I Get Buckets

This is one of the video's that James and I love and often quote, it doesn't really apply that much to blog besides that's where I got the title from and I think it's funny. 

Recently I've been pondering on how successful in life I have been and as humble as I can put it I essentially get buckets. I'm proud of what I have accomplished. Far too many times I credit this success to my knowledge and work ethic when reality I only have one thing I can credit it to and that is my Playmaker. Anyone that follows basketball knows that a team is only so good without a playmaker. Blake Griffin is great but the addition of Chris Paul really help the clippers be successful. Someone to look at a slightly bigger picture and make decisions on how to get buckets when the team isn't even in offensive formation yet. Luckily for me...and for you (whoever you are) we have the GREATEST Playmaker who looks at every aspect of our game and sets us up for an ally oop that will make it to #1 on SportsCenters Top 10 when we don't think we can even dunk. That Playmaker is of course, our loving Heavenly Father. 

Back in April the Freedom Festival asked if I would be a volunteer coordinator for Freedom Days and I'm sure you can figure by the number of recent Facebook posts that I said yes. At the time work was going pretty well, I had recently been moved to a different position, but I had streamlined it and since I was no longer the float my work and life was pretty consistent; of course that consistency couldn't last long. We had been told about changes that would happen in the clinic that would move some tests to a different location and there would be a remodel but were told not to plan on it anytime soon because there was still a lot of planning that had to go into it, well obviously it started a lot sooner that I planned and to make a long story short with addition of new software (a supposed upgrade) and some changes in staff, my work became absolutely crazy. In April I was able to check my email a few times a day and if I needed I could have stepped aside for a minute and made a call, but that was no longer the case which made coordinating 150 volunteers and making contacts during the day nearly impossible. That and the fact that I am TERRIBLE at asking people for help, I like to be able to do everything so I can make sure it is done to my satisfaction. My visiting teacher had to persuade me a lot to let her make me cookie dough so I could make treats for the volunteers. So there I was 4 months later the morning of July 1st and I only had a group of 15 volunteers from a school and my event was starting on the 3rd. I had no idea back in April that my life would be as crazy as it was and I was a little upset with Heavenly Father and anyone else I could think to blame for letting me commit to this. They should have known I would have been busy and warned me right?! But I was committed and  lucky for me that group of 15 were signed up for the first day of the event which was only a half day anyway. That afternoon I got a call from a fellow committee volunteer who had offered to contact the mission home for me (since I didn't have time) and he gotten a commitment from a zone of missionaries to help all day on the 4th, the following day I had another zone commit to volunteer and so now I had 50 missionaries to help me on the 4th of July. So I had both the Wednesday and Thursday covered. Thursday morning (July 4th) came and I still didn't have a firm commitment from anybody to volunteer on July 5, some of the people who helped on the 3rd said they could probably come back, but I didn't know when. James and I had to watch an area of our event that was near the parade to make sure that everything was safe and we started to chit chat a little bit with a family that was there to watch the parade. They had a couple questions about the Freedom Festival and since I was an intern last year I had answers. One of the guys in the family asked what I did and I told him I was a volunteer coordinator, he asked how to  be put on a list to volunteer because he worked with a group of girls that considered at risk youth and part of the program was they have to have so many volunteer activities and so he was always looking for service opportunities. I told him that I could let the Freedom Festival know about them but if they happened to free the following day (the 5th) I could use their help. It turned out there previous service project for the 5th had fallen through last minute and they were in need of something to do, and so he committed to help us from 10am-noon the following day. (Ok, Heavenly Father, I'm finally starting to see that you tossed that ball up for an incredible play but I still thinks it will turn out to be an Alley OOPS, because I can't jump high enough to dunk and I am currently too far away from the ball) I still needed people from 12-6 on the 5th, and then more people for clean up after that. The group of girls showed up the morning of the 5th and started to help out. After spending time there, the girls were enjoying themselves (previous service projects were pulling weeds and they were doing crafts and face painting with kids when they were helping us) and the leaders could tell we needed help so they rearranged their day and stayed until 2pm and then came back at 3:30 to help more. I also had the same group that helped on the 3rd come at 2pm on the 5th to help out. I still needed help for clean up after 6pm which is when all of my current volunteers were leaving, but "lucky" for me a big storm rolled in and we had to start packing up early and close at 6 instead of 8 because of the storm. The volunteers I had were troopers and got pretty much everything packed up and chairs and tables stacked before the storm hit and they had to leave, and I got to be home by 8 on Friday night. 

I know I had very little, if anything, to do with it all out but thanks to Merit Academy Service Group, the Provo LDS missionaries, The Journey girls, some couples from my ward, a few random volunteers and an AWESOME trooper named James Brian Tracy (who brought teammates for set up), EVERYTHING worked out. I am just reminded how much Heavenly Father has lined up my life. I have far too many "coincidences" in my life for it not to have been strategically planned by a loving Father who wants nothing less than a wonderful, perfect eternity for his favorite* daughter. I have been SO blessed whether it be given terrible news 8 years ago that I had a brain tumor but it was just in time to not only save my life but shape my future, to have chosen to take 14 credits of ridiculous science classes at once causing me to fail LOTS of tests in one semester but led me to add a non-profit minor to spread out my classes which gave me an opportunity to have an incredible internship. Then there is my current favorite; not getting a housing contract in the condos I wanted to live in and having to settle with living in an apartment I DIDN'T want to live in, which was in a ward that I DIDN'T think I had a lot in common with the other members, being put in an FHE group I DIDN'T enjoy, and boy in the FHE group who I DIDN'T want to date had a slight crush on me but his shy roommate (who turned out to be a boy version of Bethany*) who I also DIDN'T want to date stole my heart and the first boy turned out to be a great friend and wedding photographer.  

Really all of this is to say that our Heavenly Father is the ultimate playmaker/strategist and we should let go of how we think the game should go and put it into our Father's hands because He always has the best rolls.

*I can say I'm His favorite, because I'm favored to win against Satan.

**James and Bethany are A LOT alike. After visiting them in June, James told me "hanging out with Bethany was like hanging out with himself, and he's pretty cool"