Two weeks ago I was released as primary president. It was bittersweet. Mostly sweet. There was a part of me {a big part} that was totally giddy.
It was the hardest calling that I have had since I was a full-time missionary. The Sunday I was released, we had 175 kids on our roster. We had moved to a building that was too small for our huge primary and our ward is still feeling the affects of the move.
I had no idea how much work there is behinds the scenes as an auxiliary leader. I spent hours and hours and hours every week just on my calling. My life became my kids and primary. And that's about it. I haven't photo-shopped or scrap-booked or even exercised consistently since I got my calling. It was just so demanding all the time.
But I learned SO much! I grew so much in that calling. Here are a few things I learned:
-I always want to be nice to presidency leaders. I may not understand or agree with what they are doing, but there is always stuff going on behind the scenes that I am not aware of if I am not in the presidency. Always.
-Be nice to the bishop. He has a super-dee-duper hard calling. It's pretty much an awful calling.
-You can't please everyone. And sometimes no one will be pleased. Our ward move to another building was so hard for a lot of people. But I couldn't change the decision. Heaven knows I tried. So I had to learn to not take things so personally. That's really hard for me.
-One thing I got better at in the end was delegating. It was hard for me because I don't like to put my counselors out but then I would be put out, often for hours and hours. Delegating is a must-do.
-If I am ever a primary teachers-and I hope I am in our next ward-I will get my own subs. With all the presidency has to worry about, getting subs should not be one of them. That's all.
-Counseling with my counselors was a great experience. Whenever I tried to make a decision on my own, it didn't turn out so well. Whenever I talked to my counselors, a better decision was made. They knew things and had experiences that I didn't. And we didn't always agree as a presidency but we always got along. That was a great experience. I think that's how it's supposed to be. They challenged me and helped me see things in a different way but always accepted the final decision.
-Mostly I learned I need to rely on the Lord more. One time I learned that one of my counselors was going to be released to get a stake calling. I was so upset because I really needed her and I was crying right after I got the news. I decided to stop what I was doing and pray. I totally spilled my guts out in that prayer and told Heavenly Father that I couldn't do this and I needed help. Immediately in my mind I knew what I was supposed to do. It was such an amazing experience. It taught me again that this is the Lord's church, the Lord's primary, and the Lord's kids. He knows what is best and is willing to help with it.
I am so grateful for all I learned as primary president. And I honestly hope I am never president of anything again. I just want to be a primary teacher. Or nursery worker. Or librarian.
And now about our new house drama.
We almost lost it. The house and our sanity.
We were supposed to close this past Thursday.
On Monday night Jonathan gets a message from his new boss/partner that his clinic has been moved from Sandy to Murray.
I was upset. I didn't think it was right of him to just make that decision for our family after he had told us (and showed us!) where the new clinic was. We bought our house for the location of the clinic so that Jonathan wouldn't have to commute or be on the freeway. Now he would have to commute and be on the freeway and would have a longer work day. I was really upset.
Then the next day Jonathan got a call from the bank that our loan fell through and we no longer had financing. Less than 48 hours from closing!!
So yes, I was crying. And I thought maybe it was sign that we should just rent in Murray. But there were no good rentals. I think Murray must be an older city because all the housing seems really old.
Anyway, Jonathan wrote a very professional but very specific email to Zions bank (who we were getting our loan through). He stated our position and why we were upset and that we were going to file a complaint with the BBB and he sent it to all the loan officers involved and the CFO, CEO, and vice president over mortgages.
And surprisingly the CEO emailed back right away that he would look into it. Then later that night he called and talked to Jonathan for an hour. We were shocked. He said they would make it work out somehow.
We didn't hear from anyone for a day and were discouraged again, but then we heard that a whole team was working on our loan.
And it was a miracle. It worked out so well in our favor. It's really technical and I don't want to go into it all here, but this new loan saves us a lot of money and is a huge blessing!
I feel very, very blessed. While I am sad that Jonathan now has a big commute-which was our goal to avoid-I feel blessed. We are going to treasure our house because we almost lost it a few times.
And now for a last bit of awesome news. Sami's birth mom, Becca, had a beautiful baby boy! Colby is a beautiful baby and we are so thrilled for them!! We can't wait to meet him!
And now back to packing...
