I felt like I needed to bear my testimony because I could not sit there and not acknowledge the many people praying and fasting for our family–it is humbling when the prayers in Sacrament and by the deacons that came to collect fast offerings include Ruby in them. And no one in my new ward has ever met her (besides those on my street). Most of them don’t even know us. And of course we are so overwhelmed with gratitude that our old ward is still so awesome and keeping Ruby in their thoughts and prayers. And for the record I am missing my old ward like crazy but they are keeping me so busy with my new calling in our new ward that I have to focus so much time and energy into that, which seems to lessen the sadness.
So back to fast and testimony meeting–what came to mind to talk about was when Bailey had her surgery. We were of course really nervous and scared about it. The pre-op day was really hard. She had such a sad time with her blood draw. I was a bit of a mess. I remember thinking how hard it was going to be to hand her over to the surgeons, and yes, it was still really hard. But after we kissed her goodbye and they went through the doors , rather than bursting into tears like I was sure I would, I felt peace. I mentioned that to Dillon and he agreed. Still extremely hard, but we still felt peaceful. So I bore my testimony that I know it will be the same. I know that when we hand Ruby off to the surgeons (which makes me cry thinking about it—it is so very hard), that we will feel the same–we will feel peace and it is because of the many prayers and fasting done in our family’s behalf. So THANK YOU!!! If you have ever prayed for us and our sweet Ruby, thank you so so much. I cannot even begin to tell you how much that means to us. The best word to describe it is humbling. And we feel so loved.
So yes, my heart if so full of gratitude and love. It is so amazing, this gospel that we have. And I can say that I totally love YW. These girls are amazing. They are going to teach me so much. I am really, really thankful for this calling. Funny to say that now. It is busy and a lot of work, and sometimes I get pretty overwhelmed, but it has been a blessing. I attended my first ward council last Sunday and the power that I felt in the Bishop’s office with those great people was very neat. I just love how the church works and I love the people who fulfill their callings. And I love all of you.