Heaven on Earth

Being married is awesome. Being in an awesome family ward is awesome squared.

When last you left us, we had gone through the inner circle to get to Mesa, kind of far away from ASU, where Crystal will be going to school (PhD in Chem Ed, for those just joining us). Well, our apartment was (and is) full of junk, and we had done the essential grocery shopping etc. when we realized that we were our own little family now. The dreams of years for both of us lie in the collective stuff of decades, in a second-floor apartment in Mesa ("Five degrees hotter than hell.") We were content despite the disaster.

Sunday came, and we had been looking forward to it for a long time. We would get to introduce ourselves as the Chattertons, and people would know us only as the family we had only briefly been, not as Ben Chatterton and/or Crystal Ward, but as Ben and Crystal Chatterton, husband and wife.

The Harmony Park Ward is aptly named. Part of the ward comes from the apartment complex we live in, part comes from homes of more well-established members of the Mesa community. All were amazingly friendly and helpful. The brethren from the move-in recognized us and introduced us to their families. The bishop was great, and informed us that they already had our records. They got Crystal's phone number and when she said I was looking for a job, I got at least two people calling me with leads.

We got two invitations to dinner. Two.

The first one was that night. Nice family, two kids. In the apartments. They fed us, then they printed out a map of the area and marked everything important on it. They let us check our email and left us feeling loved. The Tuesday night dinner was just as good, and we got to share our meal with two hard-working and good-spirited missionaries.

So good.

Lesson learned: Sometimes the universe just wants you to have 1:30 church.