be moving into our new house in Leduc.... And then it's just the S2's left! Now they seemed to have made much progress in this ward and seem to know a lot of people, so that should help! We however haven't made a huge leap in progress.... The first 5-6 months of this ward was just trying to get things organized. I do not wish to be the Bishop! Ugh what a chore he had upon him... (Funny thing, he was our Bishop from our last ward and was almost done his full term... At the May 20th meeting everyone was released of their duties since so much change was going to happen... And then he was called to be the Bishop of our new ward! *L* After he was called one of our friends that stayed in our old ward said 'How did you enjoy your five minuets off??!')... With our name being at the very bottom of the list (Z's... Yup) we didn't receive our callings until w-a-y into the end of the year.... I ended up doing exactly what I had been doing before, Activity Committee (which I had accepted before even being a member of the Church... I guess after attending the same ward for 2.5 years and being quite involved they decided I was a good candidate to have a calling! *L*).

Our time in this ward has made me realize a bunch of stuff about myself and my wanting to strive to be better in life. Things happen... Sometimes they suck and sometimes they're wonderful.... I knew this before.... But let me tell you being a convert to the Church and having the door W-I-D-E open to become less active in a flash can be quite tempting.... But it's not me. What would I do differently if I wasn't a member? I didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't sleep around.... So what really would be different? I'd lose the gospel and the feeling that I get every time I walk into Relief Society (for example). I don't want to lose that, it's taken me this long in this ward to start to feel it again (I LOVE R.S.! At first I didn't understand why the women cried every week! *LOL* It would baffle me... But now I understand -this doesn't mean that I cry every week.....- And I was saddened when we went from a huge group of women to, what felt like, a handful....). I love hearing what my girls learned in class and really love it when they teach me things, as I'm still learning. I love that I met the perfect Sister Missionaries that helped 'seal the deal' in my journey to becoming a member... And how they are now some of my closest friends (and they visit as often as they can from the States). I love the feel of the Church.... I love how I now understand why my Husband loves this Church so much, why he works so hard at living the gospel. Sometimes we fall but no matter what we pick ourselves up again and keep going... We have a goal. And we will reach that goal.

With a move coming up it means a whole new ward... We were actually told we'd be moving into a branch which I've never dealt with before (Tyler has when he was little)... But then we were informed that they have grown so much out there they made it a ward! *L* Somehow this makes me feel more eager to get out there. I know it means more hard work towards making new friends, keeping up with the time change (yet again but to 10am I believe! Yay!), learning how to deal with Relief Society first (really who thought that was a good idea when you're the only ones in the building??!!).... But I'm slightly excited for this new challenge in my life... I just hope that my 'old friends' know I won't be losing them anytime soon...

I'm sure you can expect many more blogs on this topic... Church, the move and new beginnings... So hang in there! Once the move happens there will be SO much more to write about! (You poor, poor people! *L*)

*Names have been changed. I'm sure you were able to figure that out!