Great Blessings

I just want to say that I am grateful for all of the love, support, and blessings that we have been receiving the last few months. Our ward has reached out and cared for us in so many ways. And Heavenly Father has given me the hope and faith that things will get better soon.

Scary Charlie

It's just me and Charlie awake now that Joseph is at school. After Joseph got on the bus, we came inside. I walked down the hallway to tell Mitchell something, even though he was mostly asleep. It's pretty dark, quiet, and cozy in the house right now. As I walked back down the hallway to find Charlie, he jumped out behind me from the hallway bathroom and yelled. I screamed and laughed at the same time. How is this little guy old enough to know how to scare people?

Laundry

I washed a load of laundry by hand today. I filled up my tub, soaked the clothes about an hour, then rinsed and wrung out each piece of clothing. I think the second part took me well over an hour. And my muscles were aching so bad! While I was doing it, I kept thinking about my pioneer ancestors, and how things like that were just the way life was, and how I'm so soft compared to them. I also really wanted to watch Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, since Charlie's mom is a laundry woman. Another thing I was thinking as I was washing was that I didn't put any of Joseph's pants in that load, and he had NO clean ones. I didn't think I'd have the stamina to do another load. While Mitchell was hanging the laundry to dry for me, Amber came over and offered to take the wet ones home to dry and the pants to wash. Her visit was an answer to my prayers!

Stress

Today was stressful. I'm trying to be patient because I know it's going to be stressful until we have things worked out. I just pray that we can find peace through the stress.

Craziness

Everything has been so crazy in our lives lately.

Last week, we decided to take one last trip to visit Mitchell's family in Virginia before our move to Texas. Late at night, smack-dab in the middle of Richmond, our car died. Thankfully, Mitchell's mom was driving through Richmond at the same time, so she was able to come pick the kids up. We were able to arrange with USAA to have the car towed to a nearby, reputable repair shop. There was a motel close enough for Mitchell and me to walk to and get a room for the night. In the morning, we found out that our engine was broken, rendering the car useless. So Mitchell's brothers, Grant and Ross, were able to pick us up and take us to their brother, Sam's, house where the kids were.

We arranged for my cousin, Amber, to overnight the title to our car so that we could sell it to a junkyard. And we were able to relax for a week in a small town in Virginia. The kids had the best time with their cousins, and spent hours outside every day. It was so great to kind of get away from all the stress of regular life. On Friday, Ross drove Mitchell back to Richmond, where Mitch was able to sell our poor, little car for $300. On Monday night, his mom took him to get a rental car, and we left very early Tuesday morning. We were able to use the car for less than 24 hours, which made it a lot cheaper, and the price was completely covered with the money we got from junking our car.

While in Virginia, we spent a lot of time pondering, praying, and discussing our situation. We came to the conclusion that Heavenly Father wants us in Georgia for a while longer, so we have decided not to move to Texas. Even though this seems like a very difficult path, as soon as we made the decision, my heart felt so light that I thought I would float away. I know that Heavenly Father is going to bless us to find a way to make things work.

Mitchell has already started applying to pretty much every job within walking distance. We walked to Walgreen's to get some milk and juice, which is 2-miles roundtrip. We have been working closely with several members of our ward, including the Bishop and members of both the Elder's Quorum and Relief Society. We are going to find ways to coordinate rides to grocery stores, places to do laundry, and maybe help getting a bike and/or wagon. We feel so blessed right now as we are learning to stand on our own feet for the first time ever.

Moving, Again.

We are moving again. My dad and Dena have graciously offered to get us a moving truck and let us live with them in Allen. This is a major blessing because we are totally out of money, the only reason we have money in our bank account right now is because we got birthday checks. And we've almost maxed out our credit card trying to stay in Atlanta to find work. It's going to be a big change for everyone, but we are excited to get to spend more time with my dad and family.

Family Night

For FHE, we talked about how Heavenly Father is the King of everything and, since we are His children, we are princes and princesses. And when our spirits "grow up," we can be like him. So then we decorated crowns that said "I am a Child of GOD."

People in my family like to make cool faces...