Did anyone else cry while reading about the quake in Haiti? I've been home with a sick Parker the last few days so its given me time to read about what's going on. I didn't hear about it till this morning and the first article I read made me cry. Over 100,000 lives?? Its just so sad that such a "humble" nation has to endure something like this.

We don't have a tv, and I'm glad we don't I know I'd be sitting here watching devastating images repeat themselves.

Calling

My favorite calling I've ever had was doing acheivement days with the Merrie Miss age girls. I know, its not called that anymore. What is it? Faith in God?? I had that calling before I got married and talk about FUN. Not so much the planning, but actually doing the activities with the girls. I liked hanging out with them... so uninhibited. I guess I like that age, because I also really enjoyed teaching the 11 year old Primary Class. I enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how I was going to get them to sit through sharing time when lets face it, most of the activities are no longer age appropriate. Young Womens was a GREAT growing experience. I definitely learned the most about myself in that time period. Although, young womens can be intense. Its a significant time commitment, and I felt a lot of pressure in nurturing such fragile testimonies. And the latest calling, Enrichment, that stretched me in new ways too. Honestly, I found it just plain hard. I know some people really enjoy planning activities, but to me it's hard. When you have so many sisters of various ages, stages, abilities, and interests, I just couldn't think of enough ideas to keep everyone engaged. But thats why you work on a committee for that calling! Whew-wee that calling would have been impossible for me without a committee.

Anyway, so the acheivement days (err faith in God) has been my longstanding favorite calling. But I think the newest calling will give it a run for its money. I've certainly never been more excited about a calling. Teaching Sunbeams is something I've always dreamed of doing. Three is my most favorite age. Everytime I've served in Primary I've looked at the Sunbeams class and wished I could be with them. They looked so innocent, so energetic, eager... so fun with their bright eyes... brand new to primary. So 2010 is on the up and up! And the place to be Sunday mornings, will be Sunbeams!

But now I'm curious; what's been your favorite calling? And why...

I genuinely like the people in Arizona- friendly bunch. But one thing that has always made me laugh is people's perceptions of "far". I've heard (from people who live in Mesa), "We're moving to Gilbert to be closer to family." Really? Wow. How close do you need to be. When my parents lived in Mesa, and Mark and I were in Tempe people would say, "Oh too bad you don't live closer." I thought it was an appropriate amount of distance. (So you should hear the sighs I get when people find out my parents are in Texas now.) Last night at Mark's work holiday party I sat across from a lady who has serious roots in Arizona. Generations of people live here. And when I asked her, "Did your kids all marry people from here as well?" She said, "No. One is from Glendale." Oh yeah, he might as well be from another country.

But one good thing about people's serious commitment to living with three square miles of their family, is that they feel bad for you when they hear you don't have a lot of extended family in the area. I get invited to multiple family celebrations each holiday, even by strangers sometimes.

Land That I Love

A week ago we were in the great state of TEXAS. Walking and driving around Dallas made Mark and I both want to move... we're not set yet though. We need to make a trip to Chicago to give it its fair shake. All I know is, we were both a little sad that Mark got such a good job offer here in Arizona and not somewhere else. Like Dallas! (or Chicago)

What made Dallas so fun?

Cousins

Cowboys

famous grassy knolls

a beautiful wedding with a glamorous bride

the Texas State Fair

The airport was like a wonderland to Parker until we got to Grandma & Grandpa's house

It has stairs!

and an age appropriate computer! Finally.

Well rested

This was us before vacation:

And this is us now. Back and ready for work!

If you're an adoring aunt, uncle, cousin, whatever... you might get a kick out of my sister's post. My baby is featured and he's really cute.

I called it

I've been back (at my dream job) for about a month and I gotta say that was fast! Do you remember this post written shortly after I was laid off? I was talking about long term consequences, but what do you know, 6 months later the effects are staring us in the face.

I have attended 4 different community meetings hosted by four different agencies, in the last 2 weeks, on the rise of child abuse in the valley. The Chandler Police Department held the first because they have seen exponential amounts (compared to previous years) of infant deaths due to abuse since the start of this year. And then, Phoenix PD held a meeting because the child abuse they are seeing has intensified in severity. And then Childhelp, a national organization, called a meeting, and then the Arizona Department of Economic Security, all bringing the same concerns to the table. All of these organizations are putting together a campaign to bring awareness to the valley about resources available to parents who are overwhelmed. We're streamlining our efforts to let parents know that no one can parent alone successfully. You need more than yourself.

So aside from my intense desire to walk into the Arizona legislature and say, "I told you so!" I feel privileged to be apart of this campaign. I was invited because of my work in prevention. It really is interesting to me that all these organizations that usually focus on rehabilitation, are looking to me (and my colleagues) to teach them about what prevention looks like. Its sad that its such a foreign concept. But I have to say I have been very impressed by especially the police officers (we've had representatives from every precinct at these meetings) who don't know what to do, but know that they don't want to see what they're seeing anymore. I admire their commitment to our community.