Elder Bednar

One thing I have yet to mention about the Mahomet Ward is that we happen to be in the same ward as Elder Bednar's son. We had the privilege of hearing he and his wife speak to us in Sacrament meeting two times. I had never heard an apostle speak in person and it's hard to explain the difference between hearing an apostle speak in General Conference vs in person but there IS a difference. I don't think I've ever been that early to Sacrament Meeting to ensure a seat, and I don't think I've ever listened so intently to every word spoken in a talk before. The messages that he gave will most likely stay engrained in my memory forever. One main thing he emphasized was the importance of reverence in Sacrament and from the moment forward I've never attended a more reverent congregation before and after the meeting. He said that there should be no mingling in the chapel. In 2001 Elder Bednar gave a devotional at BYU entitled 'In the strength of The Lord'- he based his talk in church on this devotional. The moment that will NEVER be forgotten is when Elder Bednar bore his testimony. He spoke directly to the women in the Mahomet ward. I listened as I sat on the front row within 2 feet of him. While I cannot recall his exact wording, and while I doubt I could even do justice in summarizing his testimony it is something that was truly FELT and KNOWN to be truth. When you hear an apostle bear his "apostolic witness that Christ lives", you can't help but feel the spirit so strong. I am truly grateful that I was able to hear him in person on these occasions. I doubt, if ever, I will be able to be part of such a unique, almost one on one encounter with an apostle.

Tornado

Throughout the past couple of years living in Illinois we have seen some crazy weather. I remember one night in particular being at work at Kirby while sheets of rain literally came out of the sky. We were slow on patients in the ER and I spent a good amount of time standing underneath the ambulance bay watching the rain just pour while the lightning continued non-stop. While this was going on Joel was watching our street fill up with rain and our yard nearly flood.

An interesting thing about Illinois weather is that it is constantly changing. You might wake up in the morning to temperatures in the 30's and then find yourself taking all of your clothes off by noon because it's changed to 80's and sunny. You just can never tell what the weather will be like. When you hear people talk about Chicago as being the "Windy City" that's pretty much the dead honest truth. Terms like heat index and wind chill were not in my weather vocabulary prior to moving to Illinois.

Tornado's. We quickly learned the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning. We quickly learned that the tornado sirens were tested the first Wednesday of every month at noon. We on a couple of occasions had to stay in our basement as the alarms went off in Monticello.

The week before we moved and on our last Sunday at church, we were in the second hour of Primary and I had just sat down to play the piano for singing time. Someone came into the room to let us know that there was a tornado spotted in the area and that we needed to get to the center of the building. As the kids made there way to the hallway it became very eery. The sky outside was a dark gray and the glass doors to the outside were being opened and closed by the pressure and wind from outside. The primary music leader made the comment, "God won't let a tornado get us, there's WAY too many priesthood holders in this building." I had to kind of laugh at that. Pretty soon the bishop made his way into the hall. He said a prayer and asked that Heavenly Father protect us, especially the children. The kids then spent singing time singing hymns without the piano. You could really feel the spirit in that hallway. Needless to say, we were kept safe that day, but several tornados struck within miles of our church building. We were protected that day.

Winnemucca

OK, so it's about time I face reality and write about Joel's new job. Back in July, Joel had applied for a position in Utah at a place called Sun Products. He had some connections with a current employee that he knew from school and it seemed pretty promising. He had flown out to Utah and interviewed for the position and felt pretty good about it. With baby number three on the way, we'd been talking about getting back closer to home in Utah where we could be closer to family. He however did not get the position and was pretty disappointed about it.

Since that time he had applied for another position in Winnemucca, NV. Now, with the let down on the Utah job, I didn't really get my hopes up. I also didn't look in to where Winnemucca was or what the area was like. I think in the back of my head I hoped that he wouldn't get the job (I know that sounds horrible). After all, I liked Monticello, I was fine being here- I liked my job, my friends and the city itself. I knew the kids liked their friends, our neighbors, Charlee's classmates and teachers, Van's classmates and teachers. I thought it would be good to be back closer to family, but throughout the whole application and interview process it never really occurred to me that he could actually get offered the job and that we might actually move forward with the decision to move... AGAIN. Well, what happened? Joel was offered and accepted the job. I can't say that I was excited. I STILL, four months later as I write this, can not say that I am excited. With everything that was going on in our lives a million things were running through my head. I thought about selling our home again, looking for a new home in Winnemucca, having another baby, starting Charlee in a new school, leaving my job. It was hard. It IS hard.