Primary

On Sunday February 17th I will be officially released from my calling as the Primary President.  I have served in this calling for 3 years and 3 days, to be exact,  and despite the fact that I have felt my time was winding down, it was very hard to part with all of those wonderful children.

When I started in this calling we had close to 150 children and I knew most of them by their first name and the ones who looked too much like their siblings that were scattered in every other class, I would often call them by their last name to save myself some embarrassment.  At this time we had about 3-4 nursery classes and almost every other class from Sunbeams to Valiant 11 had two separate classes to avoid having 12-14 kids/class.  About 18 months into things, the ward split and that took us down to about 75 kids, a much more manageable number, but we have been growing at a decent pace ever since and have close to 100 kids again.  It's a fair amount of work, but more than anything it's just plain old fun to be with them every Sunday to be reminded of the simple things in life.

I found all of this out last Sunday (the 10th) and I've been feeling fine about things until Thursday when I was on a morning run waiting for Caleb in piano.  The first Sunday that I was officially the President, was Valentine's Day and every year I have told them of the experience I had several hours before getting the calling.  I was sitting in Primary with my CTR 4 class and had an unexpected sense of deep and expansive love for all of these kids in Junior Primary, even ones that weren't in my class.  My heart reached that point of bursting and tears came to my eyes and I seriously started thinking that this was and answer to my prayer about whether Jared and I should have another child. Then Jared told me that the Bishop had asked to meet with him and then wanted to come over to our house to meet with the both of us that night, and then I knew, I just knew in that deep part of myself where truth sits and does't budge.  I was grateful for that experience because being the Primary President was not something I had ever considered myself doing.  But I think that's why I'm sad today....it's Valentine's Day and kind of a dumb one because Jared is gone with Caleb to an orchestra rehearsal, Friday is booked with two concerts, Saturday will possibly bring snow and Caleb's jazz festival, swim practice, soccer tryouts, and the first child from the CTR 7 class to be baptized and the last Primary Welcome I will do, so that means we've planned to celebrate on Sunday the day I will officially get released and have to cry my eyes out telling the kids goodbye as I give them their 3rd Valentine Day Card and a heart shaped sugar cookie with pink frosting.

I have gone through 4 different Themes over the last 3 years and am a little disappointed that I don't get to spend this year with them for "I am a Child of God" because I feel it's this seemingly small part of the gospel that is key to everything they will ever need to know.  If there is anything I would want them to learn from Primary it's that having a real relationship with Heavenly Father is the foundation from which their entire testimony can blossom.  I know Heavenly Father knows me and loves me and because of that, I feel that if I will draw myself to him, he will guide me in all that I will ever do in this life.  A little sappy, I know, but true none-the-less.   Like I told the boys driving home from church the other night after a great Priesthood Preview where Caleb, as the Decon's Quorem President gave a fantastic talk on begin a deacon, there is nothing in this life that has filled me with as much joy as having an experience where I know I was a tool in God's hand, or that I was doing exactly what he wanted me to do with my life.  So, if these kids can grow up to have a relationship with their Heavenly Father where they know he is keenly aware of their desires, fears, hopes and dreams, anxieties and inadequacies, and everything in between, then I believe they will do remarkable things in their lifetimes.

My next calling is to teach the 16-18 year olds and the first thing that came to my mind now that boys can leave on their missions at 18 years old and girls at 19, was the image of me teaching at the MTC in Provo, Utah about 18 years ago.  I am very excited for this next phase in my church service!

Here is a photo of the Presidency at it's best (of note: Em Crane gets to carry the torch as the next President and she'll be FANTASTIC!):

Emily Crane, Peggy Cleveland, Kayla Tibbets, Me