Some deep thoughts...

Just to warn you, this post is probably going to be long winded because I'm a little emotional these days. The past few days I have been feeling very blessed, and today something really just touched my heart that I wanted to share.

In the past month a few things have come up for Nick and I that just make me feel like, "Are you serious!?! Can't we catch a break?!?" While driving home from work last month my car just up and stalled out in the middle of busy rush hour traffic. We got it home, and after talking to a few people realized that it was probably going to end up costing $1000-2000 to fix. Oh great. The next week, our jeep wouldn't start when Nick and I were trying to come home from our YW/Scouting activity. It needed to have a new starter put in ($200). And then to put the icing on the cake, our dryer died this past Saturday. Like totally died. It cannot be fixed. So out we went to purchase a new washer and dryer (because lets face it - our washer is REALLY old as well and most laundry prices are best when you buy a set). For those of you that don't remember, we are due to have our first child in less than a week, and it has not been an inexpensive process to get ready for his arrival. Baby stuff is expensive! Let alone the fact that this is the first month for us that we have gone from a two income family to just one. Big changes and some big challenges for us.

I'm sure most of you have already heard of Stephanie Nielsen (or NieNie as she blogs) and I had heard of her as well, but never taken the time to read about or watch her story. Until today. (Thanks for sharing the link, Christal.) I honestly just bawled as I watched the video clip. (I don't know how to attach a video clip, so just copy and paste the address into your browser.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E

She is such a good example of how to live a life with meaning, embracing the trials as blessings, and how we need to always turn to our Savior. She inspires me to be a better person. To be more conscious of the blessings I do indeed have and to remember that life is not about the worldly or material things, but about how we grow personally along our journey. This life is about how we prepare ourselves to meet God. About what we do to share and strengthen our testimonies of the truth. It's about how we treat others and how we need to remember that EVERYONE is a Child of God. It's about recognizing the blessings we have and being grateful for them.

We searched and shopped all Saturday afternoon for a washer and dryer. After realizing it was going to cost around $2000 for a set we liked, we were discouraged about having to make such an expensive purchase unexpectedly. This is NOT a good time for us! But we are having a baby in a week and need a washer and dryer, so we bit the bullet and placed an order and paid. Our tender mercy came on Monday morning when my dad called me and said that they've been thinking about getting a new washer and dryer for awhile and this would give them a good excuse to do so. They offered us the set that they currently have. For free. And they would be able to bring it up to us next week. We were able to cancel our order and get a full refund of our money.

Then yesterday Nick got a call from the mechanic who said, "You guys got lucky..." He was able to figure out what was wrong with the car and fix it for less than $400. Which also allowed us to be able to pay him to fix something else on the car that's been needing to be done for awhile. All for less than we'd anticipated on the repair that caused the car to breakdown! Having these two things happen honestly took such a big weight off of our shoulders to know that we wouldn't have to stretch ourselves so tight financially right now.

I would feel ungrateful if I didn't also mention the other big trial and blessing that we've had this past year. As I'm just a few days away from having the baby, I've been thinking a lot about the road we've taken to get to where we are today. It was really hard for me to struggle with not being able to get pregnant, finding something wrong, and having to have surgery to fix it. Hopefully that was the only factor that went in to our struggles. Regardless, I know that we have truly been blessed to have been able to get pregnant at all. I am so excited for this big change, so happy to be able to experience it for myself, and so grateful to have a Father in Heaven who has answered my prayers. I know that His love is real, and that he cares about what I am going through. I know that if we trust in Him he will provide a way for us to accomplish anything. He has for me.