Reas is our ward's new bishop.  Crazy, weird, humbling, and awesome all at once.  He's now been Bishop Allen for exactly 36 days.  I think he's fitting into his new role quite nicely.  He's perfect for the job, although I know he'd disagree.  As we sat in front of the stake president that Saturday afternoon, I jokingly asked President Shields, "We're just here to chit chat, right? You wanted to congratulate Reas on finishing up his last CPA exam?" (which was just about 24 hours earlier)  I laughed. I thought it was funny, although I wasn't the one getting a new calling. Reas was obviously squirmy in his chair, so President Shields got down to business quickly and extended the call.  I immediately got a huge smile, squeezed Reas' hand, and fell in love with him all over again.  Reas just kind of stared, probably concentrating on picking up his jaw, staying upright in his seat, and breathing.  

Somebody recently asked me if I was surprised that Reas accepted such a demanding calling.  What?! I'm not sure what kind of question that was,but it caught me by complete surprise. I'm sure this person could see that I thought so.  I told him that I would have been shocked if Reas had said no.  In fact, I'd be downright devastated.  Truly, it never even crossed my mind that saying no was an option and I know that Reas feels exactly the same way.  It's true he has no training in marriage counseling, no professional background in public speaking, no experience handling welfare cases, or pretty much anything else a bishop is called to do.  But he does have a huge heart, a solid testimony, a firm understanding of the principles of the Gospel, and an incredible willingness to serve while following inspiration and guidance of the Holy Ghost.

Heavenly Father knew exactly how to fill all that extra time we thought we were about to have. My dear friend Anna, who happens to be our previous bishop's wife recently said to me, "We're always going to be busy.  The only thing that changes is what we choose to be busy with."  If Reas is going to be busting his tail busy, this is the best way to do it.

So here we go...another family adventure.  We're humbled and grateful to have this new opportunity to serve.  And very happy that the stake president was kind enough to wait until all of Reas' tests were over.  We've since learned that he had a secret spy on the move, keeping him posted on Reas' testing progress - sneaky.