I am Grateful!

I am so full of GRATITUDE!!!  Every time I deal with anything that has to do with church these days, I feel good and happy!  There are so many quality good people I have met and we've only been here 2 months today!!  Everyone is so friendly and nice.  I misjudged a few of them because I thought they may act like what I was used to previously, but they have pretty much all proved me wrong. And they have given me space and patience.  I like them all, quarks, uniqueness, everything!  These are a different kind of people.  My girls went with the youth tonight to do baptisms for the dead, they came home happy.  When I took them to drop them off, I was welcomed and people talked to me and I was even asked why I wasn't coming since it was my daughter's first time.  I told them that it wasn't allowed in my previous ward and they just told me that in this ward, you just volunteer and go whenever you want.  I told some of the girls' it was my younger daughter's first time and they all said they would take care of her and show her the way, and they did.  

The YW president made sure she had my phone # if they should need it, and she apologized for not getting back to me on an email I sent.  The interaction was kind, caring and positive.  I told her it was fine she didn't get back to me, we worked it out.  The Relief Society president was there with her son and introduced me to her husband and we talked about him being a twin and me having twins.  There is such a nice spirit among the people of cooperation, caring, love and acceptance.  Wow!  I'm pretty much in awe of them.  I hope I can be like them.  This is a different church than what I experienced in Utah.  What we went through before this is totally foreign to them, some of the things I have mentioned that are different here, they just look at me weird and then shake it off and say, well, it's not like that here!  I'm so glad. 

The other thing that is a nice switch is that these people care about my kids and they want the same things for them that I do.  We actually have the same values!  And when they offer to help, they actually follow through and do help.  My oldest has been invited to accompany the ward choir and another lady who teaches piano talked to the school for me to see if they could use an accompanist there!  They also have the youth take turns playing the orgn in sacrament meeting.  There are a ton of other nice good things they do.  It is such a healthy environment and such a good way to be.  And very relieving as a parent especially of so many.  I'm so grateful that my kids now have a number of good role models to follow.

 It is also validating to find that I wasn't the crazy one!  It is reasonable for the YW organization to communicate with parents, email a calendar to both girls and parents and keep parents in the loop, and talk to parents.  It is such a relief!  This church is really, really good.  This is the church I would be willing to send my kids out as missionaries for, this is the church I may be willing to bring new friends to,  this is really how the gospel was meant to be lived.  When it's good, it's really good.  I have always loved the doctrine, and when the people live the doctrine and abide by the teachings, it is wonderful!  I am so grateful, pretty much all the people I've met since being here have been awesome, non church people included!  Even in the stores, people are just doing their thing.   When we first got here and had a lot of things to buy, I could just feel this absence of constant judgement that I had grown accustomed to in Utah.  These people are not all that concerned with anything I do, they are friendly and polite, but I don't feel judged constantly like I did in Utah, and I didn't even realize I felt that way there until I came here and experienced this.  I feel very, very lucky.   I don't want to ever take having lots of good quality people around me for granted.  I have so much to learn from these people.  Every interaction I have fills me with more hope and gratitude.  Maybe I'll even get to the point someday of being able to serve them some instead of just taking in all their kindness and love.  

I also don't want or mean to knock Utah too much.  I have dear friends and family still there, it is still my heritage and my home all the way to my dear Mormon pioneer ancestors who gave up so much.  It is also full of really good people who have learned to cope fine and even love being there with the beautiful mountains and scenic views, and they are seemingly unaffected or just have a completely different experience than what I had.  And maybe even have in their ward there in Utah, what I have in my new ward here in the East.  It just wasn't where I was supposed to be.  And now that I'm here, it's clear I needed to be here.  And I am grateful!

I am GRATEFUL!