I was very ill with bipolar disorder during the Sanger portion of out lives. I was coming out of a very dark place at the end of our time at the Belmont house. I was still barely aware of what was happening around me. The healing period took years. I was still in a difficult place spiritually in that I felt that I had been permanently rejected by Heavenly Father. I continued attending church because I knew if I quit attending it would also affect the future attendance of my family.
Kathy became an assistant principal.. Her principal, though, made decision based on what was easiest for him. She became the fall guy when things didn’t work out. She became a great problem solver which made her popular among the teachers. They went to her when there were problems of any kind. But this caused her relationship with the principal to deteriorate. She made it known in Clovis Unified circles that she wanted to become a principal. At that time, the Clovis Unified path to becoming a principal required becoming an assistant principal at a high school. She interviewed many times for the open positions but was never selected to join that path. We later learned that her boss influenced these decisions so he could keep her at his school until he retired. She just didn't match the CUSD profile of a principal. Being the breadwinner, she decided to take her career to a higher level. Her mother financed her in pursuing a master’s degree in public administration. Her thesis was on generational poverty. She was determined to become a principal, whether inside CUSD or elsewhere.
We adopted a dachshund puppy. We named her “Carmen”. She also had a brother who was the runt of his litter. He was not very smart and was not going to be adopted. We adopted him as well and named him “Leonardo” or “Leo”. While he wasn’t smart he gave a lot of love. They were both with us 17 years. Carmen considered it her mission to look after her brother.
As I healed, I become more functional and I was called in church to be an assistant to Jim Christiansen, the High Priests’ Group Leader. I enjoyed my time working with him. At my suggestion I was changed from being his counselor to become his secretary. They were always making decisions in the dark. Attendance and other data was so slow in being entered into the computer that it was meaningless to help know how much support people needed. As I moved to secretary I could assure that information was current and available when making decisions. Later Jim told me what a right move it was to move me from counselor to secretary. The entire presidency was more effective with usable information. I have a long love for Jim and what he generously has done for our family, as you will see in the "Fresno again" section.