A Moment.

As I got off the hospital shuttle after work today and walked to my car in the ghetto parking lot in downtown KC, I had such an overwhelming feeling come over me that Heavenly Father is completely aware of me and my life. It came out of nowhere. It was a very short, but very powerful and personal moment with the spirit in which very specific moments and feelings were brought before my eyes. These moments were coupled with the feeling that He knows, He understands, and He has placed me in certain situations in my life not because I want to be in them or asked for them, but because He trusts me to do His work. He knows I can be better, He knows I want to be better, and He knows the way.

The moment was quick, as this post will be. But it was needed. I get so overwhelmed some days with all that is on my emotional plate. And this was almost like a quick text from my papa saying, "Don't worry, I know. Just trust me, because I trust you."

I quickly remembered that I already know how to be happy. I already know how to find and feel the purest feeling of peace. And that all this time, I was never meant to do anything alone.

He knows. He is aware. And it's all because He loves us.

Change

To make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of something (or someone) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone. 

The literal story of my life these days.

When we first moved here, I picked up a small intriguing journal at TJ Max. The cover of it says, "Do one thing every day that scares you." I bought it with the ambition to really do something simple every day that terrified me - whether it was going to the ward's playgroup and making new friends, calling or texting a new friend, going and looking for a job, etc.. anything that would stretch me and motivate me to do more than be a hermit in my new home and new city. I'm not quite as ambitious at physically writing the scary things I do in the journal as I hoped I would be, but I think the Lord took my ambition and is running full speed ahead with it. If I wrote in that journal religiously, every day would have a list of my scary accomplishments of the day. 

We've been here in Kansas City for 3 and half months, and during this time have experienced nothing but change! Sometimes it's been awesome, other times it's been more than difficult, and all the time it's making us stronger, bringing us closer, and somehow molding us into the people we're ultimately supposed to become. I haven't written on here for quite some time, so let me fill those of you in who don't know already, on some of these adventurous changes that are molding our lives currently!

1. At the beginning of September, after only literally one month of being here in KC, I was called to be the relief society president in our ward. (For my non-member friends, I explain this position as being the leader of all the women in our church congregation.. big job!) You are probably thinking to yourself, "Are you kidding me?!", which truthfully are the same exact words I said to the bishop when he extended the calling to me :) You can imagine that no one, including myself, would have picked this baby-faced 25 year old girl with no children out of the crowd to be the new RS president of a family ward, but that's what happened. And you don't really say no to the very humbling responsibility extended to you by a servant of the Lord. So that's one of my new adventures right now! 

This new responsibility has it's definite challenges, roller coaster of emotions, unexpected time consuming events, but with the difficulties come the humbling experiences of being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. It's one of the hardest things I've ever been asked to do. And because of that, I know that by the end of my time serving, I will hopefully be a little closer to becoming the person my Heavenly Father knows I can be. I am extremely humbled by the trust He has put in me, my testimony, and my gifts and abilities. I am relying more on the enabling power of the Savior's atonement, because I simply can't do this on my own. And as hard as this is, and as hard as the adversary continues to work on me and my self esteem every single day, I am grateful I don't have to do it alone. I'm grateful for the blessings I've seen in my own life already, and in the lives of the wonderful people I've been blessed to serve. The Lord's work is remarkable.

So yeah, shocker? Don't worry, it was for me too. I think I'll have the hang of it just in time for me to be released :)

2. Another change is going from binge watching netflix shows every day, to being able to practice my music therapy again :) At the end of August, a part-time music therapy position opened at the children's hospital here in KC. Now, for anyone who knows me knows that my internship at Primary Children's Hospital was one of the best things that has ever happened to me and my music therapy career. I was ecstatic about the possibility of this opportunity. I was sick of sitting around my house, and needed a purpose to my being in Missouri. 

So I applied for the job end of August, then..... never heard from them. I waited, and waited. Finally after 3 weeks of waiting and thinking they had already hired someone else, I received a call about coming in for an interview. Woot! So I went, showed my stuff, then waited some more. After another month of waiting, and for sure thinking this time they had found someone better, I got the call that I had received the job. I think Cam was more excited than me! haha I don't know how to be happy for myself sometimes. But alas, I was excited :) So here I am, working in a children's hospital again providing music therapy to the kiddos. It's definitely different than I imagined, but I'm grateful to be contributing to society, and grateful to be using what I know to help my amazing patients.

I am working part time, which is perfect for my new church calling, and med-school wife status. It's different than I imagined as I primarily work in the rehab clinic providing procedure support to the patients receiving botox injections. I know what you're thinking, and no, these kids don't have wrinkles already! I primarily see kiddos with cerebral palsy or other issues with muscle spasticity, who need the injections to loosen up their very tight and contracting muscles. The injections are extremely painful, and the anticipation waiting for the procedure can be killer as well. I get to spend a good chunk of time with the kids and families decreasing anxiety before the procedure, then try to really work my magic as they're receiving the painful injections. So I'm back to singing "Old MacDonald" and "Wheels on the Bus" all day long, and happy about it!

3. If you've made it through this entire novel, I congratulate you! I can reassure you my next post will be more exciting as I have to document the week I ran away to Cancun with my family last month :) Until then, the last major change we're working through is learning how to be in medical school. There's not too much to say, except that it's not always easy, and not always fun. BUT, we have started to find our groove, have made some incredible friends, and we're just learning as we go! We have an awesome ward, where we truly have a wonderful support group of friends. There are so many med-school families in our ward, all at different stages of the med-school process, so it's been nice for us to see that people do survive. They even have happy families and cute children through it all :) So we're grateful for them, and for our other friends Cam has made at school. These 2 shy introverts are all around grateful to have nice people in our lives! It's different though. I see Cam for the few minutes every night we eat dinner together, and other then that it's a grand show of "hello, goodbye, have fun studying!" He's doing so well though, and I'm extremely proud of him. He's still the best listener, still makes time to watch our silly shows together, we still go on little dates and have FHE, and he still makes me laugh when I've had a tough day (which is like every day ha). 

So... change. It's difficult. But it's the only way we grow. And I don't know about you, but even though I'm not a fan of it, I'm also not content with remaining stagnant and complacent. So in the end, I'm grateful for my little journal that reminds me that change and scary things are for our benefit in the long run.

Survived Week 1!

So we survived Orientation week and the first week of med school! Last week we were happy to have Cam's parents with us for the week. Just before they came we had some adventures of our own.. Like I said in the last post, we had to move out of our first apartment because of the smoke smell, and so two days after I got back to Missouri, we were loading up this truck to move to our new apartment. Thanks to the angel missionaries and other nice guys in our ward, we moved everything on literally the hottest and most humid day of the year. That's how we roll :) ha. 

 Then just so happens, that evening when we went quickly to grab some dinner to bring back home, we discovered we had locked ourselves out. Smooth. So this is Cam, breaking us into our own home :)

We were living without a dryer for a few days, and needed to wash everything because it all smelled really bad from being in our smoky apartment :/ Thus instead of paying for a dryer at the laundromat, cam strung a string throughout the house and we air dried everything. My husband and his third world country living skills!

 For the bigger items.. comforter and all of our blankets we used for packing, we did indeed take a trip to the sketchy laundromat. For the record, I was brave enough and went by myself. But when Cam called after orientation and found out I was alone there.. he came and sat with me. Which I'm grateful for :) 

 So here are some pictures of the new place! 

Keep in mind I'm still unpacking/organizing, but here is the majority of it :) 

 Cam's parents came during orientation week, so while Cam was in class all afternoon, we went on some adventures:) 

We discovered the Steamboat Arabia Museum downtown. It was amazing how many artifacts were recovered and restored from the sunken steamboat! 

Thursday night the school treated everyone and their families to free tickets to a Royals baseball game, my first professional game of any sport ever :) haha yep. And for starters, our tailgate was so far away from the field, the nice golf cart man was awesome and gave us a ride to the field!

And it was fun! I kept asking Cam when all the cheers would start (I'm more of a basketball fan).. but we endured until the 8th inning, then decided we had had enough fun :) They won, so all is well! 

 

Friday was family day at orientation, so we joined Cam on campus for some introductory lectures etc. Let's just say it was an adventure, and that I'm glad I'm not the one going to med school :) 

 Saturday morning was the white coat ceremony. It was basically like a graduation, where each student had to say their name "Student Doctor..." and then walked across the stage and had their coats placed on them by one of the deans. I was very proud of Cam, and the beginning of the adventure was finally real and starting! 

 

And yes, it was matchy matcherton day! :) haha we had no idea we matched until we were ready to leave. But hey! We made it on the school's twitter page!

We are lucky enough to have our church building share a parking lot with the temple :) So although it was raining on Sunday, we hopped out of the cars long enough to take a quick pic before we drove Cam's parents to the airport.

 

It was great to have them here, and go on some adventures with people other than myself :) We are so grateful for family, and grateful his parents could visit and share in the beginning of this adventure with us. Now it's just me and Student Doctor Cam King! 

Gotta have your first day of med school pic!

So that's us right now! This past week was the real jump into what will become the next two years of our life. Cam's at school from 8 until about 4 every day, then comes home and just studies until it's bed time, taking a break for dinner of course. I sneak cookies and milk up to him, and try to be quiet as he studies :) I don't brag about him ever.. but he is one of the hardest workers I know, and although it's been probably one of the most stressful weeks of his life, I have no doubt that he's going to succeed.  

That's about all the excitement on this end. So keep your fingers crossed for us that we can sell our first apartment's contract, that I can find a job so I can feel like I'm contributing to society, and that Cam can pass his first midterm on Tuesday! 

Happy Sunday :) 

A Little Catch Up of Summer!

Hi friends! We've been a little absent yes.. For the past month and a half we've been running at full speed, trying to fit in last-goodbyes before the move, driving all of our stuff out to KC, flying back for a family reunion, BBY, living out of suitcases, etc. etc!! 

How about I catch you all up with some pics eh?
Just to prove we didn't actually fall off the face of the earth:) 

The trek out to Kansas City. We were very grateful to my family for helping us drive all those miles and for helping us move in to our first place!

 If you come visit in the next 2 years, I've got the drive to Liberty Jail DOWN. 

 Little did we know we would be moving just two short weeks after this picture... We wish we could have stayed, but the smell of 40 years worth of cigarette smoke caked in our air ducts + our neighbor's smoke seeping through our walls/outlets/etc wasn't worth it. As I was playing in Utah for 2 weeks, Cam stayed and found us a new home that is100% better, and luckily still in the same awesome ward.
We love it :) So come visit!

Well after we moved in the 1st time, we turned around not even 24 hours later and headed back to Utah for an extended family reunion with the Kings at Bear Lake. 

You can't get a better view than that!

 Lucy and "MaBecca" haha.. yep that's my name :) 

It's ok, I couldn't say my R's at that age either (therefore couldn't even say my own name.. ha. )

 July 4th Beach Day

 Building princess sandcastles with my best pal :) 

 Our festive 4th of July attire!

So we tried to go hike the Minnetonka Caves, but didn't want to wait 2 hrs for the next tour.. So we found this little pond instead. The children never knew any different :) 

All in all it was a good time hanging with family and eating wonderful food! :) 

Cam and I stayed a couple of extra days in Logan before he would fly back to KC for the long haul. So we went golfing with the in-laws one afternoon. I had the prestigious job of driving the golf cart, clapping quietly, and taking many a photo. I actually quite enjoyed myself :)  

After I sent Cam on his way back to our new home, I jumped into getting ready for another year of "Be The Best You Camp" (BBY). This year marked 7 years of participation with this camp, and my 1st year of not being a counselor. It was very different, presented itself with some very different personal challenges and perspective, but I'm extremely grateful the Lord made it possible for me to return yet again. I came back to be Barbara's (the director) Assistant/ AV tech girl/ extra hand on deck for any coordinator duties etc.. Being on the other side definitely gave me more appreciation for the many hands at work that make camp possible, and that provide the space and opportunities for these wonderful girls coming to have a positive experience and feel the spirit.

[The majority of these pictures I've stolen from wonderful people on the good old facebook.. :) ]

This was our amazing coordinator team this year :) Grateful they welcomed me in with open arms! Some of the funniest and most amazing girls I know!

We had a good time :)

When I wasn't pressing play on the DVD, or carrying Barbara's bags... 

 I was beat-boxing for Melweena

It wouldn't be BBY without our boy band - Beyond 5 :) 

It's really quite a hilarious sight to watch 230 girls go insanely crazy over 5 teenage boys

 2 of the most amazing women I've ever met

 The amazing 92 yr old friend I talked with,

And laughed with :) 

Honestly my favorite part of camp - watching my sweet girls I had the blessing of being a counselor to, forget themselves and go to work. 

Love these wonderful people!! 

 If you have been to BBY, and if you know of the extent of my love for it, you know this is the place I can always be found in.. Whether I make it there by choice or by being called upon :) 

The most humbling moment of the week for me, was finally being able to sing an original song for all of the girls at camp. It was a dream. I was able to perform for them a song I had actually composed at BBY a few years earlier, entitle "Catching Tears". It's all about how we can take off that mask we wear every day, let the Savior in, and allow Him to heal us. I did not know of the aftermath of that performance until the last afternoon as we sat in a testimony meeting with all of the counselors. A few of them spoke to that specific moment and the blessing it was to finally witness their girls feeling the spirit for the first time at camp. What a humbling experience for me to know that the thing that brings me the most joy and satisfaction (being an instrument in the Lord's hands through my music) changed at least one girl's experience. That's what it's all about anyway, the one. I'm humbled and feel very blessed :) 

Something neat we did this year was honor one of our sweet past BBY campers who had passed away last year from a car accident. I had the humbling opporunity of providing some soft background music as everyone gathered. Then led everyone in singing her favorite song "A Child's Prayer", ending with "God Be With You Til We Meet Again." It was sweet. Releasing the purple balloons signified a commitment the girls were making to be kind and forgive. 

After camp, the last few days before I flew out to KC brought helping my parents host their foreign exchange Chinese kids, helping out at the Fiesta Days Rodeo concession stand, and supporting my dad and Anna in the Spanish Fork's Got Talent singing competition :) 

  

  So that was long, congrats on getting through the novel! It was a crazy month, filled with lots of emotions. When you embark on your own greatest life changing move/event/adventure/journey or if you already have, you'll know what I mean when I say for the past month and a half I've been on the verge of a great outpouring of tears, ready to explode at any minute. To list the emotions fear, stress, anxiety, excitement, scared, terrified, lonely, anticipatory, sad, happy, don't even cover it all. But you know, it all comes about so the Lord can mold and shape us into who He needs us to be. I'm just grateful He allows us the guidance and comfort of His spirit so we can endure it all

As I boarded the airplane from Salt Lake to Kansas City, I said goodbye to my mountain home, and welcomed the forest of trees that is Missouri, which would be my new home for a few years.  

It will definitely be a grand adventure, one that I'm truly excited for despite my fear and anxiety of making new friends and finding a job in this foreign place. I'm so proud of Cam though, and will try to be the best cheerleader I know how to be. Stay tuned for the adventure, and come back very soon for a recap of our new place and the week we just had with school orientation and the in-laws! :)