The Beach Report

Several people have asked me how the Bishop's retreat went, so consider this my official report: IT WAS FABULOUS!!!!! There's so much to tell, I'll try to condense it a little. We stayed at The Sailmaker's Place in Perdido Key, Florida, which is just minutes away from Orange Beach, Alabama, where Aubrey and I usually stay. We weren't right on the beach; we were on the intercoastal waterway. That meant that we had access to a jet ski and a boat. The boys played on the water and the girls soaked up the sun. Olivia absolutely loved the beach there. She could play in the water without getting pushed over every five seconds and see all kinds of water life. She chased fishes and terrorized the hermit crabs.

We got to the place Thursday night and had dinner at a really great little restaurant. Olivia didn't go to bed until 11:30 p.m.!!! Her normal bedtime is 7 p.m. It was an exhausting weekend for her. Meetings didn't start until Friday night, so we had all day Friday to play. Olivia got a couple of good naps in, which helped her survive our meeting that night, which didn't end until 10 p.m. Another bishop's wife put her to sleep during the meeting (she was VERY popular this weekend). During the meeting, we had great training on working with personalities from Pres. Archibald (a counselor in the stake presidency and my old Institute teacher). We all took personality quizzes and it was soooo much fun. Then, Pres. Smartt (our stake president) talked to us about what bishops needed to teach to their wards/branches and the direction the stake and the church as a whole would be heading in the next year or so. It was very informative.

Saturday morning, the guys ate breakfast together and had a meeting and the girls ate breakfast together and had a meeting. The guys got awesome training and we had a really nice "non-meeting". Sis. Smartt was in charge and she led us in a discussion about being a bishop's wife and what to do to cope with it. It was wonderful and exactly what I needed to hear. Having to serve in a different unit than your own is difficult. I feel very isolated and lonely sometimes. But top that with being a branch president's wife and it can get pretty crazy. Sisters said it over and over again, "You just don't know unless you've been a bishop's wife." And they are so right. Friends are good to have for support, but the bottom line is they just don't know what my family goes through. It's quite a burden and responsibility and it's difficult for others to understand. I really enjoyed getting to know others in the stake and now I don't feel as alone or forgotten as I once did. It was a total morale booster!!

So, that's it in a nutshell. I took pictures of where we stayed, which was incredible. The unit that Aubrey and I were in was three bedrooms and three bathrooms and bigger than our Nebraska house. The townhome unit was bigger than my Alabama house. The penthouse was INCREDIBLE! I actually didn't take pictures of our unit, I took them of the penthouse. All of the units had granite countertops, top-of-the-line appliances, a wet bar, flat screen HDTVs, travertine tile flooring, and very nice furnishings. My intention was to post pictures with this post, but I just heard Olivia wake up. I'll post them this afternoon. Promise!