One Year Later...

One year ago, I was unceremoniously drop-kicked out of my beloved YSA branch.

Wait.

I did get a very nice diploma. It was printed on fancy paper, rolled up, and tied with a ribbon. And it was presented at my last branch FHE, so....

One year ago, I was ceremoniously drop-kicked out of my beloved YSA branch. That was kind of traumatic for me. Tears and cussing were involved. I may or may not have considered using hot-pink spray paint to vandalize the stake president's cattle herd.

It was a dark time.

Thankfully, I was quickly adopted into the family home evening group that my former branch leaders had started when they were drop-kicked out of the branch eight months earlier. Having an FHE to attend has been wonderful for me, and I think it worked out well for those cattle too. Hot pink definitely wasn't their color.


Being a former brancher has still be weird, though. Before last year, my life pretty much revolved around the kidlets and the branchers. I still miss attending all of the many, many activities, like this February's branch weekday Relief Society meeting.

Lacie taught the branch-ettes how to crochet. Had I still been a card-carrying young single adult instead of an old single adult, I would have been right there with them. I would have spent the evening teasing Lacie, taking a ton of photos, and sloppily trying to turn yarn into a scarf.

Sigh.

It would have been a blast.

I would have really liked to have been there.

Oh wait. I was there. But I wasn't crashing the party illegally trying to relive my youth. I was on official stake Relief Society business. You can tell because I was wearing a skirt. A non-denim skirt. That skirt is as official and non-apostate as skirts get.

And it's not like I could pass up an opportunity to use yarn created and endorsed by Vanna White. I never would have forgiven myself for squandering a chance like that.

But even though I still like to keep one, slightly apostate toe in the familiar branch waters, I am very grateful for the opportunities I have to immerse myself in the spiritual and culinary fountain of youth that is my wonderful FHE group.

Our FHE's are beautiful in every way: beautiful people with beautiful souls sharing beautiful food in beautiful homes while sharing beautiful lessons and testimonies.

Plus, every FHE is a "feed the flock" FHE. Dinner and a lesson? How could Monday nights get better than that?

Kristi could be there!

And there is another bonus blessing to being a part of this particular family home evening group too: No showing up for FHEs only to discover that the planned activity is speed dating.

Again.

Of course, there is a downside to my current situation too. I have to constantly deal with the possibility that the other people in the FHE group could be translated at any moment. Sure, being twinkled would be nice for them, but I would like to get a few more evening in with all of them before they go all City-of-Enoch on me.

Without them, I would be forced to hold my own private family home evenings. And now that President Sagers is serving a cattle-less mission and WalMart has cut back on its spray paint inventory, I wouldn't even know how to begin to plan an alternate FHE activity.

So if you all could pray for my FHE group NOT to be translated any time soon, that would be great. If not for my sake, then for the cows'.