He makes weak things become strong!

Today has been a very special day for our family! Josh was sustained and set apart to be the Bishop of the Florence SC Ward today! Some of you may be thinking, "HUH?!" and you'd be feeling just about the same as I was on Monday night, when we got the call from my Dad, who is the Stake Executive Secretary, telling us that the Stake President wanted to see both of us on Wednesday at noon. Of course we knew that our Bishop had gotten a new job in Colorado and would need to be released, but who ever dreams they could actually get called to be a Bishop, especially at 31 years old!

So here we go....As soon as we finished our interview Wednesday, we were on the phone to Josh's parents and siblings to let them know and ask if they could drive down to be here for the setting apart (they did, of course and we had a BLAST! Thanks, guys! Love y'all!)

It was definitely hard to keep it a secret...we have a particularly chatty and speculative ward, though surprisingly, it was worse with the MEN than the women! Gotta love 'em! But we managed to keep it from all but the closest of family...

I'm so proud of Josh. He was born on Father's Day 32 years ago, and today he was sustained as a bishop! What a great Father's Day for him...very overwhelming for both of us, but wonderful.

In Sacrament Meeting, he was sustained by the ward and bore his testimony (I was so impressed with his way with words and how he listened to the Spirit as he said what I believe to be just what our ward needed to hear!) I couldn't help thinking as he sat on the stand that he seemed to look a little older! (In a good way! Those of you who know him know that he really has a baby face and looks to be about 15 years old...I say he aged to about 20 today;0) After the meeting, His dad ordained him a High Priest and then the Stake President ordained and set him apart as the bishop. What a special blessing he received, and I firmly believe that he and our family will be blessed beyond measure for this service he (and we) will give the Lord here in the Florence area.

I'm sure I'll post more about it later, and just ask if you have questions, especially those who may not be members of our church! It can all be a little confusing...

I welcome your comments, but let them be positive! I got way too many "I'm sorry"s and sarcastic "Good luck"s and even a few, "Kiss you're husband, because you won't be seeing him for a while!"s from people today...UGH! Is that supposed to ENCOURAGE me?! I enjoyed the hugs, smiles, "We'll be praying for you"s, "Let me know if you need any help"s and "We support you"s much more!

Love to you all!

PS-Sorry if this post sounds a little more formal than you might be used to hearing from me...I'm kind of in that mood, I guess...;0) Just a little in shock I think...;0) Oh, and the pic is from May, but I thought it would fit since it's outside our church building and you can see what he looks like in his suit!