So many hats...

Our Family (less 2 Foster Children currently in our home)

I wear many hats in my life right now. Wife, Mother, LDS Church Service Missionary, Cub Master, Visiting Teacher, Friend, Foster Parent... I keep coming back to the statement "Whom the Lord calls, He qualifies" and this wonderful article with the same title from the July 2013 Ensign & Liahona.

I do view each of these "hats" as callings in my life. Let me explain.

As a wife, my calling from my Heavenly Father is to love and support Steve as the head of our home. To counsel with him regarding matters of our family. To keep all of Heavenly Father's commandments so that I can remain worthy of such a wonderful husband. To do all I can to make life simpler and easier for him and not to burden Steve with trivial things. To love the children in our home and to do everything described in the next paragraph.

Steve and I on our wedding day

As a mother, I feel my biggest responsibility is to love and nurture the children in my home and teach them to be faithful to the teachings of God. To help them become productive citizens in this great country we live in. A common statement within our faith is "To be in the world and not of the world." It's not easy. I know. I had a difficult time with this myself until I learned to follow God's teachings and have faith in him in all things. I love this article from 1974 which quotes scripture from John (John 17:11, 14–15.) about the remaining apostles doing this very thing. How they need to be in the world to teach of Christ, but asking that they be kept from the evils of the world. I pray for this daily for my children.

I am a Church Service Missionary at our local Employment Resource Center. What is that? Well, here is an excerpt from an article explaining what it is and why we do it:

LDS Employment Services

Employment resource service centers located throughout the world offer free services for those who are looking for work or trying to improve their employment situation.

More than 100 centers are located in the United States, and more than 150 centers are located throughout the world in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe, and Latin America. The services are available to anyone, not just Church members.

Employment resource service centers offer help in finding job openings and opportunities and show participants how to better qualify for work.

Some of the services available include job postings, instructions on how to search for a job, one-on-one assistance, and career services. Classes include how to enhance a résumé, Internet training in computer skills, interviewing proficiency, and specific job training.

In 2006 more than 225,000 people around the world were placed in jobs.LDS Employment Services helps people find jobs quickly because of the networking available and new skills learned and applied.

Access to more information on LDS Employment Services can be found atProvidentLiving.org. Tips to help job applicants get hired, career counseling, educational funding information, and job opportunities are available on the Web site. A search by map shows the locations of employment resource service centers.

How did I come to do this? Well, within our faith, we have Home Teachers. These are men and boys (always one adult) who visit families in their homes on a monthly basis with a spiritual message and just chat on how the family is doing. During one of these spiritual messages, one of our family's home teachers went off topic and said (something to the effect of) "The only thing I regret is not having served a mission." I'm sure Douglas (our 17-year-old son) thought that message was directed towards him. But I firmly believe that even if it was meant for him to hear, it was also meant for me. The thought of doing this had been bouncing around in my head for several weeks. The following day, I had a job interview and the thought went through my head "Why am I here? This is not what I should be doing right now." I then told Steve what was going on. He told me, "If you feel this is what you should do, then do it." And the rest is history. At the time this process started, I was not yet a Cub Master, nor did we have additional Foster Children in our home. Now, I am, and we do. And the rest is history.

We love what we do at our center. We all work together to help those in need of work or would like to better their situation in life. I am personally responsible for contacting those in my Stake who are seeking employment and find ways to help them. I am also responsible for posting "Hot Jobs" on our Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts. (So if you're looking for work in the Denver area, connect to these pages for almost daily postings!) We do not only help those of our faith, but all those in the community in need of new or better employment.

Yes, I am the Cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 719 in the Denver Area Council. Why? Because the leaders at Church felt that I would be able to do this effectively. I joke with them saying that they only picked me because they knew I could pass the BSA background check because I'm a Certified Foster Parent. I've never done anything with Scouting. I barely remember a Pinewood Derby my brother participated in when I was a kid. By the time Steve and I got married, both of his boys were in Boy Scouts. NOW, we have little girls in our home ages 6, 9 and 11. But I digress...

The boys in our Pack are amazing! They want to do all they can in the Cub Scout program and earn all the awards possible. They LOVE coming to Scouts! We have some of the best Den Leaders and parents imaginable who all make my job easier. I'm learning. And I will and do make mistakes. I just pray that these mistakes to not adversely affect the boys. I'm looking forward to our tree planting service activity coming up for the boys to get their World Conservation Award. They are even going to learn this week how to retire an US Flag.

Visiting Teaching is a foreign concept to those who are not Mormons. But we were told by Christ to serve one another and to minister to those in need. I was the person in need at one time, and thankfully, I had the world's greatest Visiting Teacher! This article gives some wonderful stories about Visiting Teaching and the positive effects it can have on the Sisters we visit and the Visiting Teachers themselves. We believe that this is a duty given to us from God, Himself, to be responsible for helping those around us.

Heather, me and Donna

As a friend, I have learned much. I've learned that you love them unconditionally and you help them by any means possible when necessary. I have friends of all ages and ethnicities, both male and female. Friends are those people in our lives who will tell us we are screwing up and we love them even when we learn they were RIGHT! The love is mutual and unconditional. By learning to be a good friend, I have learned to be a better person in general.

And finally, I am a Foster Mom. As many of my friends know, my beautiful daughter Yazminn was originally a Foster Child placed in our home. The challenges seemed sometimes to be overwhelming, but Steve and I got though them together. I've posted a picture of Yazminn to represent the Foster Children who are in our home. Because of confidentiality issues, I can not post photos of children whose parents still have rights. These kids come into my home scared, alone, hurting, etc. These kids have had experiences many people could not even imagine. They have lived under circumstances not fit for animals. But they are quite resilient and quickly adapt to new situations. It is unfortunate that these children have to face such difficult life circumstances so early in life. But remember, our experiences make us who we are. As a Foster Parent, my responsibility is to help these children take these horrific experiences and become stronger because of them. Learn to live with what has happened and not let their abusers dictate how they live their lives. Help them to understand that they can overcome these negative experiences.

These thoughts have been bouncing around in my head for about a week now and I really wanted to share them. I know the Lord has qualified me for all He has asked of me. I find myself with more energy than I ever imagined I could have at 45 years old. I quit my job so I could serve as a Church Service Missionary. After that, we received 2 foster daughters and I was called to be the Cub Master. On top of all that, I'm everything else a woman can be, wife, mother, sister, daughter...and most importantly, a Daughter of God. My life is full of blessings because of all these hats I wear.