Leap of Faith

Rick and I have thought long and hard about where we want to end up in life and what matters most. We have goals that we want to achieve and things we want to do for our family and for ourselves. The past few years we have been so blessed with work and being able to have everything we need and a little extra. But as far as the future hold, we didn't see much there. So we are taking a leap of faith. Rick is leaving his job at the Police Department and pursuing a Master's Degree in Geoenvironmental Science at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.

I am also quiting my part time job and going full time to provide for Rick and Madi while Rick completes his education. I have been blessed to find a job quickly that is only 10 minutes from where we are going to be living. Rick's parents have offered a rental that they have available to us at a very reduced rate along with helping us watch Madi when Rick needs to be in class. Things are falling into place quickly and smoothly. We will be moving from the urban DC metro to the quiet rural Pennsylvania mountains at the end of this month. I think we are looking forward to the quiet more than anything. I start work in April and Rick starts class the beginning of June. Hopefully I can keep you updated on how things progress the next few months but with how crazy things are going to be, no promises...but I will try.

Novemeber Blessings

Recently, I have reached my one year mark with the company that I work for. I didn't expect anything great to happen other then getting back my vacation/sick time since I have long since used mine up. And I have been very grateful to still have my job even though I had my hours cut to part-time. But when I had my review my boss told me that he didn't think that I was making what I was worth and he wanted to give me a raise. Not only a cost of living raise but an additional raise. He said that he wished he could let me work full-time and would love it if I could but considering the economy he couldn't. But he wanted to pay me more of what I was worth and also give me a little extra to off-set the loss of hours. So over all, I got a 7% raise! We were so excited. That is by far the biggest raise I have ever had. And now that we have a little one to take care of it will definatly help. What an amazing blessing! I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father that truely watches over us and knows just when to send blessings.

Over Thanksgiving Rick had to work Wed-Sat so we didn't get to go home for the holiday and at the last minute our plans with our friends fell through. So Rick worked from 9am-9pm those days and I stayed home and relaxed and tried to catch up on some stuff for Christmas. We are going to celebrate our Turkey Day tomorrow night with a date night. But the good thing about Rick having to work Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving is, he gets Holiday pay for both days. Which is another blessing with Christmas coming up and Madi's arrival soon.

We also went to the doctor today for a check-up and and ultrasound and found out that Madi is right where she needs to be as far as size and weight goes. The doctor said that everything looks beautiful! And even with four weeks left to go, I am already starting to dialate just over 1 cm and I am already 70% effaced. The doctor also said that considering I am already dialating, I will most likely have her sooner rather then later. Which is a blessing because if we have her before the end of the year we won't have to pay as much out of pocket because of all the other medical expenses we have already had this year so we will have already met our max out-of-pocket. Which is another huge blessing!

Thank the Lord for those everyday "Tender Mercies" he sends you. There are more then you think, you just have to take the time to notice them. Happy Thanksgiving!

An Update at Last!!!!

Wow! It has been forever since I updated this, hasn’t it?!?!? Sorry! Life has been so crazy that I haven’t even had time to think about it let alone anything else. I actually forgot that I even had it until my cousin asked me when I was going to update it. Then I was like, oh yeah! So, even though it has been a while I am going to try and get everyone up to speed with what Rick and I have been up to and where we are in life. But I am going to warn you in advance, this is going to be a long post, so if you need to take a break and get a snack and come back and finish reading this later it’s ok. I’ll understand. J So I think the best way to do this and the easiest is to make a list. (I am good at that) Plus Rick says that I am a list maker and I live by my lists. So why not live up to that. So here we go:

-So, Rick and I packed up and moved to Virginia the middle of August. I know a great way to spend our first anniversary. But life doesn’t slow down for things like that. But that’s ok. We had plenty of time in the car together. After 2,300 miles of road we have decided that we never, ever want to make a trip like that again. That was a long way to drive in just three days. But we made it and that was the important thing.

-So we actually had never been to Virginia before we rolled into town with the moving van. So we had to unload everything into a storage unit and then drive two hours back up to Rick’s parent’s house for the night. Then we spend a week going back and forth between their house and Manassas Park, VA until we found a place to live. But we weren’t able to move in for a few weeks so it was nice to take a break from life and stay with his family for a little while.

-Rick started his new City Planning job on Sep 2nd. We were really excited until we found out that same day he started that the city was having financial problems and there was a chance of lay-offs. Which we had just gone through in Utah in Saratoga Springs and that is why we ended up having to move in the first place. So we were pretty worried about everything. Then things started getting pretty bad with the situation at work and we didn’t know how much longer he would have a job. And in the mean time I was having a really hard time finding a job. I was applying for jobs like crazy but I wasn’t getting any response at all from any of them. So we were both pretty frustrated and worried.

-Around Thanksgiving I finally had my first interview and I got the job so that was a huge relief. But we were still worried about Rick’s job. Things had dramatically worsened and we were started to considering other alternatives and looking into moving again even though that would put us into debt and then we would have to start over at square one again with my job and with his job. But we knew that things weren’t going to work out where he was and that if he stayed he would loose his job.

-Right before Christmas, the City Manager came to Rick and told him that he really liked him and he wanted to keep him but he wouldn’t be able to stay in the position that he was in now because of complications within the city and with the budget crisis. But they didn’t want to loose him. So they were going to move him to the police department in their communications department. He would get them same pay and benefits and he would be guaranteed a job through all the layoffs. And then the City Manager said that after the economy settles down he wants to bring him back as the City’s Planner. So that was a huge relief! And we actually ended up making more with the new position that Rick is in now so it ended up being a blessing. And if the economy doesn’t turn around soon then he has certifications in this job for the future that he can use as well as his degree in planning. The Lord does work in mysterious ways, we just have to be patient and wait for him to show us his plan.

-So after everything with work settled down we were able to focus on life outside of work. Rick is the 1st counselor in the Young Mens and I am the Beehive Advisor. We really enjoy our callings! We don’t have time during the week to do all the activities because Rick is on shift work but we enjoy teaching on Sunday. We have a lot to keep us busy but we enjoy living here. There are a few things we would change, like the traffic. If you think Utah is bad you should move here. Utah during rush hour is a walk in the park compared to here. You think I’m kidding. It takes me 30 minutes during normal time to go the same distance that it used to take 5-10 minutes in Utah during rush hour in Utah. Yeah it’s pretty bad. But overall, it is a good experience, but we don’t want to live in the city, especially 45 minutes from DC, the rest of our life. But it is always nice to have a change.

I will try and get some pictures up on here for you and try and keep you all a little more informed about what is going on in our life. Sorry it has taken so long. I hope everyone is doing well! Let us know.

A Break at Last

Life has calmed down a lot since my surgery. Rick is coming to the end of his time at BYU. He will be graduating in two weeks!!! We both can't believe it is already here. He received a position with the City of Saratoga Springs here in Utah. It is only about 30 minutes away from where we live now. They actually wanted him to start working before he graduates, so this week is his first week in the post-college work force. It is a huge change for him but he loves having a real job where he is actually helping to better a community. (And where he doesn't have to worry about homework.) He has already had the chance to review projects that are in progess in the city and set some guidelines that need to be followed in order for them to be approved. He is excited about putting everything that he has learned in school to use in a real world setting, not just for class assignments.

It is nice to be out of the time of uncertainty. We finally feel like things have settled into a pretty set course and are beginning to move forward. We are going to stay in Provo until about August, then we will probably be looking into moving to Lehi or American Fork so that Rick can be closer to his job but so that I can still work at my job down in Provo.

The past month and few weeks has really had its downs but it has also had its ups that are far out weighing the downs. It is hard to see the blessings when you are going through challenges but we can definatley see how blessed we have been the past two months. Thank you for your prayers and support! We love you all!

Pumpkin Decorating Contest

I work at Mountain America Credit Union in Provo and they are having a pumpkin decorating contest. Rick and I went to the store together and looked at different things until we decided on the perfect idea. This is my witch pumpkin with googly eyes. I worked on it all weekend and was so excited to finally be able to display it at work. I hope that I do well in the contest, but if not then it okay because I still enjoyed making the pumpkin with Rick. Happy Halloween!!!!!