Life lately has been somewhat chaotic with a few changes that we were and were not expecting, this is just an update so, I dunno, people know what's happening with us.
We have come to terms with having another baby so close to Kalea in age that it's too overwhelming to think about sometimes. But at the same time, as I hear about people close to me and their struggles to even have one child, I'm reminded of the blessing that it is for us that it's been so easy to start our family when we wanted to. I'm also happy for Kalea that she'll get to experience having a SISTER so close in age- since mine is 8 yrs younger and I have never really been able to relate to the experience of fighting over shoes, clothes, cars or boys with her, sounds like we've signed ourselves up for some really fun teenage years :P
When our little family of 3 was formed last August, we realized that our 3rd floor apartment really wasn't made for a little family of 3 at all! With thoughts of creating more of a home for Kalea and ourselves, we applied for subsidized housing and we were accepted into a unit right away. However, on our walk-through we found a lot of problems, most major, that the management wasn't willing to do anything about. So we decided that we needed to find another option. Steve's parents said that we could stay with them as long as we needed to until we found another place. On the bright side we found a new place rather quickly and were blessed to have called them and asked if their website was up to date, which it wasn't. Turns out we ended up being the first people on a waiting list for a large 3 bdr townhouse, which we move into shortly-the downside is that we've been living with Steve's parents since November...that's almost 8 months!!! But again being here has afforded us the opportunity to build a better relationship with them while also giving us the opportunity to get some debts under control, which has been a huge blessing. But really, I don't recommend 8mths of this to anyone, it is HARD.
Recently my YWs calling changed. A few months ago I was released as the Beehive Advisor and called to be the Personal Progress Leader. This was not a bad change, but I was struggling with the feeling that I wasn't being used- which is fine for some people, but I'd rather be DOING something. So one Sunday I was walking the hallways with Kalea and started talking to the RS President, who used to be in YWs with me. I said something about not wanting to fill the void in the Presidency but that I'd love to teach RS. Apparently I wasn't the first person to have said this to her that day so she thought it was pretty funny. Well, the next weekend rolls around and we get home from being out all day Saturday and find that there are 10 missed calls from a member of our bishopric. His wife happens to be my VT so I figured, meh, no worries she's probably frantic to get out to visit me before the month is over. Yeah... NO. Bro.Crapo came by for a quick visit with Steve and I & I was called to be the First Counsellor (Education Counsellor) in the RS Presidency... Yeah I know, seriously? This means I basically get to deal with all the teachers in RS and make sure that they're on track with things. It's not a bad thing, just not at all what I was expecting.
Along with my calling comes the great responsibility that, should something unfortunate happen to one of my teachers, I would be able to jump in and teach the lesson. K, so this is not an issue, it's an excuse for me to study the lessons better, but I was not prepared to be teaching a blind lesson my second week in RS.
Yes that's right, yesterday the teacher was not at church?!?!
So instead of panicking, we asked any of our usual subs if they had been asked to teach. We then asked everyone in RS if they had had a phonecall to teach and then the room got really REALLY HOT! Karen just turned to me and said, well I guess it's all you!
Um did I mention the fact that I had really only skimmed through the lesson and questions ONCE??? Or did I mention that the STAKE RS PRESIDENCY had shown up unexpectedly in our Ward that day? Or that the lesson just happened to be "The Power of Forgiveness"???
YEAH I KNOW!!!
To my surprise I actually got through it without crying like a baby and feeling sorry for myself, there was just a lot of sweat involved, I'm not joking, yesterday was not a good day to wear layers! All in all I know the Lord was mindful of me and my situation and I'm glad that I listened to that prompting to get up earlier than usual and read through the lesson before going to church. It was really amazing to teach this lesson WITH the RS sisters. I really didn't have to say much of anything because they were so willing to express their feelings about the questions that I asked them. So as overwhelming as it was, it really turned out great. So yay for the Spirit! And no worries, I came home and studied/prepared to teach next week, if something like this should happen again.
What else? Steve has finally put his application in to join the City Police. This is a big deal since he's wanted to do this for a long time. The state of our global economy has really affected the job stability that Steve once had, and we're pretty unsure of how much slower things can get at the shop before his boss starts to really lose money.
We were fortunate to get a phonecall last week asking if Steve might be willing to write the ACT and APCAT tests for the Police Force early, and of course Steve said that he would. I mean the lady that called said that the cancellation happened while she was flipping through Steve's application, so we figured there was a bit of divine intervention in the fact that she thought she should call Steve. He didn't end up passing the tests, and has taken it pretty hard. Which is super hard for me, but I've been able to see the positive in it.
Basically, if Steve hadn't gotten that phonecall he would've been writing the tests for the first time on my uncle's wedding day, which means should he have failed at that time, he would be mopey for our family reunion and I would be stressed out. It also means that waiting another month to write it again would have meant he would be writing in mid August, which doesn't help speed the processing of his application, and he may not be in the Fall semester of the classes he needs. Having failed when he did, he'll have the opportunity to re-write it sooner and hopefully get his file moving quicker, which is a huge blessing. In the meantime, I get to practice the skills I've always wanted to use in helping him to better prepare for the "English" portion of the tests. So it's really an opportunity for growth for the both of us, and I'm surprisingly really looking forward to "tutoring" my hubby. Oh, but if you see him, please don't bring it up, it's not something he is super comfortable talking about right now.
So that is the status of life. We are grateful for the blessings and the opportunities for growth, even if it means struggling a bit for now, but we are really looking forward to the day when some of these things aren't so worrisome. Thanks for reading the novel that is life, oh and don't worry, pix of Kalea are coming soon!
We have come to terms with having another baby so close to Kalea in age that it's too overwhelming to think about sometimes. But at the same time, as I hear about people close to me and their struggles to even have one child, I'm reminded of the blessing that it is for us that it's been so easy to start our family when we wanted to. I'm also happy for Kalea that she'll get to experience having a SISTER so close in age- since mine is 8 yrs younger and I have never really been able to relate to the experience of fighting over shoes, clothes, cars or boys with her, sounds like we've signed ourselves up for some really fun teenage years :P
When our little family of 3 was formed last August, we realized that our 3rd floor apartment really wasn't made for a little family of 3 at all! With thoughts of creating more of a home for Kalea and ourselves, we applied for subsidized housing and we were accepted into a unit right away. However, on our walk-through we found a lot of problems, most major, that the management wasn't willing to do anything about. So we decided that we needed to find another option. Steve's parents said that we could stay with them as long as we needed to until we found another place. On the bright side we found a new place rather quickly and were blessed to have called them and asked if their website was up to date, which it wasn't. Turns out we ended up being the first people on a waiting list for a large 3 bdr townhouse, which we move into shortly-the downside is that we've been living with Steve's parents since November...that's almost 8 months!!! But again being here has afforded us the opportunity to build a better relationship with them while also giving us the opportunity to get some debts under control, which has been a huge blessing. But really, I don't recommend 8mths of this to anyone, it is HARD.
Recently my YWs calling changed. A few months ago I was released as the Beehive Advisor and called to be the Personal Progress Leader. This was not a bad change, but I was struggling with the feeling that I wasn't being used- which is fine for some people, but I'd rather be DOING something. So one Sunday I was walking the hallways with Kalea and started talking to the RS President, who used to be in YWs with me. I said something about not wanting to fill the void in the Presidency but that I'd love to teach RS. Apparently I wasn't the first person to have said this to her that day so she thought it was pretty funny. Well, the next weekend rolls around and we get home from being out all day Saturday and find that there are 10 missed calls from a member of our bishopric. His wife happens to be my VT so I figured, meh, no worries she's probably frantic to get out to visit me before the month is over. Yeah... NO. Bro.Crapo came by for a quick visit with Steve and I & I was called to be the First Counsellor (Education Counsellor) in the RS Presidency... Yeah I know, seriously? This means I basically get to deal with all the teachers in RS and make sure that they're on track with things. It's not a bad thing, just not at all what I was expecting.
Along with my calling comes the great responsibility that, should something unfortunate happen to one of my teachers, I would be able to jump in and teach the lesson. K, so this is not an issue, it's an excuse for me to study the lessons better, but I was not prepared to be teaching a blind lesson my second week in RS.
Yes that's right, yesterday the teacher was not at church?!?!
So instead of panicking, we asked any of our usual subs if they had been asked to teach. We then asked everyone in RS if they had had a phonecall to teach and then the room got really REALLY HOT! Karen just turned to me and said, well I guess it's all you!
Um did I mention the fact that I had really only skimmed through the lesson and questions ONCE??? Or did I mention that the STAKE RS PRESIDENCY had shown up unexpectedly in our Ward that day? Or that the lesson just happened to be "The Power of Forgiveness"???
YEAH I KNOW!!!
To my surprise I actually got through it without crying like a baby and feeling sorry for myself, there was just a lot of sweat involved, I'm not joking, yesterday was not a good day to wear layers! All in all I know the Lord was mindful of me and my situation and I'm glad that I listened to that prompting to get up earlier than usual and read through the lesson before going to church. It was really amazing to teach this lesson WITH the RS sisters. I really didn't have to say much of anything because they were so willing to express their feelings about the questions that I asked them. So as overwhelming as it was, it really turned out great. So yay for the Spirit! And no worries, I came home and studied/prepared to teach next week, if something like this should happen again.
What else? Steve has finally put his application in to join the City Police. This is a big deal since he's wanted to do this for a long time. The state of our global economy has really affected the job stability that Steve once had, and we're pretty unsure of how much slower things can get at the shop before his boss starts to really lose money.
We were fortunate to get a phonecall last week asking if Steve might be willing to write the ACT and APCAT tests for the Police Force early, and of course Steve said that he would. I mean the lady that called said that the cancellation happened while she was flipping through Steve's application, so we figured there was a bit of divine intervention in the fact that she thought she should call Steve. He didn't end up passing the tests, and has taken it pretty hard. Which is super hard for me, but I've been able to see the positive in it.
Basically, if Steve hadn't gotten that phonecall he would've been writing the tests for the first time on my uncle's wedding day, which means should he have failed at that time, he would be mopey for our family reunion and I would be stressed out. It also means that waiting another month to write it again would have meant he would be writing in mid August, which doesn't help speed the processing of his application, and he may not be in the Fall semester of the classes he needs. Having failed when he did, he'll have the opportunity to re-write it sooner and hopefully get his file moving quicker, which is a huge blessing. In the meantime, I get to practice the skills I've always wanted to use in helping him to better prepare for the "English" portion of the tests. So it's really an opportunity for growth for the both of us, and I'm surprisingly really looking forward to "tutoring" my hubby. Oh, but if you see him, please don't bring it up, it's not something he is super comfortable talking about right now.
So that is the status of life. We are grateful for the blessings and the opportunities for growth, even if it means struggling a bit for now, but we are really looking forward to the day when some of these things aren't so worrisome. Thanks for reading the novel that is life, oh and don't worry, pix of Kalea are coming soon!
7 comments:
Wow........it sounds like life has thrown a few things your way lately! You are an amazing women and I know you will be just that much stronger because of it all! I stressed an unbelievable amount about having James so quick but I really just love it so much now. (I wouldn't do it again but I wouldn't change it for a thing) It is way better and easier than I could have imagined.
Best of luck with everything:)
Nothin like a positive attitude during rough times. :-) I'm excited to see you guys soon! And your fetus! heehee!
hey sweet girl- you need any help moving? also- a great help when I wrote my acts was the practice tests- they are online and you can also get the book at chapters. they also have ones for certain sections- tell him not to feel bad- they base highschool classes around these tests in the states- they arnt that easy especially the english part for canadians- a brandons told me you guys work more on math and sciences- while we study our brains out for english- so anyways sorry for my schpiell- but i remember that helping a lot.- oh and I wish i could hear your lessons- i bet they are awesome- i love when you taught the beehives- I always learned something- if you ever need a break drop kalea off and she can play with the boys- why you pack ect.. really i mean it! moving is stressful!
Wow - you have had some unexpected changes coming your way. I definitely can sympathize with the church calling thing. I am in the RS presidency as well and it's a huge challenge for a young mom with kid. My kids aren't that close together, but you are such a great Mom to Kalea that I know you will handle the new addition to your family with grace and confidence. The timing with Steve's test came at the right time, and everything will work itself out. You are keeping a wonderful attitude about everything that's going on, and things will get better very soon. Keep smiling! We're here for you and care about you :)
I am so glad that you finally updated your blog, I kept checking and NOTHING. I am also very glad that you included all the details. It is fun to be able to know what is going on in peoples lives and the way they respond to it. You have a great attitude and see the positive in things that are sometimes hard. I also appreciate the comment about your being grateful to be able to start a family. I appreciate the humility and gratitude that comment expressed! We are so excited to see you and your little family soon, and are so happy for the little blessings that you have been given in this process.
Yay for another girl! Kalea will love having a sister. And yes...you are in for some fun teenage years. :) And I'm very glad for the "real" update. I kind of get annoyed of the whole perfect blogosphere life where everyone is only doing fun, cute, lovely things. It's nice to know that other people are experiencing the downs, along with the ups! Love ya, and can't wait to see you in a month!
Your having another girl! Your girls are going to be so cute growing up together! I cant wait!
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