Money

I know it's a hard thing to admit or to even talk about. But money in tight, especially in these times for a lot of people. For our family it is no different. Then it hit me the other day how blessed my family has been. For the past two years when something huge has happened that needed a lot more money than we had to spare, it happened right around tax season. Last year our transmission blew up and had to be built from scratch. Our refund covered the cost almost exactly. This year, as you have read, we had a flood and then the mold. The flood was covered by insurance but the mold stuff wasn't. What a blessing that this happened when it did. We don't know how much it will all be yet. But I know that we'll have money to cover it because of our tax refund coming in. It amazes me how much our Heavenly Father cares for us, even when it come to our finances.

Progress

I'm staying at my parent's house again tonight. I was able to sleep three nights in my own bed and it was wonderful! Things are progressing on our house. The toilets are out so they can put the flooring in the bathrooms in the morning. Tomorrow night they'll be put back in. Then next week the rest of the flooring should be installed.
A couple of weeks ago my husband and I attended the Temple together, something we haven't been able to do yet this year. It was wonderful! I gained some much needed perspective. Something I had lost is the craziness of our home falling apart. Really in the eternal aspect of things, this truly will be "but a small moment" in my eternal journey. Ever since then I have been able to just go with it. Things happen, some good and some bad, and sometimes they are even hard to deal with. But the most important things are the blessings and the help that come. This blessing of perspective was important. I am more relaxed. I am enjoying the little moments with my children each day. I'm trying to just let things happen and not control them when I can't anyways. I have had more peace because of that and I am truly grateful for that tender mercy from my Father in Heaven.

When it rains, it pours...

...and then sometimes lightening and thunder comes. So my last post I told you about the disaster that happened in our home, little did I know that that was just the beginning. One detail I didn't tell you about when we stayed at the hotel, our hotel room flooded. We joked about it using the saying when it rains (our house flooding) it pours (our hotel room flooding). It really wasn't that bad just our clothes got wet. After we got back from the hotel we looked at what money we had been given from our insurance to replace carpet and bathroom flooring. We decided to put a wood floor in down stairs instead of putting carpet back down. We also decided to knock a wall out that separated the kitchen and the living room to make a great room. With these changes, willing and dealing, and added some of our own money we figured we could replace all of the flooring in all of the bathrooms in our home. Another blessing. Now I'll tell you about the thunder and the lightening that have come since then. March 21st the doctor I've been working with since my surgery called and told me he didn't have any more answers for me. I had been in a lot of pain trying a new medication that wasn't working, and he wanted to send me to another doctor. I have now been through 4 or 5 doctors that have said the same thing to me, no answers. Then on the 22nd we were told that my husbands job was going to end. They were closing the ranch he works at. I cried myself to sleep that night. Then Friday the 25th of March we started ripping up the floors in our other two bathrooms in our home. We found water under the floor and what looked and smelled like mold. We turned off our furnace and moved to my parents house. Since it was the weekend we couldn't do anything until Monday. Over the next week we had experts come and test taken. We finally got the results back last Saturday and it is black mold. They are, as I am writing this post, cleaning up the mold. It is not an easy clean up. They have to use all kinds of chemicals, negative air pressure, containment stuff, and they have to rip out almost everything. This has been extremely hard and I'm embarrassed to say that I wasn't handling it very well. I got bitter and even a little mad. People that I talked to probably could tell and I am so sorry for that. Sunday was our church's General Conference. It is where our Prophet and other General Authorities give us council from the Lord. There were so many talks that were very meaningful to me. One reminded me that no one is free from trial and the thing that is most important in the end is how we handle ourselves during our trials. That was a big wake up call to me. I was humbled and felt the spirit talk to my soul. I have been so much better these past two days. My heart is lighter and I am now beginning to see the blessings that have come through this experience. I also learned, or was reminded, that Heavenly Father loves me and lets things happen to me so that I can be tried and tested. They are to help me be better, to become better. I have not been a very good example through this and I am going to change that. I really think that in the end after everything is cleaned up, replaced, and put back together our home will be better and our family will be stronger. I'm sure we will still try and sell our home, even if my husband is loosing his job. We have always been taken care of and I know that we will be in this case too. My biggest prayer has been answered, our family will be back together. It wasn't answered how I thought it was going to be our should be. It was answered the way that my Heavenly Father intended it to be. If you would like to hear more about General Conference click here.