Ramblings of the past few weeks...

If you have been following me on IG and/or Facebook you are probably pretty caught up on the past few weeks, but there are some things I feel like I need to write for journaling purposes.  There are a lot of lessons I have learned in the past few weeks and I feel it important to record them in case I ever    forget them. :)

1. 

The day I went into labor with our beautiful baby Tate, my husband lost his job.  Yes, he lost his job.  Let me tell you, that was one of the most emotional days of my life.  Here I am ready to bring a baby into this world at any second, and my husband no longer has a job.  What are we going to do I thought?   How are we going to survive on no income for 6 weeks and then just my income after that?  How are we going to afford all the things a baby needs along with the other necessities of a family?  I tried not to think of it too much an just focus on the sweet baby we brought into this world.

"We can do hard things."

Of course this has not been the first hard thing I have ever done in my life, but it definitely was a reminder that we can do hard things. We tried to have faith that Heavenly Father had a different plan in mind for us.  And we are still waiting to see exactly what He has planned for us. Kenny has applied and made it past many rounds of the Tempe Police recruit program.  We are praying that this may be the new plan for us.  *cross your fingers* But if not, we will continue to have faith that Heavenly Father has a different plan for us.  And that hopefully He will continue to provide a way for us to survive until we figure out what's next for us.

2.

I am blessed with the most amazing husband ever. No but seriously I am.  Through all of this he has worked his butt off finding odd jobs, handyman jobs, anything and everything he can to bring money in.  I am truly grateful for his wilingness to work. I am grateful for his knowledge of almost anything and everything handy.  If there is something he doesn't know then he looks it up and learns it.  I will forever be grateful for him and his willingness to work and do almost anything to support us.  He never complains about the long hours and odd jobs.  He just does it while continuing to help with the kids.  He is a great example of sacrifice and I can't imagine where we would be without him.

3. 

Missionary sacrifice blesses everyone around.  It is no secret that my brother left for his mission a little over a week ago.  

Let me tell you, my family has already seen he blessing of his sacrifice.  As I said previously, Kenny has applied for the Tempe Police Department.  There were over 700 applicants and Kenny made it to the first set of call backs. He passed the physical, written and made it to the panel interview round.  We are now waiting to hear back to see if he passed that.  I know that The Lord had a hand in getting him that far (not that my husband couldn't do it), but to make it through over 700 applicants, that is amazing to me.

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission...

I hope they call me on a mission

when I have grown a foot or two.

I hope by then I will be ready

to teach and preach and work as missionaries do.

 

I hope that I can share the gospel

with those who want to know the truth.

I want to be a missionary

and serve and help the Lord while I am in my youth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In our Faith, the majority of young men, and quite a few young women, and married or retired couples choose to leave the comfort of their homes, and serve the Lord in a foreign environment for 18 months to 2 years.  To learn more about a mission click here.

 

From a young age, children of our faith are taught of their chance to serve the Lord sharing the gospel to everyone who wants to hear it.  My family was no exception.  We have been taught what a great thing missionary work is, and why not share something that you love so much.  When the time came my brother Chris put in his papers and waited to see where he would be called. You can read about the experience of taking him to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in this post and see pictures in this post.

 

Chris served the people of Hungary for two years and enjoyed it.  It was not easy seeing him off, but there is comfort in knowing the Lord will be protecting him while he is away, and that the wonderful people of Hungary would be benefiting from his great spirit and fun personality.

 

Now it is my brother Skyler's turn. He turned in his papers and we patiently impatiently waited for his call.  When his call came we gathered all his friends and family to the house so he could open it with everyone around.  It was such a neat moment and I am so glad that we got it on video.

 

 

 

 

Texas, Dallas Spanish Speaking.  How cool.  He is to report Sept 18th to the MTC in MEXICO, say what? In Mexico, another cool thing.  We are all so excited for him.  I feel like the time between him opening his call and his report date just flew by.  I cannot believe in just a few days he will be on his way to Mexico.  I cannot believe that my little brother is already old enough for a mission. Saying "see ya later" to a loved one is never easy, especially when it is for 2 years.  But I know that the time will fly by as well, and his service will be greatly appreciated by the people of Texas. The hardest part is going to have to be trying to explain to my 2 year old, Kenzi, why uncle Sky is no longer around.  She LOVES her uncle Sky and follows him around whenever she is with him.  She is already constantly asking for him.  How do you explain a mission to a two year old?  If anyone has any pointers I would love to hear them.  But his example will be great once she gets older, she will be grateful that he took the time to go on a mission and serve.
 

 

So to you Sky I say good luck, even though you won't need it.  You're amazing personality and love for others will shine.  You have always had a kind heart and accepted everyone, I know these gifts will be a huge asset to you on your mission. 

 

We are very proud of the decision you have made to serve the Lord and cannot wait to hear about the experiences you encounter in this next journey in your life.  We love you and I promise by the time you are back Kenz and Tate will both be ASU fans! :) Now go and serve and show the people of Texas why we love you so much!

Tate's Blessing Day

We blessed baby Tate on Sunday, Sept 1, 2013.  We were so blessed to have so many family members there. The support we felt was overwhelming and we are thankful for all those who were able to come.  Here are a few pics from that day.

Q & A

Recently I was tagged by my best friend Carissa to answer a few questions she came up with. Since she tagged me, and I never get tagged for anything, I thought I'd play along. Here are the questions she had for me and a few other bloggers.

1.) How much do you love Carissa Townsend?

Just kidding. That's totally not your question. But I'm funny right?!

I love Carissa to the moon and back. But really, Carissa (Rissa for short) has been there for me for years! We started our friendship with a blind "date" of sorts and have been together through deployments, concerts, graduations, house buying, and vacations just to name a few. I love her because she amazing and funny! Seriously check out her blog!

Anyway... On to the real questions!

For reals: 

1.) What made you want to start blogging?

I started a blog in order to keep a journal of things going on in my life.  I also find it very therapeutic. Most of the time I don't blog unless I feel like a have an important subject to write about, or people are bugging me to update. :) 

2.) If you had to go back and re-name your dog based on their personality, what would it be?

Hmm... This is interesting. I have 2 dogs: Addie- a black lab and Nala- a chocolate lab.  If I had to rename Nala based on her personality now it would definitely be Spaz or dumb dumb. It's a close race between the two. We love Nala but she is definitely the dumbest dog ever and can't keep still. She has a sweet heart though. :) Addie is a little harder, after some thought I think I would go with grumpy old woman, cause that's exactly what she is!  But we love her anyway.

Here's a picture of my dogs and Rissa's dogs on a play date.

3.) Favorite TV show?

This, hands down, has to be Criminal Minds.  My mom and i stumbled upon this show while trying to find something to watch in a hotel room in California one night, and we were addicted.  I love trying to figure out who did the crime and love the characters. Garcia would have to be my favorite. She's a spunky, fun girl who definitely helps make the show. If you've never seen it, you need to. I bet you'll love it!

4.) If you were stuck on a deserted island for a bunch of years, a la Castaway, and you could bring three items, what would you bring? (I know, it's a oldie but a goodie)

I have never enjoyed this question, I mean really when are you ver going to knowingly be stranded on a deserted island and be able to pick 3 items to bring before you get there? But since Rissa asked, I'll answer. :) 1) My family- especially my husband because I'm sure with him we would be able to live off the land. 2) Rissa and her awesome husband Nate because I need someone to laugh and have fun with (Rissa) and having Nate and my husband together, I'm sure we could survive until the end of the world, or until someone finds us, whichever comes first. 3) I would let my husband and Nate agree on one item to bring that would allow us to have better chances at survival.

5.) Most embarrassing moment?

There are so many but yet i cant remember any. Sorry Riss, don't have a good answer for this one.

6.) If Expedia offered you a trip, but you had to leave tomorrow (as advertised), would you do it? And where would you pick to go?  

Yes, I would go in a heart beat. This is where I would go....

Looks magical doesn't it? Prague, Czech Republic. I figure if I'm not paying for it, why not make it an extravagant trip. :) I did a report on Czechoslovakia in jr high and have been fascinated with the country, well now two separate countries ever since. Prague looks beautiful and I would love to go there someday!

But if we're going for something more practical it would have to be...

Disneyworld!!!! Doesn't that look magical too? I would love to go there someday as well!

Hope you enjoyed getting a little taste of random thoughts in my head. :)