Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Well it’s official.  Our ward boundaries were changed.  The whole stake was realigned because we had two giant wards, and three little ones. I wasn’t too worried about it until last night when we had the big meeting. They began by showing a sense of humor and also their faith in God’s will for our stake by having us sing, “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go.” When the hymn was announced, there was a nervous rumble of laughter throughout the congregation as we all sat in anticipation of what was to follow. It was a great meeting with our stake leaders who were inspired in their decisions. They explained the process, and it is pretty complex, involving matching up the numbers of women, men, youth, children, and infants so that every ward is about equal. That is followed by paperwork and various approvals etc., so it was not an easy process for anyone. On the ride home we went through the names of friends in each of our kids’ primary classes. A large majority of them are in another ward now. Since we don’t live near family members, the church ward becomes like surrogate family, filling in the gaps that are left open between visits to and from family. So we are all sad to know that we won’t get to spend as much time with most of this “family,” but we’re trying to be optimistic about the new friends we will make and how our circle of life experiences will continue to grow.

It seems that no matter how hard we try to get our family in a stable situation, change always catches up with us.  For us it seems to come in two year waves. To brainstorm our history I wrote up a timeline:

1996- Married – Moved into our first apartment in Provo

1998- Moved to a fourplex in Provo – Hunter was born

2000- Moved to a house in Provo – Emma was born

2002- Rob accepted to Law School – Moved to North Carolina

2004- Hannah was born – Accepted a job and moved to Los Angeles

2006- Sabrina was born – Moved 6 houses down the street

2008- Accepted a new job and moved to Orange County – Hunter & Emma started at a new elementary school

Now- Just when we were starting to feel permanent someplace, our ward boundaries were changed, we don’t know our new leaders yet, and we feel like we’re starting over again in many ways. (I’m not complaining, but still am mourning the “loss.”)

If this is what happens on our down year, I’m pretty nervous about what might be coming for 2010…