Church with Seven

(04.21.13)

By the time you get to baby #5, you come to realize that there isn't a lot of down time. Basically from the time you come home you have to hit the ground running. I got home on Thursday after having Courtney on Tuesday. The very next day was busy with doctor appointments, errands to run, and a birthday to celebrate. I stayed home from church the first Sunday (I would have had to anyway since Matthew was sick) and I probably could have stayed home the following Sunday as well- but considering we'd already been all over the place- school, preschool, baseball practices, grocery store, church activities etc, I always feel kind of silly saying that I can't go to church when I've been doing everything else. It would be nice not to have so many places to be and things to do- I'd love to just be home with a sweet baby, but Jeff has to work, kids have places to be, and family lives 24 hours away. You just do what you have to. I do my best to make sure people aren't touching the baby, keep the hand sanitizer close, and off we go.
So we had our first full family church experience on April 21st when Courtney was just a week old. It went surprisingly well and she pretty much slept the whole time in her carseat- such a good baby.
As I was walking down the hallway to go play the piano in primary- our bishop caught me after sacrament meeting and asked if he could meet with me. My heart dropped a little as some different thoughts went through my mind. I thought I would be flying under the radar for a while with a new baby- especially since my current calling was primary pianist and there aren't many piano players in the ward. As it turned out, there was a new calling in store. Bishop Sullivan told me he had struggled with the idea of giving me this calling right at a time with a new baby and our busy lives. He said that he personally didn't like to and didn't usually give busy callings to moms with 2 week old babies and 5 young children. However, he told me, he had received a very direct answer that I needed to be called as the new Primary president. I was a little surprised and shocked, but also grateful it wasn't to be the new Young Women's president. :) Fortunately for me, I was able to call some wonderful and amazing women to be my counselors and secretary. (For journaling purposes: Val Jensen, Lindsay Tjarks, and Marjorie Weidhour). It is also comforting knowing that the Lord doesn't expect us to be completely perfect, or do things completely on our own- not only do we have support from presidency members, spouses, and the ward- most importantly we have the direction and assistance from our Heavenly Father, for which I am very grateful. I'm a little sad to be giving up my old calling, I absolutely love being the primary pianist- it really is one of the best callings ever- but I'm looking forward to the new calling and working with wonderful people. I'm also grateful that Jeff is so supportive- Especially knowing that he'll be the one getting kids ready for church twice a month while I attend ward council at 7am. I definitely couldn't do it without him.
We snapped a quick picture after church- I couldn't help but feel so grateful for my sweet little family that I love so much. We feel so blessed.