out with the old

2009 brought with it many good things and one big bad thing that affected everything else. Here are a few highlights (and lowlights) from our year. I say "out with old and in with the NEW"...


1. Basketball games, soccer games and more basketball games.

2. Kyle finishing up at the "U".

3. Our fabulous beach vacation.

4. Followed by the awful news of loosing a job.

5. Followed by tears and more tears at this.

6. Followed by JUST as many tears from all the good things

that have come from this loss.

7. New baby coming in 2010. (gotcha! just checking to see

if you are REALLY reading!)

8. World record amount of texts sent to and from Grace in a

6 day time period. Hold on to your hats: 4023!

9. Seeing the world through Primary Childrens eyes as I take

on that new challenge. So grateful for wonderful ladies

who stand with me every single day on that.

10. Watching son build and blow up and spear and catapult

and harpoon any given number of things. I have to give

the boy a 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10) for creativity!

11. Having a 16 year old. Which includes things like

driving and dating and kissing, OH MY!

12. Gratitude at God's hand in my family's life, day after

day. Week after week.

13. Seeing it IS possible to survive on practically no

sleep. and endure lots of stress. and LIVE to tell

about both.

14. Wondering if Tylenol PM can become addicting?

15. Grateful for good friends.

16. New Moon.

17. Duct Tape Shoes.

18. New Recipes.

19. Didn't kill any house plants (didn't try to grow any

either though...)

20. Looking forward to what 2010 has to offer.


"In with the new!" Bring it on...

christmas collage

Christmas in collage's....

The holiday season brought lots of cooking for me. If you don't know this about me, I LOVE to cook and bake, and try a new recipe-some hit and some miss! This year I tried "jalapeno poppers" (loved them), Grandpa Greats famous Cheeseball recipe (super hit), a new potato/leek/bacon pizza ("not enough taste", said the family), my "world famous" orange rolls, and Christmas morning quiche (the regular ham and cheese with a new FABULOUS addition of "veggie quiche" (spinach, broccoli, red pepper, and a bit of Parmesan cheese too). I also tried a new recipe for Mizithra pasta from the Speghetti Factory (flop--i failed w/"browned butter" and made "burnt butter" instead...will retry this one.) Apparently there is a fine line between "browning" and "burning". I crossed the line, sadly!

Needless to say we ate well over the holidays.

Christmas morning was a hit for the kids.

Bompie got her "Alexander doll" (a "fake" and MUCH *much much*cheaper version of the American Girl doll via Costco and Santa) She was in love at first sight. Grandma Regular also got an email from Santa (isn't HE the hip jolly old soul?) and made some clothes for the doll to wear! Can't have naked dollies now can we?

Eliza Jane got a camera from Santa and has had fun taking pictures. She also was begging for the old Polaroid camera to "prove Santa was real". Well, these puppies were discontinued a few years back and one cannot buy them anymore. Somehow Santa found one with 5 pictures left in it and wrapped it up and delivered it to her with a note that said: "Never Never Never stop believing in the magic of Christmas Eliza!"

Grace Catherine got her cell phone. She subsequently spent the rest of the day breaking the world record for MOST TEXTS sent and received in one day (we believe somewhere near 1000 when all was said and done!) Thank goodness for unlimited texting.

Josh got a Guitar Hero Wii Game and a ZIPPO lighter (the big hit out of everything for him). Nothing has been burned down to date...although I give him a week before he and his friends light something on fire!

We had a simpler, yet great, Christmas this year.

what it's ALL about...

What it's ALL about at Christmas time...

My family

Oops...how did THAT get in here? (LOL!)

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

"kissing the face of God"

Painting by Morgan Weistling

The BEST thing about being jobless, for us, this year has been that the focus of our time and energy has NOT been on shopping and buying and more shopping and more buying. (and not that there is anything wrong with that--it has been how we have spent most every other holiday season in years past!) Since funds are as tight as they have ever been there has been very little shopping and buying. We have had to trim anything extra this year, and Christmas has become a more simple affair that is not focused on the hustle and bustle of buying and shopping.

Kyle and I both said that that ONE THING has been such a gift to us in so many ways this year. It has helped us focus on family and kids and Christ, the things that REALLY matter when all is said and done... as believers in, and followers of, Christ.

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

...and hoping everyone can find a quiet moment of time to remember.

To remember the Christ child that was born,

the child who became a man called Jesus, during this holiday time.

facebook repeat...

to those people, both known and mostly UNKNOWN, who have blessed my family's life this holiday season:


THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for your goodness to us.



and in the immortal words of those dudes from Waynes World:

WE ARE NOT WORTHY! of such kindness...


(it sure feels like it anyway!)


Thank you for making a month that seemed like it would be so very hard to "get through" something instead that has been filled with wonderful surprises that fill our hearts with gratitude.


We feel so unbelievably blessed by those people around us!


so thank you! thank you! thank you!



and AGAIN...thank you!

schhh-moore-guess-board!

Gingerbread House Making... Grace's new BOYFRIEND!




Deciding what to add to the house...


A Work In Process




THE WINTER FORMAL
josh & whitney

AWWWWWWWWW! how cute!

SMACK DOWN!!!! Oly Titans Take Down

#1 Ranked Team in the State:

Bingham High!

All 3 Oly Teams had their "game on!"

Sophomores, JV & Varsity Teams!

Congratulations Olympus Basketball!

for the record, i know that Schhhh-moore-guess-board is really not spelled that way!

(smorgasbord--i did have to spell check that by the way)

but here we have a mixed bag of all things!

*Kyles mother does gingerbread houses every year for anyone that wants to participate!

the kids love this tradition. i have learned to slyly tell them which candies to add so that i can pick the good ones off when we get home. Sadly this year, no one invested in chocolate candy for the houses...so here they sit! Loaded up with candy that no one is eating!

*followed by WINTER FORMAL (which is apparently NOT "formal" who knew?!)

Josh and gal pal Whitney. They ate at the Spaghetti Factory, went to the dance for 5 minutes and then spent two hours at the Gymnastic Training Center (which the girls had rented out

for the remainder of the night) Josh said he had a "great night"--no limbs were lost and no arms were broken, so all in all things went well.

*Next up Titan Basketball! What a game yesterday! We (meaning me probably) thought that Olympus would be killed. They were playing #1 state ranked Bingham Boys Basketball. Olympus came out strong, then dropped to 13 points down in the 2nd quarter. We wondered if it would only get worse from there. After a quick time out and a regrouping of the team they came back strong!! They quickly pulled within 2 points of Bingham and stayed that close until the 4th quarter when we pulled ahead by 5 or 6. ALL THREE Oly teams defeated Bingham last night. Kyle stayed for all the games and said they were ALL great.
CONGRATS Oly Basketball! One of the funnest games I have watched! Josh played for a full quarter and had a superb game! (all the boys did!) Onto Skyline High this Friday!

GO TITANS!

unemployment top ten

#10. cleaning porta potties is fun to do,

fun to do, fun to do. (ahem not so much, but singing primary songs helps--ok that's not true either but he survived it!)

#9. my family sure goes through A LOT of toilet paper. Seriously, who knew?

(in keeping with the potty theme)

#8. we are LEARNING to love left-overs. and eggs. Eggs are good.

#7. it DOES get hot enough on a flat roof

in August to fry an egg.

#6. less REALLY IS more!

#5. you learn how humbling (and hard!) it is to accept goodness from others. (we are ready to be in "giving back" mode any time now!)

#4. attitude really is everything.

(o.k. maybe not EVERYTHING,

but you know what I mean!)

#3. coupons are a mom's best friend.

#2. it's OKAY to have a mini nervous breakdown now and again...this too shall pass!

(and your kids now know to bring you

some kleenex so you can sop

up your snot and move on.)

#1. we are so very blessed!

really and truly.

I have said it before and I'll say it again-

I would love for this unemployment stuff to be over, like.... YESTERDAY!

BUT, looking back over the past 5 months we are amazed at the outpouring of love from those people, who have LITERALLY been God's hands, here on earth.

To each of you this holiday season,

WE THANK YOU

for your love and thoughts and prayers and goodness and acts of kindness to our family.

thank you

thank you

thank you

hunger strike

Tonight josh threatened a "hunger strike."


I noted the time.


It was 7:41 P.M.


At exactly 8:00 P.M.
I heard the microwave turn on.



Said "hunger strike" lasted exactly 19
minutes.



I'm not quite sure how he survived THAT
long without food.

JOY!

Josh had his first basketball game yesterday. The boys have to wear "shirts and ties" to school on game days. Josh took great care in dressing himself...I personally am not sure I want to claim I had anything to do with his outfit. (which I did not)

He is self-assured to say the least.

There is great JOY! in watching your children perform at something they love. They are going to be a fun to watch for the next 3 months.

The Sophomore's won hands down, they managed to avert one minor pushing incident that was headed to a fight, and played some great ball. What a FABULOUS team this is...if they play all the way through Senior Year...watch out! They are a force to be reckoned with.

On a side note: I had 4 of the boys from the team in my kitchen a few weeks back (they had stopped by for some Mac-n-Cheese). I am not exactly a midget (I stand right around 5'8" on a good day) But standing in my kitchen next to 4 boys (the "shortest" right at about 6'2" and the others hoovering at 6'4" and 6'5") I cannot tell you how SMALL I felt.

This group of boys is SUCH a fabulous group! (And NOT just in talent, I mean as boys growing into men as well! Just super great kids!)

It will be fun to watch them for the next few years!

GO OLYMPUS!

POST EDIT: it is at times like this (taking "sport" pictures i would give my eye teeth for

a camera WITHOUT shutter delay...but alas they are out of my price range --which happens

to be $0 dollars anyway--so excuse my "blurry action shots!) By the time the shutter

snaps, everyone has already moved! I had Cynthia Williams to thank last year

for great pictures since our boys played on the same team--this year we will PRETEND

I have great pictures! LOL~ anyone have a great camera I can borrow for a game?

you are a POOHEAD sometimes....

For Family Home Evening last week, at Olivia's bidding, we all passed around paper hearts with our names on them. The point was to write something nice about each person in our family as the heart passed us by. (you know, in order to be "grateful" for the people in our family)


MY heart (the one with my name on it) came back to me with:

"you are a POOHEAD sometimes" ... written on it.



It was anybody's guess who had written that to me. (however, it only took ONE guess to isolate the individual).

One of my OTHER children, who felt so badly that someone had been "so mean" to me, grabbed a pen and for the rest of time left wrote little things all over the rest of my heart,

like:

"you are the BEST mom I ever had!" (not shocking really, i mean considering all the other mothers she has had!)



"you are not REALLY a poohead mom!" (well said!)



"you're so so so so so nice mom" (my thoughts EXACTLY!)


"I would never have a different mom ever mom!" (aw shucks! and I would never want you to!)


well, you get the picture.

The fact of the matter is: I AM a poohead sometimes. Especially lately when it feels like the weight of the world is getting heavier upon my shoulders with every passing day. Somedays it drops me to my knees. (thus, turning me into above mentioned "poohead".)


Fortunately, thus far, I have always seemed to find a way back up to continue forward.

So, Dear (Nameless Child): I am sorry that your mom is a PooHead sometimes. Thanks for loving me anyway! Mom

Thank you (with gratitude in my heart) for my little family, and those friends and extended family, who help make my life bearable when I am being a poohead.

And if I've been a PooHead to YOU lately...please forgive me....apparently I am one sometimes!

O Holy Night...er War...

It comes to this....

the "holy war" of Utah Schools

BYU

vs.

U of U

take your pick!

who's gonna win?

thankful

who doesn't have lots to be thankful for?

even in the midst of trying times in our life...

THIS year i am "thankful" that my two "teenagers" spent 3 whole hours with their family (AKA "us") during the school break.

it was, of course, under great duress and threats of feigned heart failure on the part of their mother. and a few tears. and a little bit of begging. but still, they conceded!

so, this year...i am thankful my teens "choose" to hang w/me for a solid 3 hours.

Josh and Grace, i am thankful for 3 great hours! (and no that is NOT sarcastic).

a just a note for those of you who still have all "young 'uns" at home...that like you. that like to "hang with you"...still.

Please oh please oh please-hold them tight and enjoy every passing moment. they grow up and away far too fast. love them. hold them. hug them. play "tea" with them. and barbies. and Wii. and Lego's. and just enjoy them. :O)

crap, i am a schizophrenic nazi

a brief explanation for all my non "Mormon" peeps. (readers of other faiths and religions, please don't judge all Mormons by what you are about to read! there are some great members of the LDS aka Mormon faith who do not have a hard time refraining from bad language at Church.)


in our church we have a 3 hour "block" of meetings each Sunday. it is not ironically called THE BLOCK. the meetings consist of one hour of "sacrament meeting" (talks, songs, partaking of the sacrament, aka bread and water, in remembrance of Jesus Christ).

this is followed by Sunday School class (one hour) and then a combination of meetings: Relief Society, Priesthood, Young Mens/Womens--you go where you go next depending on your age group. (sorta)


clear as mud?


if you are really lucky and under the age of 12 you go to a 2 hour "class" called Primary where you basically sing songs, learn about Jesus, have a lesson, sing more songs, well you get the picture.



Even more clear? or even muddier?


i have the good fortune of being the "primary president" in my ward which basically means i herd children for two hours every Sunday while the grown ups get a break. (ok, technically this is NOT TRUE...some weeks, however, it is VERY TRUE.)

in truth, i love it! really, i do! the things they say! the things they do! it is really a fantastic learning experience.


we try and teach the kids to follow Christ's example and have fun and sing and all that jazz.


HOWEVER, i find myself on the opposite side of being a "good example" lately.


It seems that whenever i stand up at the pulpit to speak into the microphone (which by the way is SO LOUD it carries to, oh, say, TEXAS!) i inadvertently blurt out some word that you probably should not say in church.


over a pulpit.


into a really loud microphone.


for example, one week MY Leaders were visiting (making sure things were running smoothly and we were doing a good job.)and i somehow managed to work the word SCHIZOPHRENIC into my vocabulary. I mean, really? i actually said that word in church? over the microphone? Schizophrenic? who says THAT in church? certainly i offended some family dealing with mental illness.

then another week i was whole heartedly, and LOUDLY over that darn microphone again, comparing myself to a NAZI.


again, really? am i trying to get myself released from this calling? again, some Holocaust survivors grandchild probably went home weeping at my bad example. what parent needs to worry that their small child will yell an inappropriate word during the Primary Program when they have MEEEEEEEEE??? I am single handedly taking care of that myself!


and this week, after reprimanding the kids last week about their language in church i practically YELLED the word CRAP! over the mike. (okay, so i DID yell the word CRAP! over the mike)


so for those of you who read my blog, and especially those who leave your children with me each Sunday for two hours, just know that they are getting a word education beyond your wildest dreams. My fear is that each time I utter a stray word, or one slips from between my lips, or i hiccup a word so sublime, someone will start asking for definitions.


So far, no one's asking.


Maybe next years Primary Budget should include a muzzle for me? that would solve a lot of problems!

new moon

so, grace "treated" me to the NEW MOON

movie today with her babysitting money.

it was an early "birthday" treat.

(although not sure if it was HER treat

or MY treat, kwim?)

she is "team jacob".

i am "team edward".

(and remain unconverted even

after rippling pectorals

and 6 pack ab's

on Jacob.)

Let's just say both men are great looking.

However, Edward appeals to my more

"mature" tastes.

The best part was of the whole movie

experience was listening to the squeals

and sighs and swooning and drooling

over both Jacob (especially! Jacob)

and Edward. It made me laugh, a lot!

Our review: even better than the first.

not nearly as "cheesy" (although let's

face it people, the whole thing runs a

bit on the cheesy side-right?)

We loved it!

TWO THUMBS UP from the Nielson girls!

Poor Stephanie Meyer, she just

made like another gazillion dollars

this weekend.

Anyone want to go again?

i'm free tonight!

word soup

bompie (aka olivia): "mom, my new favorite word is revolting! i LOVE that word!"

me: "wow! really? do you know what it means?"

bompie: "yup, it means disgusting and gross."

me: "can you use it in a sentence?"

bompie: "dads farts smell revolting."

me, seriously giggling.


next...

bompie: "mom, what does 'warship' mean?"

me: "well, you know like in a war when people are fighting and there is a ship helping with fighting, that is a warship." (i sorta fumbled on that explanation, i know!)

bompie, puzzled look on her face: "hmmmm, well we talked about it at church today."

me, even MORE puzzled: "you talked about WARSHIPS at church today? what were you talking about?"

bompie: "well, it was about warships and God."

moment of silence...

light clicks on...

me: "OHHHHHHHH! you mean WORSHIP? like WORSHIPPING God?"

bompie: "yes!"

me, thinking of all the other "utah" words like carn (corn)
and Lard (Lord)and "LIAR" (lawyer) and "window SEAL" (window SILL).
i guess i can now i can add WARSHIP (worship) to the list of mispronounced "utah-ese".

just for the grandparents...josh dance pictures (well anyone else who wants to can enjoy them too)

Dear Grandma and Grandpa-

Here you go!

(Blame the delay on your grandchild that

forgot to pick up his pictures in the

office for a LONG time now.)

We still love him.

Josh's Dance pictures.

The first set is Josh and his date for the

Monster Mash Halloween Dance.

His whole group went as "Lifeguards."

Each couple wore matching colors.

Josh and date were in pink.

I have a feeling that this picture could

be used for some really great blackmail

at some point in the future.

We loved how much personality and fun

the kids show in their pictures!

This next set is Josh and Whitney (THE "girl") at Homecoming.

Also pictured (2nd picture) is the group of kids

that went together to dinner and the dance.

Enjoy and you're welcome!

He has ALREADY been asked to the NEXT dance.

Winter Formal....
sometime in December.

More pictures to come.

i see hoops in our future....

hoops

and basketballs

and sweaty socks

and smelly shoes

and olympus logos

and tall boys all in a row!

Josh made the Oly High School

Basketball Team!

GO JOSH!

we are so proud of you!

a wind and a prayer...

i feel a little bit uncomfortable blogging about some of my personal feelings and experiences as we travel the road of unemployment.


i just feel compelled to write my experiences, so that (hopefully) someday when we complete the journey, i have documentation to look back upon.


i am a "wordy" person and this is my outlet.


sometimes, it is too painful to type what i am feeling (but i do!) and sometimes it is immensely personal (and STILL i do). Type, that is.


This past week after the hustle and bustle of getting the kids up, and ready, and gone, for another day of school-- i found myself alone in the quiet of my home and sighed *a deep sigh* and gathered myself together to face another day.


the south wind was blowing, the temperatures were mild for November. the leaves, orange and red and yellow, were blowing across my lawn in miniature whirlwinds. lifting off of the ground and resettling elsewhere, no thought given to their journey.


i stood in my front doorway, the wind gently blowing across my face and lifting my hair, and a heaviness filled my heart that no wind could blow away. i felt lonely and frightened and sad and vulnerable. i wanted to somehow telepathically send out a message to someone, somewhere.


i NEEDED to know that someone cared. (sometimes, you just do.)


Please, i said. and then i let the thought blow from my heart and across the yard, into the wind, and i shut the door.


i continued on with my day, actually forgetting my moment of sadness, and that little thought as it went scurrying on its way.


my doorbell rang well into the afternoon and there stood a friend. dt. dr pepper and cookie in hand.


"i was thinking about you today," was all she said.


they were beautiful words to hear. it was enough.


my cup was filled.


a while later, someone called. a trip to Costco was in their future and did i need any "little old thing?"


milk would be great, after all i do live with "Mr. I Can Drink One Gallon of Milk A Day" boy.


a gallon of milk would be great. thank you very much.



now my cup was topped off, milk will do that.


even later still, my doorbell rang again (believe me ladies and gentlemen--this is NOT a common occurrence at my house.)


someone stood there, bearing a gift that defies description.
and i won't describe it because i don't want to embarrass them (not that they read my blog--they do NOT!) and i am still a bit overwhelmed by it anyway.


they loved us and were thinking about us. i set the gift on the table and stared at it for a while. my heart was very full. my cup even fuller now, in fact over flowing.


somehow, somewhere, someone heard the plea of my heart and not once, not twice, but THREE times that plea was answered that day.


i like to think that God heard it. i like to think that 3 people listened to His promptings to love me that day when the wind carried my prayer away.


i like to think that i am one blessed lady.

family home evening; the great mormon experience (experiment?)

For any folks who read my blog that are NOT of the "latter day saint" persuasion (mormons), I will explain an event called "family home evening" that us Mormons have on a regular basis.


It is supposed to take place on Monday evenings. An event where one gathers together the family to have a lesson on a gospel principle (faith, charity, etc.), sing a song or two, and if you're REALLY lucky--have a treat. It usually opens and closes with a prayer to set the mood.


how it GOES in MY house....


grace prepared a lesson on GRATITUDE (good choice for the month of November and upcoming Thanksgiving).


the opening song is sung in 3 different keys with an occasional person (josh) quacking in some variant high pitched "duck" voice...singing every 4th word REALLY high.

instead of "setting a mood" we are all giggling by the end of "I Am A Child of God." (quack quack)


We are trying not to giggle through the opening prayer.


An opening prayer is given.


Grace starts into her "lesson" (mind you this is about a 2 minute affair in our home).


Eliza is mad and refusing to be "grateful" for anything.


Olivia is reading a creepy Halloween story during the lesson.


Josh is threatening to water board Eliza is she doesn't quit being so grumpy.


Kyle somehow shares a story about using an outhouse all week during his latest unemployment job...we claim he should be GRATEFUL he is not a WOMAN using an outhouse all week. It is way worse to be a WOMAN than a MAN using an outhouse, trust me on this one!


Grace laughs so hard she snorts.


Josh tackles Eliza, wraps in her a blanket, and a headlock, and begins to explain the water boarding procedure to her.
He then gives her the mother of all wedgies.


Eliza runs from the room in tears, permanently damaged from the teasing of her brother....calling him mean names.


We sing a closing song, say a closing prayer and survived another Family Home Evening.


Not sure we learned a blessed thing~
Unless you can count what Josh taught us about water boarding?

If so, then we're good~

red, pink & monsters mashing....

It's coming....

Jack o' Lantern faces smiling.

Miss Bompie will be Little RED with

her riding hood...


Lizzie Jane will be sporting all PINK


And Joshua will be attending the
Oly High "Monster Mash"


(another dance, another girl--i am
still trying to figure out how the "girlfriend"
is OK with the fact they are NOT
going with each other?!)




Don't worry Grace has plans too,
too many to name.

Stay tuned for the weekend update.

I promise to add photos for the grandparents!

infertility, unemployement and hope.

i KNOW you want to know what ANY of those things have to do with each other.


but they do, they do! Read on, I promise you they do!


Last week, my hope faltered. It diminished. It downright fell off of a cliff.


Here's the 'nitty gritty' of it (say that in your BEST Jack Black "Nacho Libre" voice....and if you have not seen the movie and are feeling like something silly, go rent it!)


for EVERY job that my husband applies for there are probably 500 (or MORE) qualified people applying for the same job. He has a college degree and 20 years of business experience. He has had a few interviews, and a few offers. All with salaries LESS than he made when we were first married. Jobs we have had to turn down as they would not even pay our mortgage every month. We figure jobs in HIS "old when he had a job" salary range are being offered to people with even MORE experience and Masters Degrees. That is the cold hard fact of our economy and job market right now.


Believe me when I say to you "YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR HUSBAND TO LOOSE HIS JOB RIGHT NOW!"


Well, after a long discussion last week about "life"(that was not the most pleasant of my life...although I will proudly admit after 18 years of marriage there is not much yelling anymore, just a lot of disagreeing.) Kyle had a few reminders for me.


Kyle will proudly call himself a "hopeful" person. He believes that, in the end, most things generally work out.


Let's just say I have a much harder time with all that "hope" crap and pretty much like to "see it" to believe it.


I know what you're thinking and you're right, HE (as in my husband)is usually right in the end.


Things, USUALLY, have a way of working themselves out.


So what does all this hope and unemployment talk have to do with infertility.


As Kyle so kindly reminded me in a late night email (sent from the basement computer to my computer upstairs--as he had banished himself to a night on the couch to let me simmer and I had 2 small girls in my bed since they were the only warm bodies I was letting near me for one night!)


The THING he reminded me was about a time 17 years ago, when we had no children and were having a hard time getting a single one here!



We experienced a stillborn son and then 2 miscarriages before we ever had Josh. Talk about devastation (at the time)! Talk about heartbreak! Talk about loss of hope for birthing a living child. If you look at us NOW, however, you would never know that before 4 wonderful children came many moments of doubt, discouragement, and heartbreak.


We wondered if we would EVER hold a child in our arms that was alive and well.


But, you can see by our tall, vibrant, noisy brood that God did work in mysterious way and after years of heartbreak and pain, we were blessed with 4 babies. Alive and kicking!(there were years in between each child that were hard too--but still the babies came!)


So my VERY long winded point to this post is... (the one my husband made to me)

...is that while we cannot SEE or taste or feel the end result (when, where, and how he will find gainful employment) that there are MANY instances in our PAST that should lead us to HAVE HOPE and carry on.


We did not know HOW, or WHEN, or IF children would bless our home. But they did. It took a while, it took Doctors and tests, and medicines to make it happen.


It took many months of ups and downs, heartache and despair, hope and prayers, to make that dream happen.


BUT, it did.


He (my kind, patient, hopeful husband) assures me that just as with infertility, if we persevere long enough and continue forward, our efforts will be blessed and a job will come.


It will come kicking, and screaming, and with much joy into our lives.


And just as with our children, who took a lot of work to get here...the "new job" will be savoured just a little bit more. It will be appreciated, and gratitude will fill our hearts for an opportunity to get up each day and go to work.



For all those who have listened to MY ups and downs, most of all my husband and children, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.


I am grateful for kids who have not complained (literally!) ONE TIME about the sacrifices they have had to make, the things they have given up, during this season of our lives. I keep waiting for a tear, or gripe, about something (ANYTHING!) and it has yet to come.


So, thank you Kyle and Josh and Grace and Eliza and Olivia. My literal, living, breathing examples of what can come from hope not lost.


This post is for all of you.


I love you.


Mom