Monday [5/31]: Today was going to be a day of chores and yard work; however, shortly after Justin headed outside he called me out to show me that our van had been involved in a hit and run last night.
I actually heard a strange sound last night around 12:30am while we were in bed but didn’t think to get up and check on anything. Justin asked some neighbors to look at their cameras and low and beyond it happened at 12:23am and we have a clear video of the whole thing.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t make out a license plate which is needed for the police to be able to do anything about it. I posted the video on our neighborhood Facebook page asking for any further information and someone sent me a picture of a silver SUV parked in front of her house leaving during that exact time frame. Apparently her neighbors had a party last night and the car likely belongs to a guest. It looked like the same car so I called the cop and asked him to go to the house and see if he could find out who it belonged to. He agreed but nobody answered the door. He said he’d try a few more times today, but he didn’t leave us much hope. We’re entirely dependent on the homeowners turning someone in and I’m afraid that’s not likely – which is so frustrating. If my kids did something like this you better believe they’d be paying out the nose to make it right and hopefully learn a lesson about taking responsibility for their mistakes.
Justin ended up making some good progress on the yard and I worked on getting the house straightened up and catching up on laundry. The kids did a fairly decent job helping out. Justin made some burgers later tonight with our first corn-on-the-cob of the season with some of Jason’s homemade fries – yum!
This evening FHACJ headed to the tennis courts to hit around. Drew joined us and played a bit at the park with Justin while Abigail worked on some skills with HCJ. Abigail is easily the most patient of the bunch of us, even more so as a missionary.
Tuesday [6/1]: We got a text this morning from our executive secretary in our ward asking if the bishop could come by this evening and talk to Justin and me. We were both pretty clueless about what it might be regarding. Justin just got a new calling two weeks ago and I got my calling a primary activity leader just two months ago. We did a little speculating but really had no idea what was coming. I had a little bit of time after dinner before he arrived that I went up to my closet and said a little prayer. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I prayed that I would feel peace and that whatever we were asked to do that we would feel OK about it. I told the Lord in that moment, as I have before, that I will serve where he wants me to serve. I continued to feel the peace I desired. After my prayer I sat on the ledge of the tub and desired to have an experience of knowing what was to come. As I thought through some of the possible callings we could be extended I felt the spirit tell me that I didn’t need to know what it was. That I had already decided that I would do whatever was asked of me to do. I did not need to know. My decision to serve was made and the Lord knew that. I felt at peace with that and grateful for the opportunity that was in exercising my faith.
Bishop chatted with us for a bit about the message that he shared on Sunday regarding unity. He asked Justin and me what we thought our ward needed to do in order to create more unity. I shared with him how his message on Sunday felt like a call to action for me and that I had turned to Justin immediately afterward and commented that it felt like it was a pep talk before a big game. To hype us up for what we would need to do. I expressed those thoughts to bishop and mentioned that people need to not make their decision whether or not to come to church or to a ward activity based on what they think they will get out of it and instead switch their mindset to what can I bring to the meeting/activity for others. During our conversation I mentioned to him that the ward members need to create closer bonds and I shared that I personally don’t have any friends in the ward. I’m friendly with people but I don’t have anyone in the ward that I would call to hang out with. And honestly I feel 100% fine with that because I don’t feel I’m lacking in support and friendship in my life. I then turned the tables back on myself and said that perhaps I need to make that change and think more about creating unity and friendship for the sake of others. That’s when Bishop dropped the gauntlet and said that he has felt prompted to ask me to serve as the Relief Society President and that the Lord needs me in that capacity. Shocker, but not a shocker. I don’t know how to explain it - our conversation just lead right to it.
We talked for a while about a lot of things and it felt like it could get overwhelming if we got in too deep too soon so we discussed my need to pray about who should serve in the presidency with me. We know Bishop Hammer personally, as a friend, which I guess makes it easier to be completely real with him in my concerns, weaknesses, and where I feel I will struggle. But it doesn’t really matter. This was reinforced in my scripture study later tonight as I was reading in D&C 60-62 how the Lord many times said to the people that they don’t need to know all things and sometimes it just doesn’t matter to Lord how we go about fulfilling our mission as long as we fulfill it. I know that whatever mistakes I will make, and there will be many, that won’t stop the Lord‘s plan from being fulfilled. Those mistakes will add to my journey and growth and also provide opportunities for grace and forgiveness for others. The Lord’s work will go on and he can compensate for my weaknesses perhaps even turn those weaknesses into strengths. It was also meaningful to be reminded that I don’t need to be paralyzed by making choices. I often struggle with making decisions. Something I listened to tonight pointed out that the “fear of man” can of course be about concerned about what other people think, but we can also make it difficult – the fear of man can be fear in ourselves. Like these sections teach I need to use my best judgement, listen to the spirit and act. I need to not overthink. The Lord can set straight anything I mess up – ha! Of course if I think too much about what’s to come it’s completely overwhelming. This is a calling in which I need to be prepared to serve for several years. It’s a calling that will require considerable amount of time and sacrifice both mentally, physically, and emotionally. Essentially the bishop said his focus is with the youth and that any other needs within the ward will be handled by me and/or the Elders Quorum President. I know that I will be pushed so, so far out of my comfort zone. It’s going to take a great deal of faith to trust that the Lord will help me know how to handle situations and find the words that I seem to never have. I spent some time this evening looking over our ward list for possible counselors and I’ll be honest the pickings are few – which I suppose is why I’m in this position – ha. Actually we have a lot of amazing women in the ward but many serve in the stake or hold positions within the primary and young women’s that we can’t pull out.
Abigail and Jason had made a double batch of brookies this afternoon and plated a few to give away, including some to Bishop. We teased that we would only give him the plate of cookies if we were happy with his visit. As he was leaving we said he didn’t really deserve them, but we’d be generous and let him have them anyhow.
I’ve mentioned that I’ve felt this past month that I have been pushed out of my comfort zone on several occasions. Creating a public Instagram account, joining a local church’s tennis league with a bunch of strangers with my mediocre skill set. I enjoy those things though and felt concerned over whether or not I would be able to continue to do the things that I enjoy or if my life is going to be too crazy with church responsibilities. Things are about to crazy around here and balancing everything will be a continual struggle I’m sure. (Which is why it’s taking me nearly two months to post this).
Wednesday [6/2]: Thanks to the sleeping pill I took last night before bed I slept great last night though I would’ve loved to have slept in past 7:30am. One of my first thoughts I had was the realization that last night wasn’t a dream. I have at least another week before anything becomes official so I don’t have any added responsibilities, just looming ones.
Wednesdays are a crazy day for me especially now that I am playing in the tennis league. When the organizer asked for my availability this week I told him that I was open anytime today. He took advantage of that and put me in five different doubles matches! Five matches is a lot on any day, especially after also having tennis lessons earlier that same afternoon. By the end of the day I had played over five hours of tennis. I was of course nervous for my matches this evening, especially because I had four mixed matches, meaning my partner was male. Today was also in the 80’s which added an extra degree of difficulty and exhaustion. I ended up drinking two large water bottles and a Gatorade. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the night but had a blast! Today I felt like I got to know more of the people on a more personal level which was quite fun. I can certainly hold my own when it comes to sarcasm which made for some fun competitive banter. I played pretty decent as well, obviously I can always do better but I was overall happy with what I was able to contribute. Out of the five matches my teams won three of them and the last one we lost was so super tight. I am so grateful that Courtney invited me to play and that I was brave enough to put myself out there and try. I still feel quite humbled being there but enjoy it enough to not get frustrated with my lack of skills. I fell asleep fast tonight!
Thursday [6/3]: If I had to summarize today I would say it was filled with a calm sense of overwhelmed. I felt overwhelmed with so many things today but didn’t really feel stressed so I guess that’s a good thing. I had some phone calls with insurance regarding the damage to our van so needed to do some research since they are likely going to consider the van totaled. It’s 15 years old so the repairs will exceed the value of the car at this point. We have the option of having them determine the value of it before the damage or trying to keep it and retitling it on our own and not get as much money. It’s hard because it’s a vehicle we need but don’t necessarily want and can’t replace without spending a fortune. It serves a purpose for us that can’t easily be replaced. In addition Jason told me last night that he had some friends coming home from school with him today so Drew and I spent the morning putting away all the Lego sets that he and Katie have built this past week. I love to see them enjoy Legos again and with them being more organized it wasn’t nearly that kind of mess that it would’ve been in the past.
Other general household work as well as spending a bit of time on my HHH account. Before I knew it it was time to head off to Carly‘s tennis match this afternoon at the high school. She started out quite strong but fell apart in her second game. I enjoy watching her play and wish the season was longer, but I suppose I should be grateful they were able to accommodate a season at all.
Katie helped me make some homemade pizzas when I got home and they tasted fantastic. We then tried to rally the kids into helping Justin and I clean out the van and get that cleaned up with the hopes that it will help increase the value the insurance company determines. We were outside for well over an hour vacuuming, wiping and doing a quick rinse of the exterior. Aside from a few cosmetic issues due to the break-in in Vancouver Canada and the hit-and-run recently it really is in decent shape, aside from the slider doors not working as they should. I might actually be a little sad to see it go. We will definitely miss having the hitch and the ability to haul our bikes around this summer.
Late night scripture study so I didn’t get to bed until after 1am. With the sun rising so early these days I was already dreading an early morning tomorrow on little sleep.
Friday [6/4]: Drew enjoyed his waffles this morning!
More van stuff today. I reached out to the insurance company and let them know that we’ve decided not to keep the van. Getting a new title would be a pain and nobody wants to drive around a banged up car anyhow. I took some pictures of the now clean van so we can hopefully negotiate a decent offer. They asked if we needed a rental car while we wait for a resolution but I declined. It felt unnecessary.
Carly had a match in Renton this afternoon. Instead of driving two cars I decided to go early with her and stay until she could leave. That provided me a lot of time in the parking lot but having some downtime was nice. I was able to catch up on my local Marco Polo group and do some journaling on my iPad. Carly played really well. Her best match yet. It was so fun to watch her. Grandpa Fletcher came and enjoyed watching her match as well. She tends to have really long games because she fights so hard. So many close ones, but in the end Haven High School won. Her coach is very impressed with Carly especially since she didn’t start playing until she was on the court for tryouts as a freshman. He mentioned that many of the girls we play against have been playing since elementary school so the fact that Carly can put up a fight is impressive. I’m impressed as well.
It was already 7pm by the time she was able to leave tennis so I reached out to Justin to have him meet us in Issaquah for dinner at Cafe Rio to take advantage of a triple points offer today. As usual we saw a few people there that we know. This week the T-Mobile Tuesday app offered each line a $5 Baskin Robbins gift card so we headed there next and ended up nailing the cost of everything we bought - we had $35 of credits and our total came to $35.47.
Today was also National Donut Day so next up was Krispy Kreme for a dozen FREE donuts. One donut each of our choosing for National Donut Day and five glazed donuts for the five of us that are vaccinated. What a delicious night!
Saturday [6/5]: I decided to cancel my hair appointment for next week (too much going on and cutting it too close to tennis lessons) and touch up my roots myself this morning. I wanted to get in a little exercise beforehand and Katie has been DYING to go to the library so after I got some sourdough bread rising Justin, Katie and I headed to the library on foot. By the time we were back and I had my hair colored and I was ready for the day the morning was long over. Not as productive as a day as I’d hoped. Our friends, the Roenfeldt's, daughter was recently married and Justin and I planned to attend the open house this evening up in Snohomish - an hour away. We got a little later start than I’d hoped - Justin and Katie were off Pokemoning {insert eye roll}. It was a long drive but I’m glad we went. There were a few friends from Auburn there that we were able to visit with and I know they appreciated us showing up to support them. We tacked on a trip to WinCo before heading home – productivity for the win! Justin gave Drew a haircut before bed. I didn’t take a before or after picture but here’s a during picture – his hair was pretty long.
My sourdough bread didn’t rise quite as quickly today as it should. I think my starter was weak since it’s been so long since I’ve made it so I ended up staying up until 1am getting the loaves baked. Crazy!
Sunday [6/6]: Today was the first Sunday with second hour. Our ward moved to a noon start time which gave us enough time this morning to have CFM before church. I think that will work best instead of getting home in the late afternoon and trying to rally everyone for more spiritual discussion after church. It was my turn to lead the lesson and I felt good about it and grateful that the topics meant something personal to me this week.
Church was great. It was fast and testimony meeting and it seemed we had more people in attendance then we have up to this point. Our first week mask-free. It sure felt good to see people’s faces. Some faces for the first time – we had several families move into our ward during covid. Bishop announced at the end of sacrament that a family in the ward just had their little 4 lb. baby this afternoon. I have no clue who the family is which going forward will no longer be the case. Our second hour was spent all together in the chapel talking about the children and youth program and encouraging everyone to get involved and supportive.
Abigail wanted a picture with the van (Debbie as her friends called it) before it gets hauled away tomorrow morning. She has lots of high school memories in good ole Debbie.
Ode to Debbie:
Meet “Debbie”
“Debbie” was the victim of a hit-and-run this week 😢
She’s been deemed a “total loss”
Farewell old friend. Thanks for 15 years of memories and mobility.
Live on Debbie. Live on.
I hoped we would be able to siphon the recently filled tank of gas out of the van, but unfortunately Justin couldn’t get it to work. Major bummer so send off nearly $50 worth of gas.
I spent some time today catching up on journaling for the blog and started this next weeks CFM section. Justin made some good food – I’m glad to not have to deal with feeding the family on Sundays. It was a low-key evening and I’m grateful for that.
