Ok...just breathe....

Truthfully, I think there are some days that taking one more breath would be too much.

Between work, chauffeuring kids around to soccer, YW, play practice and parties, doing grocery shopping, laundry and housework, dealing with homework, teen drama and lost library books, paying bills, making phone calls, dinner and VT appointments, it's just enough already.

But I was managing to juggle everything, only just, but managing. And then my life really got complicated.

I was released from teaching seminary and leading the Wolf Den and called to be Relief Society President. There I sat in the bishop's office having just informed him I had never turned down a calling in my life, when he dropped this bombshell right into my already overfilled lap.

I've always known my Heavenly Father has a sense of humor...I mean just look at the platypus. Only a sense of humor can explain that mixed-up creature.

So there I sat....confronting the reality of my own words and hearing in my head a still, small voice whispering..."Gotcha!" It seemed like some cosmic joke. There really was only one answer, but man, the tears that I have shed since. And I don't think I've caught my breath yet....

This is hard work...it's harder than teaching seminary five days a week. It's harder than keeping 8 loud, rambunctious, active eight-year olds focused on tying ties. It's harder than finding a rental house big enough to sleep 18 on the the coast of Oregon. It's more exhausting than doing 1o loads of laundry in a day or driving 20 hours straight to Kansas City. It's more complicated than organizing 22 angel gowns, wings and halos before the dress rehearsal of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

There's just SO much to do. Most days I get up thinking about phone calls I need to make, the sisters that need visits, friends, food or callings, all the conversations that need to be followed up and I just know there's no way it's EVER going to get done.

Then I think of the wonderful sisters I serve with--their willingness to share their talents, their skills, their time and their love. Thinking of them allows me to take that one more breath and survive it.

I've heard it said that whom the Lord calls, he qualifies...well I have an addition to that statement as it applies to me. Those whom the Lord calls, he qualifies and then blesses with extra hands to help with the work.

Thank you...thank you...thank you.