A New Life

When you're a member of The Church, your ward is a great part of your life. Today, the three wards - Newbury Park 1, 2, and 3 - that attend the Stake Center a block from my house, were completely dissolved and everybody was released from all callings.

There was a special Sacrament Meeting held for the 3 wards together, which was as big as a Stake Conference, where this was all presented. Talk about change! New boundaries have been drawn. This was long overdue since there was a huge discrepancy in the wards, where one ward was so anemic they were unable to fill callings, one person would hold multiple positions, and there was even only one counselor in the bishopric. Whereas another ward was bursting at the seams, the Primary was twice the size, many people had no callings, or 'made up' ones that people joke about like Hymn Book straightener. I'm making that part up. Maybe.

We are now in the newly formed Los Robles Ward and John is serving in the Bishopric, under Bishop Steve Lang. During his testimony, Bishop Lang said he was grateful to have John serve with him and that he "has known is wife since she was born." I thought that was pretty funny. I've seen Steve in the halls several times since he has moved to Newbury Park over the last year or so and it will be fun to be reacquainted with him and his wife Marci. They are fun people. And I do suppose he has known me since I was born as his family is from my home ward. Our wedding reception was held at his parents' home.

This will be A New Life for us. John was ordained a High Priest today. I teased him that he now has to fall asleep all the time and is too old to have any fun anymore.

We have to act like grown-ups, go to High Priest parties, and hang out with the old people.

No more sleeping in.

No more family time on Sundays. That will be the hardest since Sunday afternoon was the only time we had to hang out and relax as a family!

No more help getting the kids ready for church.

No more help with the kids during Sacrament meeting.

No more 'tag team' staying home with sick children.

Our new ward will meet at 9:00 a.m. from now on, not changing every year. He will have to be at church at 6:30 a.m. every week from now on. We are not morning people. Definitely a New Life. The fun part is they have to now fill an entire ward with callings. They have their work cut out for them!

I'm not sure how it will all work out, but I'm sure the Lord will provide a way.

His first meeting is supposed to be Tuesday night.

Oh sorry, he's in Texas.

Things are set up for November.

Oh sorry, he's in New York for those two weeks.

Visits the first Wednesday of each month.

Oh sorry, Track Club board meetings are then.

I thought he was busy before and didn't think it possible to squeeze another hour out of him. The Lord will definitely have to provide.

Now, how about providing a bathroom? Hmmm . . . . I'll need a miracle for that one. (My bathroom is still half-gutted).

On a serious note, I know these changes are inspired. There are a few things that have occurred of late that have confirmed to us that this is the way it's supposed to be. John will be excellent in his new calling and we will grow and be blessed exponentially as a family. It will be different. It will be challenging. It will be fun getting to know new ward members. It will be sad missing our good friends from our old ward. It will be worth it. It will be a new life.

I Can See Clearly Now

Last week at the pediatrician, Brooke had trouble with the eye exam. She was devastated when the doctor gave the news, it was so sad!

While she has been home sick this week, I took her to see an ophthalmologist to see what's going on. Now that we know there's an issue, she says she's been having trouble seeing the board if her teacher writes in orange marker, and she has headaches often. This may explain it! She is just a bit near-sighted and will need glasses during class time or when she needs to see far away, but not during sports.

We shopped and shopped for glasses and I was a bit surprised at her preference - she likes a bold and trendy look - and I think she's adorable.

She settled for a cute purply black Ralph Lauren number which she says is personalized for her with "Lauren" on the case. Cute!

When we got in the car to go home, she looked at the building and said, "Look at all the lines in the bricks! Wow! Look at how clear everything is!" A definite improvement already.

Yeah for Brooke ready to see the world clearly now!

Conversion

The Baptism of Brooke Lauren Merrill and Megan Rose Campbell

Brooke's friend Megan turned 8 last May and has been taking the missionary lessons as she comes from a part-member family. She wanted to be baptized, and wanted to do it along with Brooke, so the two of them were able to be together and it was beautiful! Megan is an only child with a small extended family so it was good that she was able to be with us (because we know how to pack the house!).

Last week I took pictures of Brooke in a beautiful white "baptism" dress.

Megan came over for pictures, too. I wanted to have a picture of them for the program. We took a zillion pictures and had a lot of fun doing so, and chose this picture for the program. It turned out beautifully printed on the inside:

It's time for the Baptism. There were so many people that came, so many people that love Brooke that we had to all move into the chapel to accommodate the crowd. I love having a big family and wonderful friends.

A handsome, worthy husband dressed in white and worthy to exercise his Priesthood to baptize and confirm your daughter . . . mmmmm doesn't get much better than that. No sir-ee!

When I was helping Brooke get dressed after the baptism, I asked her how she felt and she exclaimed, "Happy!" She was radiantly happy, even though she was coming down with a fever and sore throat.

I am very proud of my little Brookie-Boo and the decision she made to be baptized a member of the Church. She understands what it means and has been looking forward to this day for a long time. She is also excited to partake of the Sacrament for real tomorrow morning and to be introduced as the newest member of the ward. She's worried that she won't be well enough to attend!

Lots of food: salads, home made breads, orange chicken, sweet and sour meatballs, zucchini soup. Delish!

The desserts and the cucumber lime spritzer punch were major hits!

This cracks me up. Christian changed his clothes four different times, and had to match his cousin Spencer. Too cool boys! I think it cracks me up more though to find this on my camera. I didn't take it, nor did I know they were acting this way. Funny!

Presents!

Grandma Merrill made a cute baptism book with scriptures, stories, and pictures to go along with "I Am a Child of God" with family pictures and testimonies from every one in our family from both sides. Definitely a treasure! She also got a little hymnal to match the quad scriptures that we gave her.

Auntie Marylyn made her a beautiful journal and Brooke has started writing in it already. She has many beautiful memories to record.

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a BaLLeRiNa

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a BaLLeRiNa so I can wear pretty pink dance clothes every day!

We have tried to do a dance class again, and are having had MUCH better success this time around. If you recall from last spring, Ashlyn danced to the beat of her own drum. Now she is able to follow along for a longer period of time, and is thrilled that her cousin Chelsea is in her class. The only problem is that Chelsea's BFF is also in the class, which causes a 'spot' problem again as often Addy and Ashlyn struggle over wanting to both be by Chelsea.

Ashlyn practices getting into 3rd position with Miss Melissa

It's time to plie at the bar . . .

. . . or maybe it's time to just hang around.

Well Ashlyn, you did well for 90% of the class. We are proud of you.