It's a Small World After All

Being a member of the LDS church really makes moving a million times easier and less scary. I remember thinking the same thing when I moved from California to Utah and from Utah to Ohio. It's like there's a network of people at your new place just waiting for you. When I moved to Ohio, I got a job, not because of my degree or the millions of resumes I hand delivered, but because someone in my ward had an in and referred me.

This time, being the stay at home mom that I am, it might have been months or years before I had any real interaction outside of my family besides the people checking out my groceries. But because I belong to this wonderful church, I have had interaction and can already see potential new friends. I know that I will soon have obligations and involvement in my church community because that is the way we work. What a blessing. I don't deal well without interaction. I don't know how the rest of the world handles this.

We went to our new ward this week. It's not that we skipped the week before, but we typed in our address on the meeting house locator at LDS.org and the times hadn't yet been switched for 2008. So we showed up at 11:00am to the wrong ward. I was a little disappointed. I had spent a little longer than normal choosing my clothes and fixing my hair. I even gave Parker a haircut before church. You only have one chance to make a first impression and I wanted it to be a good one. So this past Sunday was first Sunday in our New Ward take 2...this time I had time to give Reid a haircut.

I am actually happy that this was our new ward instead. It seemed to be a much better fit for us. I have never felt such a warm welcome in any ward. It was like going home...only to a bunch of strangers. We couldn't even leave our pew after sacrament meeting before 4 people/families introduced themselves, asked for our phone number and offered to help find our children's primary classes. And it only got better from there. While none of the talks or lessons were particularly captivating, Spencer and I were both overwhelmed with the spirit on Sunday. Just another reminder that we are where we're supposed to be. I am really looking forward to the time we'll spend and the opportunities we'll have to serve in this ward.

Among the many people we met...an older couple who once lived in my ward in Corona...Dave and Diane Nielson. Although I hardly remember them, they were friends of my parents and were at our wedding. Also, Brother McIntyre, the High Councilman over our ward, is the husband of Kimbie McKee...also a fellow Corona girl who babysat me once or twice (sister to the ever popular McKee boys for any of you Coronians who know them). Small world, huh?

Parker finally has a Sunbeam class. He's been dying to be a part of Primary and make some new friends. He had a great old time. On the way home from church he asked if he could go again when he "woke up from his bedtime." Reid struggled a little more which was a surprise for me. He is such an easy going, free-spirited kid. I've never left him anywhere without Parker. This was his first time in nursery without his brother. He left just fine, but he apparently cried a little bit in the middle. I'm sure that was partly due to 1:00pm church...right during nap time. But mostly due to the fact that they had trains to play with at this nursery. He doesn't share trains well. He's even worse when he has to put trains away. I'm willing to put money on it that his crying was instigated in someway by the trains. His nursery leaders are great. I'm glad they're taking care of him.

Among the many, many reasons I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints...it makes Texas seem a lot less strange.