Whirlwind Weather

So I have noticed that I blog really well until something really blog worthy takes place, and then I hold off because I really want to do it justice by putting the proper time into. What really happens is that by the time I actually get around to blogging it, I forget details, condense it all down into short paragraphs and end up doing exactly what I was trying to avoid in the first place.

In light of that we have had a lot happen here in the last week or so. I needed to go to Pocatello to get a signature from someone who had supervised me while I was in Guard. I took the 4 kids with me and we had a fun little trip. We got to spend time with everyone we love there. On Friday night when we arrived, we visited my parents and then I went and hung out with a bunch of friends from high school which was an absolute riot (as always). After our marathon coversations (I think we lasted till about 1:30 or so) we finally made it to bed. Saturday Emmy and Carter played almost the entire day with Alyssa and Logan (whom they consider to be cousins, even though they are just really close friends of the family).

Now, about this signature I needed. I have been trying to track down the PA who had been supervising me when I was a medic and I had not been able to find him. I had finally got permission from the school to get ANYBODY's signature who had even kind-of supervised me when I was in. When I called the armory I had found out that everyone I knew had been tranferred to new places or had gotten out. There was ONE person left for me to get a signature from. On Saturday morning when I walked in the armory, low and behold, the very PA who had supervised me was standing right in the entry way. Come to find out he was in Pocatello for this one drill. Not only was he there, but I saw four other soldiers with whom I had been really close who were there for this weekend only. Lupi Lopez (she was present at Emmy's baby shower and fought fires with me when I was 5 months prego with Emmy. She put up with my constant trips to the latrine) , Weizhaar (the PA), Jason (Hodge) Hodgekins, and Jeremy Johnson. It was a joyous occassion! I loved seeing these people who I had known from the time I was seventeen. They were there through the last years of high school, basic training, my marriage and the births of two children! They were all surprised to meet numbers 3 and 4 (Ashton and Lilly) and then most of them proudly shared pictures of their new children. It was so nice seeing them all.

After that I met up with Angie and visited for a bit before heading to Buddy's (my all time favorite restaurant) and meeting up with Kristi, Brent, Clinton and Corgin there. That evening we spent the night in Inkom and on Sunday (it was conference weekend) We listened to the morning session and then headed to Grace to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Simonson and some of the Simonson clan.

All in all in was a really satisfying trip. It became even more meaningful when Jaron called me on Saturday night to tell me that he was getting transferred to the Frackville, Pennsyvania Crackerbarrel and that they wanted us there by May 1, but would let us take until the 10th to get there. No, this was not a shock or an unwanted surprise. . . in fact it was quite a welcome event.

I just realized that I haven't blogged about my schooling for awhile. So here goes. I found a P.A. school in PA that will allow me to finish sooner than I had imagined and it takes nearly all of the credits that I have previosly taken. Jaron and I prayed about it and decided that it was the right thing for us to go to PA for this school. We made the decision to go before we knew if he would have a job, with no way to pay to get there, and many more major issues that were completely up in the air. The Lord has blessed us so much in the past few months that I can't even begin to express how grateful I am. I immediately applied for admission into the school and Jaron inquired at work about a transfer. At the time there were no openings available in any of the 3 stores that were within 150 miles of the school I am going to. He put in applications to other restaurants just in case, but nothing came of those. Then came the news of the transfer. The Frackville Cracker Barrel isn't our first choice, but it will do just fine. Cracker Barrel will finance our move, my credits have transferred better than I could have hoped, I got the signatures we needed, the children and I got to see people that we probably won't see for the next 3 years and there have been so many small miracles in this whole process that I can't even begin to name them all. One example is with my paper route. I have to put in a 30 day notice or else I will be charged a $200 fine for breach of contract, unless I can find a replacement who takes over before the end of the 30 days. I have less than 3o days before I am living out of state, not very conducive to a paper route. There are several people who put in their 30 days before me (due to some issues between carriers and the paper corporation) and I was at the end of the list for a replacement carrier to train. The girl who folds her papers next to me at the depot is new (only there for a month) and I told her about what was going on. She talked to her friend and the next day she came in and requested my route. Tommorow is the last day I train her and then I will be done with my paper route.

Again, I am not going to list all the small miracles that have occured over the last few weeks, but EVERYTHING is falling into place so neatly and this is honestly the first time in years that Jaron and I have felt hope for a better life for us and our children. I am so grateful for the Lord's blessings.

On another note, the Easter Bunny came to our house last night. We always ask him to come on Saturday so that we can do our easter egg hunting and then have Sunday as a special reverent day. The kids were up bright and early. I was still sleeping when Carter came in my room to tell me that Emmy was kind of sad because both of the boys had gotten a new toy and lots of candy and she hadn't. All she had gotten was a shirt that was too small for her and 3 pieces of candy. I had to laugh. . . Emmy had "found" Lilly's basket -- which the Easter bunny had left on the table for Lilly to find. Emmy assumed because the basket was pink that it was for her. She didn't pay very close attention to the letter the easter bunny left saying which color each childs basket was. She was relieved to find another basket filled with candy and a toy for her. She got a "skip-it". The easter bunny thought he was pretty clever hiding the eggs. ;)