New Church Calling

I sometimes wonder at God's sense of humor.....

Obviously, God is in charge and knows what is best for us...and although I never question God, I DO have some questions for Him!

Ryan has been serving in the Bishopric for a little over two years and prior to that served as the Elder's Quorum President for several years- he is a man of great faith who loves to serve and knowledgeable in the gospel. Most of his church callings have been those of careful leadership positions and I look to him to keep me on the "straight & narrow" so to speak- I have a tendency to be one of the 'wayward' sheep at times.....okay, most of time.

On the other hand, I too, have served in various callings throughout the years but none that intimidates me as much as this new calling of which I have been asked: Gospel Doctrine Teacher. For those of you who know what that calling means- yeah, F-U-N-N-Y! Not the 'ha ha' funny but the "you're really serious??" funny. Can you refuse a calling? Yes, but one shouldn't (though I was sorely tempted!).

This scares me on various levels because the Gospel & Doctrine teachers 1) Are knowledgeable in the gospel and

2) Great Teachers...two qualities which do not come easily or naturally to an introvert such as myself. People may not believe it, but I am shy! Plus, one needs to be articulate and know big words.....hey, I'm from Idaho and attended a teensy high school where they don't teach "big words".

Talking to large crowds brings me hives and cause to forget trains of thought- not to mention I don't have a loud speaking voice. Me teaching?? Oh, the horror!

Seriously, when it comes to knowledge of the Gospel I know/feel enough to have a testimony but when it boils to actual "facts and stories"..... not so good in that department.

I will study the lessons and pray hard for inspiration and have faith that God will do the rest. And a little help from Zoey would be great too! Come on Zoey, you know your mom needs all the help she can get down here!!

Good food, good fun!

It's always a blast hanging out with my family! My sister from Wisconsin came for a stay and mom from Utah visited as well. Jodi hadn't seen Ayla since she was an itty-bitty back in March....yep, she was MUCH bigger!

The last night Jodi was here we gathered together for dinner out and visit.

Me and mom

Ayla attempting to eat Jodi's cell phone- chomp, chomp!

~Thankful for 'thorns'~

In May when we were in Portland for Ayla's eye
surgery, we took an afternoon and walked through
the beautiful Rose Gardens and the Japanese Gardens. They were gorgeous and almost didn't seem real....it was a drizzly afternoon but did not dampen the obvious beauty.











Although we were not in season to see the roses in bloom through the Rose Garden, it was nonetheless serene; we could clearly see the thorns on the stems.

A few months before Ayla and Zoey were born I heard a song on the radio which spoke of roses, their beauty and their thorns. The lyrics went something along the lines of, "Are you thankful for the thorns?" It was walking through that bloomless rose garden that those lyrics floated through my mind....and I understood what it meant.

Roses are beautiful and delicate..... and they have sharp thorns. Did I appreciate the beauty of the rose along with the beauty of the thorns? I hadn't really thought about the metaphor of the song until then.

To accept the rose one must also accept the thorns that are part of it.

Life is beautiful and has it's 'thorns' too.... for that I am grateful. I suppose it was one of those 'aha' moments when God was teaching me that there is beauty in every situation and in which the 'thorns' have their season too.

My "Rant"

I like blogging.....it's a great way to share information and keep informed and connected. The internet is cool and because I am the type of personality that LOVES information and probably spends too much time researching topics of interest, especially regarding Ayla and micro-preemie's.

Ayla is a puzzle; a neat, cute little puzzle with thousands of moving pieces. I know I'll never be able to "fix" her issues but will always keep looking for information and ways to help her! That being said- here goes my "rant".....you have been warned so precede with caution!

In my many quests for information on micro-preemies, I have stumbled across several articles regarding the expensive and extensive care of resuscitating babies born between 24-29 weeks. They are both interesting and disturbing to read. These articles are becoming more frequent because of the new Healthcare Reform Act (which I am NOT a fan of, but that's my opinion and a whole different 'rant') and because the reality TV personas, the Duggars, had a baby at 25 weeks (hey- same as Ayla!).

One article expressed that the government incurres too much expense (ie- Medicaid) in providing care for these extremely premature babies because they are MILLION dollar+ babies- literally, and many do not survive or live the quality of life to become a "productive" citizen. Case in point; Ayla's care was over a million dollars within 4 months....and she was in the hospital for 4.5 months! How's that for insane health care costs? Without Medicaid, there was no possible way we could have provided the financial means required for her survival because private health insurance cuts you off after you've met your lifetime 'cap' (and that's another 'rant' topic).

Anywho, about that "living to become a productive citizen" bit.... I recently decided to stop torturing myself- if an article cannot provide relative, helpful scientific information then I will not read it, makes me frustrated otherwise. And besides, it expends too much energy to read negative stuff. Really, who can place a value on human life? My guess is that the 'experts' writing these articles have never had a catastrophic medical crisis in their family OR the 'powers that be' writing these crappy insurance policies haven't either.....so sorry, went off on another rant.....I'm not trying to be a 'Debi-Downer' but bring awareness to the topic. Ah, the pleasure of blogging!

Life is interesting; 11 months ago I would have never guessed that I'd ever be researching information on micro-preemies.....life is good and we have been blessed!