Bishop

On September 10, 2006, Brent was called to serve as Bishop of the Little Spokane River Ward in our stake.  At the time, his call was unexpected and overwhelming in so many ways.  Well, here we are now over 5 1/2 years later, and this past Sunday he was released from his position as Bishop of the Colbert Ward.   Two years ago our stake boundaries were realigned and the former ward was dissolved and we had the opportunity of helping create a new ward.  It was a great experience. 

Sunday was a tender, teary and bittersweet day to say the least.  There were lots of kind words and sentiments shared.  He truly and deeply LOVED his calling.  He just loves people, especially the youth, and as a bishop had the opportunity to personally connect with so many.  Of course there were hard and difficult times, plenty of challenges that he helped members through.  However, the good times, the opportunities to mentor youth, to guide, direct and serve young and old far outweighed those challenges. 

Currently he is in "decompression" mode!  It will take a few weeks for his mind and his heart to "let go" of the responsibilities that he had.  The stake has great plans for him in the future that include still working with the youth and he is excited about that.  As "Sister Bishop" I too enjoyed serving with him.  It was a great blessing in our family for which I will be forever grateful.  Following are a few pictures of some of these experiences.  We will humbly cherish the memories of this time and will always love our fellow ward members. 

The picture on the left is Brent with some of the Young Women.  The YW LOVE Bishop McLaws.
 Our Stake President says he reminds him of a "a happy puppy!"  Not a bad description!
 The picture on the right is at YW Girl's Camp in 2010.
 We camped as a ward that year and he stayed with us the whole time.

Left picture is of a 50 Mile High Adventure Camp with the Priests at Eagle's Cap, Oregon.
 Right is a Youth Activity where they had their own Pinewood Derby.

One of my favorite things about being Bishop was the opportunity to get to know the missionaries serving in our area.  The left picture is of 2 sister missionaries who served in our ward.
 We even had 2 elders who lived in our home for about 6 weeks while waiting for a permanent place. 
The picture on the right is of the Pioneer Trek we went on in 2010.  I spent my 50th birthday as a pioneer--it was awesome! 

Just Checking In. . . .

This time of year has never been a favorite of mine.   I'm usually very over winter and ready for spring, although this year our winter was so mild I can hardly complain.    In fact, this last week has been rather rainy.  March is a month that seems longer than any other, but of course that's not true because there are other months with 31 days.  It's all in my head, no doubt, but I'm already looking ahead.

Nonetheless, I've kept busy since my last post (a month ago!!) with just everyday life.  Here are a few hints to what's been on the docket.

In December I was called to work in Young Women's as the Mia Maid Counselor.  I have 11 great 14 and 15 year olds.  They are darling girls and a lot of fun.  I have served in YW's before, but it's been about 7 years, so I was "out of shape" so to speak!  Serving in YW's is challenging but so rewarding.  Between the busy Sundays and Wednesday night activities, there is always at least a couple of other days in the week that I get to be "Sister McLaws."  We have dances, firesides, service projects, birthdays, stake events, temple trips, etc., etc.  It can be exhausting but it is a lot of fun too.

Hey, it's March Madness baby!  I love basketball and so I love this first week of the tournament.  I filled out a bracket, and of course I have lots of busts so far.  My two teams, BYU and Gonzaga both won their opening games, but lost in the next rounds.  There were plenty of upsets a few days ago, so now I'm just cheering for the underdog, whichever team that may be.  It is just so exciting!

We participated in our first Republican Primary Caucus a few weeks ago.  I'm pretty into current events and watch way too much news, so I have a candidate and political view that's for sure.  It was interesting to caucus and participate as a citizen.  I was selected to be a delegate (about 60 people showed up at our neighborhood caucus and we have 8 delegates) at the Spokane County Caucus in April!!  Yoo hoo!  I figure if I'm going to be "into" this election cycle I might as well be involved.  After all, at some point all my opinions and clever repertoire is just noise unless I act.  FYI, I'm supporting Romney wholeheartedly, but basically my position is ABO--Anybody But Obama.  I believe this election will be a referendum on Obama and I just hope and pray people will recognize the destructive path his administration is on.  We need to save our country and get back to individual responsibility, liberty and freedom.  (Sorry for the soapbox, but hey, it's my blog!)

And for the best news of all, Brittney and Stuart are having a BOY!!   Let's just say that this Grandma has been busy with a few projects for this little guy.  It's hard already to not pick up something from the baby department every time I'm in a store.  We are so thrilled for them and can't wait to welcome him in July. 

We are looking forward to seeing the family in a few weeks when we go to Utah for General Conference.  Until then, I'll stay out of the rain.   Back to you soon!