Embracing Change

I felt like a brick had hit my heart... and it wasn't when I heard my husband was being called to be the new bishop of our ward.  It was when I saw the line that divided me from so many of the closest friends and neighbors I have made since moving here to Rexburg...
Friends who embraced me and my children with love when we moved in.
Friends who brought meals when I had kidney stones.
Friends who I've laughed with couple and family game nights.
Friends who have put up with my children "turking" them with surprises on their doorsteps.
Friends who have walked and talked with me as we share our struggles and our triumphs of life together.
Friends who have inspired me from afar by their comments and lessons in church meetings every week.

I like the comfort of sameness.  Change isn't very easy for me. We still drive the same car we bought when we got married almost 20 years ago. I spotted my Minnesota Minneapolis Mission sweatshirt in closet and after some calculating realized I've had that for over 20 years too! And I'm pretty hesitant to hang up decor... because I realize some of that may not be changing for 20 years either.😂. At least I can have the hope that this new change won't last for 20 years!

Change is a lot easier to swallow in retrospect.  If Jared hadn't changed his job when we were newlyweds, we wouldn't have had the amazing opportunity to work at the Boy's Ranch and see lives changed as he prepared for grad. school and saved for our first home.  And the 3 changes in our residences since then have allowed us and our children to enlarge our circle of friends and be changed through our interactions with them.  Thinking in retrospect about these events has helped me to focus on the benefits of change, despite its challenges. Although this change won't be without its challenges, I'm excited about the growth I think it will create for each of us as we serve and give more and grow closer to our ward members in a more intimate small ward.   I look forward to enlarging my circle of friends once again and seeing the impact for good that Jared's new responsibilities can have on our family as we focus on a different question.  Not "What am I getting?," but instead "What am I giving?"

I had a hard time holding back my grins when Jared announced the new changes to our children by preparing them in a humorous way, maybe a trick he learned as a professional therapist😉.  As we gathered for a family meeting on Saturday afternoon, he let them know about some big changes that were coming for our family.  Maybe this triggered some PTSD thoughts of the last memorable "family meeting"  we had when he announced on our family vacation that we were moving to Rexburg.
He announced that in light of some of the events that have recently occurred at BYU Provo they have opened up several spots for therapists and he had been asked to transfer there.  He asked them what their thoughts were about this new change.  Their reaction was much less tearful then our last announcement so maybe they have grown a lot after the last move!  But they may have sensed a bit of jest in his voice.  When he then let them know he was joking and that the change was just him be called as the new bishop they were pretty relieved!
And it was nice to have some family come up for a visit.