A New Ward is created!

Today was the big day...the stake change. Oh the speculations we heard and trust me, they were so good! One of them was that they were going to combine the two biggest wards in the stake into one. Seeing how the Lord wants us ministering to the individual I don't think that a mega church would fit into that plan. Mostly we were bombarded with thoughts on who would be changed, where the boundaries would be, and accusations of knowing and not telling. And the worst part? They were right! We knew everything! Keeping that secret was torture, especially knowing how it would impact my relief society presidency. But, keep a secret we did and it all worked out for the best.

Sunday morning finally dawned and my kids were so anxious to know the big news. My second to youngest in particular was bouncing off the walls. Mark was called to be the bishop two and a half weeks ago however we didn't tell our children until last Wednesday night after mutual. Then, they had to keep the secret along with us. In particular we knew that our two oldest would now have very close friends in the ward. Friends that were convinced that they were going to end up unhappy with the stake changes. Little did they know that it would end up so good! Anyway, back to this morning, we had to be at the stake center at 8:45am, and sitting in our seats in the reserved section at the front of the chapel. The choir was already there practicing and warming up their voices, and other people had already started filling in the rest of the benches. At an hour fifteen before stake conference started there was already not a soft seat to be found (other than reserved seating). This is when it got awkward funny.

Our family walked up to the reserved seats and had to rip and move tape to enter our row. Brother Busch, who had been assigned the task of letting only certain individuals sit in the reserved seating, stopped us and said, "this seating is only for those individuals who are receiving a priesthood advancement today and their families". I said, "okay", and he looked at his paperwork quizzically and then said, "unless you were told to sit here, were you told to sit here?" I said yes, and he got the "ohhhh" look on his face and then let us sit down. He was the first of many to give us the "ooooh" look. Only a select few individuals knew there would be a new ward created so everyone else that didn't know the details soon enough started looking at us sitting at the front and put enough clues together to know that we were connected with the change. They would smile at us, and nod. Anyway, soon enough conference finally started, changes were made, and the reason we had to sit at the front was so that Mark could face the camera and those that were at different buildings would be able to see who he was when he was called as the new bishop in the new ward in our stake.

The rest of the meeting was incredible and spiritual. Testimonies were shared, we were taught by Elder Clark and Elder Munns, and beautiful music was sung. It is a little bit of a blur though knowing that as soon as the closing prayer was said we would officially be off on a huge new adventure. As soon as amen was said we were surrounded by loving and beautiful people wishing us well, and introducing themselves. It was hectic, and lovely! What a warm welcome we received!

Once the warm wishes died down we headed home for lunch while waiting for our appointed time for Mark and his counselors and ward clerk to all be set apart. What did we get as a little welcome home gift? A broken pool pump! That's right, some time between last night and this morning our pool pump decided to stop working. What timing!!! I was hoping for a little bit of a reprieve from the onslaught of financial drain we have experienced over the last couple of years but apparently the opportunities to be humbled are still flowing. ;o)

At 3pm The group of men shown below and their immediate families came to the Stake Center to be set apart for their new callings. The room was filled with such a sweet spirit of peace and excitement. Some of us met for the very first time, exchanging names, information on our families, and other pleasantries. As each man was set apart by a priesthood blessing the spirit testified to me that these men were called of God. I received strong witness of the Lord's hand in each step in this process. We left that room a new group. A divinely inspired and organized ward.

The rest of the day was a bit slower and nice for us, a bit frantic and busy for my husband. He spent the rest of the day in meetings. I spent the afternoon playing games and enjoying time with my family. My dad has flight privileges with the company he is working for and came here overnight to help with setting Mark apart for his calling. My sister and brother-in-law were here on business and had the opportunity to stay an extra day to support us. What a blessing!

Dumb Things of interest to note...

*as we were getting in the car this morning I noticed that I had forgotten to do my youngest girl's hair and had to grab things to do her hair with at the church. That was a minor fail on my part.

*I wasn't very prepared to feed people yesterday and what I served ended up consisting of sausage for all three meals. Breakfast-turkey sausage, Lunch-chicken sausage, Dinner Italian sausage. Don't judge, at least it was tasty. :D

*I just happened to have a great hair day yesterday, a nice bonus for pictures!