The Constancy Of Change

If there is one thing you can count on....it's change. Change is certainly inevitable, although sometimes change comes in bigger doses than at other times. Growing up I experienced relatively few changes in my life. I lived in the same house, same town, had basically the same friends from grade school on and never went through any major transitions. I find that life in general changes much more now that I'm an adult.

It all started this summer. First, a couple of my friends announce that they are moving. What? Alish all the way off to a place we've never even heard of- Sierra Vista, AZ. And then Kenzi drops the bombs that they'll be moving to Twin Falls. This one was a little tough cuz she has totally sustained me since we've moved back to Idaho. She's been my friend since 2nd grade & it was so nice to move home to a friend- we worked out together, our kids went to playgroup together and she taught me how to text! Needless to say, she made my move back to Idaho easier to cope with. And now she's left me here all alone! And I haven't worked out once since she left! I miss her.

Then, one of the biggest surprises hit me. I found out I'm expecting baby #3! (This is my official announcement for those of you who don't already know.) And changes kicked in immediately- morning sickness, exhaustion, nausea, body changes, etc. This was not expected either, so trying to figure out how I'm going to manage 3 kids ages 4 and under (especially since Rylee will still be under 2) has been a change in and of itself. And did I mention I'm due Feb. 23, which will be our second "tax season" child and a C-Section recovery. So..we've started shopping for a bigger car, thinking through how to do room arrangements and so forth.

A few months ago, our enormous ward of 700 finally split and we are now in a newly formed ward. With this brought leaving friends, a new building, new ward leadership and a new calling. I am now the Enrichment Leader and have been switching gears- trying to get Super Saturday organized for next month. However, we're still dealing with the big ward thing- we still have close to 400 members, 5 nurseries, 3 sunbeam classes and a Sunday school that fills the whole chaple. The church is true in Rexburg in case you haven't heard!

Next, the baby of our family, Allison, got married this August. She was the final wedding for our family & it just made me think about how much our family has changed over the years with each new addition. My parents now have 19 grandchildren and our little family of 9 has now exploded into like 35 members. (Go to http://studiockchantrikeelephotography.blogspot.com/ under Aug. 13 to view photos of the wedding.) It was a very special occasion to have all of my siblings & spouses in the temple for the wedding. It makes me so proud of our good parents- I'm sure it wasn't easy for them to raise all of us, but what a sweet reward that must have been for them. I really do have a great family! And more changes are ahead for our family too. My parents are planning on going on a mission at the first of next year, which will be really different to have them gone. They are finally back to their own life now that all of us are finally on our own.

And finally, I am all but weeping right now. Jace just left with our car pool for his first day of preschool. I'm just not sure if the weeping is out of sadness or joy to tell you the truth. As my little cling-on, it makes me very happy to see him gain his confidence and go have something of his own. He was so excited this morning. On the other hand, it's just another reminder of how quickly they grow and how fast things change. Luckily Rylee's nap is at the same time that Jace is at school, so I'm basically having my first taste of freedom in about 4 years, wondering what to do with myself. Now that's a change! And of course, I choose to blog- go figure.

Like I said, change is inevitable! It can be good sometimes, it can be challenging sometimes, but it's always constant. And if not, life would be boring. Just trying to embrace this season of change and prepare myself for the next- like Rylee entering nursery next month (yay!), Jus entering tax season and me getting used to being completely outnumbered with the arrival of the new baby.