Cerebrate Good Times

This is a churchy post. And there's probably too much context for me to give anyone who's not familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Be ye warned. Back in January our ward boundaries were rearranged, and we became a brand new ward. The boundaries consist of two separate neighborhoods rather than one continuous area. I knew my immediate subdivision because we had been together in the previous ward, but half the ward was unfamiliar. And we had just been in our previous ward for 18 months or so, in a new state with no family around, so it was another adjustment period. For a couple of months I had no calling in the new ward, so I felt a little lost. I had never felt that way before in a ward, but I really wanted some sort of responsibility. As is often the case, I think they were struggling to get enough teachers called to the primary. By the time I was called in for an interview a couple months after the ward formed, I had a pretty strong sense...

The other night our doorbell rang. We opened it to see a woman we don't know. She said, "I was asked to give this to you," and handed Katie an envelope and left. We closed the door, opened the envelope, and... ... saw a $500 Walmart gift card. Our first thought was, this has to be a mistake. This is the time of year when people look to help those in need. We assumed someone, or a group of someones, had collected this money and sent someone to deliver it. It seemed like this person had probably just knocked on the wrong door. But she was gone, and there was nothing on the card to indicate who had sent it. And while I'm sure my kids don't always look super neat and comely, they are generally well cared for. I called the ward relief society president, who would likely coordinate any large-scale donations of that kind if it were done by church members. She had no idea what the deal was. So now we are trying to figure out how to use it. I think we'll hold o...