It has been a very full two weeks ... so, in the infamous words of Inigo Montoyo ... here goes ...
My three lovely children started school on 9/9/09 ... a (sniff) beautiful day! This is Tylor the morning of school starting. He looked like a dead body. It took until 7:28 to get him dressed and out the door: just on time!
Also on September 9th, Connor talked to his dad about baptism and convinced him that he was ready to be baptized! Connor said his plan was to ask dad after his sauna when he is the most relaxed and open to ideas - good plan! We spent a harried week trying to plan the baptism. We had just a few obstacles: flood (our chapel is having roof work and they forgot to cover the holes when it rained on the 12th), no fire (the hot water heater for the font in our building had rusted and was surely toxic), the sky fell (okay it was the tiles in the building but it seemed like the sky), and scheduling. They always say you are really tested right before your baptism - it was like it was a Satanic conspiracy as to exactly how many things went awry. But it turned out great! We could see the Lord's hand working in our favor in so many instances; a call from a friend that couldn't make it while she was feeding the missionaries who could schedule the building we needed to be in, a prompting of the Spirit for another dear friend to call to say she couldn't come and ended up agreeing to give the Holy Ghost talk, and people dropping everything to be available for us. It was amazing. Brother James Howell, the Young Men's President, baptized Connor at 10 a.m. on 09/19/2009 in the Comanche Building in San Jose, CA.
Brother Daniel Tayco, the Young Men's first counselor, performed the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Yes, I cried. Yes, I am so happy. Thank you all for the notes and letters!
On September 20th Connor was ordained a deacon. Somehow I didn't think I could get away with taking a pic during the ordination. Brother Jon Conradt performed this ordinance. We now have the priesthood in our home for the first time. Connor's comment was, "I feel very peaceful.", to both the baptism and getting the priesthood.
Finally, on the 20th I was released as Primary President. I have spent about 4 1/2 years in the calling and have to say that I am very sad to let it go. My replacement, Maren Lopez (see smiling woman below), is amazing! She is a teacher and a leader, creative and spiritual. I love her and her energy. It was the Primary program as well. I cried. I cried some more. I will move on but I will truly miss Primary. It was by far the best calling, with the best blessings, I have every had.
9/27 - It has been a week since I was released. I went to RS for the first time in 11 years. No kidding. I have to say it wasn't nearly as fun. I found myself listening to the Primary children sing and picking out voices and listening to Sharing Time. Old habits are hard to break....
