Our New Ward

We went to our new ward for the first time today, and we really liked it despite the fact that we had to drive half an hour, and it went from 3:00 to 6:00- not the best time for a family with two kids- not the best time for a ward whose population is more than 60% children under the age of 6. It was a very noisy sacrament meeting. It will only be that way for another 2 weeks. After that, we get a brand new building that is just down the street from us. Anyway, like I said- the ward is really great. Everyone was so welcoming and we seem to fit right in.

That was a huge relief to us, because ever since we got married, we have been kind of outsiders in all of our wards. The worst was the one we just moved out of. That ward was one of those 'Newly Wed or Nearly Dead' wards. We were neither and were kind of ostracized as a result of it. The ward was actually a pretty tight knit one and they were very supportive of each other if you could just break into one of the cliques. I never found my way in. In fact, I was pretty disliked. For what, I don't know- but I heard a lot of negative comments about myself and my family through the grapevine, mostly from some of the girls who baby sat for me during that time I had to work for a while. Here is a good lesson for those of you who must gossip. Make sure that you find out the name of the person you are telling your little tale to, just to make sure that the person you are talking to is not the subject of the juicy little tid-bit you heard from a disgruntled lady at the last mommy meeting thing. Also, choose wisely where you choose to complain in a church building. You never know who is standing outside the mother's lounge door waiting to get in, or who is right around the corner. If they hear you, as I did on a few occasions, it may hurt their feelings beyond reconcilable repair, and it will also make you look like a giant hypocrite when you put on a smile and try to engage them in friendly conversation.

I am hoping that the friendliness we encountered today is as genuine as it seemed. This is not a transitional stage for us. We could very well be here for a while, and we want to finally feel like we belong somewhere.