I'm getting the boot

I posted this a few days ago, but here it is for those who didn't get a chance to read it:

You know how wonderful it is to be with the young women and still feel like you're "with it?" Still young, still fashionable, still in the know about boys and lip gloss and slumber party giggles. I've been in YW's since I've been married. In our first Oregon ward, I was MiaMaid advisor. Loved it. In this ward, I was YW's Personal Progress Specialist for a year and then got put in as Second Counselor with the Beehives for a year. Loved that. Loved them. Love their sparkle and their laughter and their purity and their desire to be true to the faith that their parents have cherished. I loved reciting the YW's theme with them and finally getting that part about home and family right and feeling the Spirit witness that keeping the values close to their hearts WILL prepare them to make and keep sacred covenants and serve missions and bless their families.

Saturday evening was just rolling along. I was savoring recipes from my Food Network magazine (not a good idea when you're fasting, but I digress). . . when the Bishop calls. He wants to meet tomorrow. Sure, I say. . . is this. . .? Yes, he says, you're getting released. We're releasing the presidency before school starts. . .

New calling. Probably cub scouts leader or RS chorister or some calling that is just what I need but not what I want. I want to be with the girls. It's like a territorial thing, you know? Like every person that finds out you're in young women's is like, "Oh, I was in young women's and I LOVED it." Yes, you loved it. So did I.

I'd been planning this Young Women's Christmas lesson about Wise Men Still Seek Him and "We Seek After These Things" and the temple being the place we travel to now to be at the Savior's home. I was planning our Beehive president's (who has totally blossomed from awkward to wonderful in two year's time) surprise birthday party. I was thinking up ideas for Evening of Excellence and plotting how I could get to Girl's camp next summer. The girls had just helped me make my very first friendship bracelet. We were going to move to the twisty ones.

And talk about the presidency. I LOVED my presidency. The president is this mix of fun and love and creativity and joy and kindness and everything you'd want to be in 10 years from now with darling kids and a beautiful home and all the sunshine I needed when the days were dark. I need to stop. This is getting depressing.

I am so grateful for callings. I'm grateful that the Lord can turn burdens into light and that we get to experience a bit of his love in our stewardships for the seasons we have them.

Update: I am now the primary teacher to 12 8 and 9 year-old children.

DC, Here we come!

I've been plotting to take Tyler to Washington, DC since before we were married. DC/Virginia is my second home, the places I spent as a child even more than Utah.

And we're going! Tyler has an interview at George Washington University's School of Medicine, so we're making a trip of it. This will count as our summer trip/3rd anniversary get-away/why-NOT-take-a-trip vacation.

It's so needed. The only extended (we're going for a week!) trips we've been on since marriage have been to Utah to visit family. And while we will technically be visiting family on this trip, too (my aunt Karen and uncle Glen live in Virginia, Happy is at Georgetown, and my parents will be in Charlottesville while we're there), this trip is definitely out of the ordinary.

I want to show Tyler my childhood fortress Monroe, where seagulls soars and salt water sprays:

I want to walk by the monuments on the National Mall at night with T's hand in mine, feeling gratitude for those who more than self their country loved:

I want to take my husband to the places where I first gained my very own witness that God has a plan for families and individuals; particularly, that God had a plan for MY family and ME, even a little youngster:

And of course, I want Tyler to have an incredible first experience with all the East Coast wonders, like Bodo's bagels, Au Bon Pain, and other waiting delicatessens :).

Here we come, Smithsonian, Foggy Bottom Metro Station, Colonial Williamsburg, Kennedy Center, muggy fall, forested hills, my country 'tis of Thee. We'll be arriving shortly.