AWW (not even close to wordless today)

My life the last 2 weeks has been TRUMPED by an 8mm kidney stone. I've missed out on several activities/events not the least of which was tickets to a Mariners game (good seats, free seats that I won!), as I've tried to just get through each day. Anyway, last night I was looking for pictures of kidney stones & found this thanks to google - not sure how accurate his advice is but as I was reading it out loud to Dan we were laughing - he sounds JUST LIKE ME! There is no one I would curse a kidney stone on, there's no one I dislike that much - that said I believe every Urologist should have to have 1 big one & have to suffer through it & pass it on their own - so they would NEVER give that advice to one of their patients. I've done 36 hours of unproductive labor (ending in an emergency c-section) and I've passed & not passed (had to have surgically removed) multiple kidney stones - I'd take labor any day! For the record - if you click on the link above - the stones I've passed to date have all been of the "misery" type. Hence I feel miserable & rightfully so. Enough said on that.

On Sunday I was in the nursery (my 1st official Sunday in my new calling) when the new Faith in God for Girls (Activity Days) leader and a couple of girls came in with this:

You might be asking what is so great about a cardboard cake but it's what's inside that matters. Sure there were several pieces of candy in each one (which my kids are loving) but what I love is the sweet notes from each of the girls that I had worked with in activity days that last year and half (more or less). In fact I was sure there would be notes in them & when I got home started looking for them, the first couple I opened didn't have anything & was disappointed but it didn't last long - whew ;)

This particular calling was a struggle for me, for many reasons. The girls just want to have fun & play & frankly that's not what the program is supposed to be. To start I tried to run the program as it's designed and girls stopped coming 'cause it wasn't fun anymore - people/parents were pretty vocal in some instances about this. So I shot for the middle ground what it's supposed to be with some fun/activity that I could tie to what we were doing, I got some of them back but not consistantly. I could tell you how I really fell about this but then you might not like me so that's a rant for another place/time. When all this started to happen I started choosing 1 or 2 girls (in my mind) that I was "doing" that activity for, since I cared about each of these girls that made it easier - I did it for them because I cared. Things went much better for me after that, then Dan started traveling A LOT. Many times Dan's work took him from home on nights I had activity days & since I'm not willing to pay for a babysitter (on a school night) to do my calling, and I was even less willing to take 4 kids with me to do my calling, I was getting someone to cover for me in activity days. I'm not sure if I did that too often or what but I think it factored into my getting a change in callings - which may be for the better, it will make things easier during the week for my family that's for sure. However it doesn't mean I won't miss "my girls", I will. I will miss them a lot!

Believe it or not I'm grateful for change in life & and the opportunities it gives us to step outside our comfort zone & grow. Change seems to come when we are the most unprepared for it or at very inconvenient times, but that's the beauty of it. Once we get past the shock of it, if we can grab on with both hands, do our part, the opportunity for growth will always be there.