Failing to Post

There are a few reasons that I fail to post sometimes

- Nothing exciting happened
- It's late and I'm tired
- Interesting stuff happened, but it's too personal to throw out there
- I forgot to take pictures about what I want to post on (and pictures are the real reason most of you come;~)
- I want to post about something somewhat important (at least to me) and I feel pressure to have the post be perfect: funny, cheerful, honest, grammatically correct, interesting...

That last reason is why I have failed to post about being released* from the assignment that I held in my church's congregation (Mormon) for the last three years: the President of the Relief Society (the women's organization in my church.) We have 166 women in our ward, and I was blessed to work closely with several of them. I helped out with funerals, after births, with service projects, got food to those who were struggling to make ends meet, visited ill sisters in the hospital. I sat in leadership councils and offered opinions, volunteered for activities, opened the building, purchased tablecloths, organized closets, taught lessons, held planning meetings, gave several talks in sacrament, spoke in stake conference, sang a lot, prayed a lot, and cried a lot. It was the best of times.

The list above sounds so good! But the truth is, these last three years have been a refiners fire of sorts.  During my time as president, I hosted a lovely young woman from the foster system in Scotland for 3 months, I started a business (The Chipper Chef), I got pregnant with my caboose and one month later, found out that my husband had colon cancer. In the midst of those challenges, I** struggled to help my oldest son, who is gay, who hadn't come out of the closet yet and was battling school, depression, church and his parents...add to the mix some new church policies. And there was my four other kids that deserved a high-quality mom. And for those of you that don't know me well: I'm a raging feminist. Being a feminist Mormon isn't an easy path, and I constantly felt inadequate and frustrated to be all that I wanted (and felt) a proper RS Pres should be. It was the worst of times.

The Relief Society is not a one woman act. I had councilors and some secretaries, several committee chairs, coordinators, committee members, pianists, teachers; I worked closely with the Bishop of our congregation, and he earned a solid A+. I was surrounded by hard working, faithful, dependable, organized people who pulled their weight, and in hindsight, often pulled mine. Thank you. Those words seem inadequate. But thank you, none the less.

My understanding of myself, the gospel, and the church have changed because of my time as the RS President, and I have been changed for good.

A friend of mine made me an edible thank you for my service:

Home-made strawberry Lime jam and wheat bread. It was delicious!

Thanks to everyone who has hugged me and shared kind words with me since my release. It has meant a lot to me.

*Released isn't like being "let go" from a job (I wasn't "Fired"... although sometimes I felt like I was on that edge:~) In our congregation, the women's president typically serves for around 3 years, and my time was up. Also, it's worthy to note that I wasn't "elected" to the "calling." God made it known to me and the Bishop that this was where He wanted me to serve - a few months before I got home from our sabbatical in Scotland... an interesting story for another day:~)

** I almost forgot! Many "I"s in the post could/should be "we"s. Ryan isn't just eye candy, he's also a fabulous friend, supportive spouse, and an excellent kisser.

*** I was released on October 16th, 2016***

The new RS Presidency is going to do a great job!