Our Crazy Christmas Season

December rushed in and now it's almost over. I can't believe how quickly time flies! It has truly been a month of great trials and great blessings.

It started with lots of studying for finals. Allan is finally done with school for this semester and is so grateful for the break. He did very, very well in 2 of his classes and well, we'll wait and see about the last one. But hey, it's over!..until January.

Last week I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). It's a form of arthritis that affects your knees, shoulders, heels, pelvis, spine and others and causes random tender spots around your body. The main symptoms are chronic stiffness and pain and fatigue. This is my 4th chronic disease. I'm getting quite the collection here. Haha. This one wasn't a devastation though because I've had symptoms for over 10 years. It just hasn't been advanced enough to be picked up by x-rays and MRIs (they look for sclerosis in the pelvis as the main sign) until now. It's just nice to not be told "We don't know why you hurt. You just do." because that's what I've been told for the last 10 years. At least now that there's a diagnosis they can do things to help me. So it's actually kind of a relief to finally have the official diagnosis.

My singing group, Voices, started to perform and we had 24 performances in just 2 weeks, not including the 6 Christmasgrams we did in just one day. It was a blast, but very tiring. I'm so happy to have a whole week off. We perform at the North Visitors Center at Temple Square on Thursday and then have one last performance just for family and friends on the 26th and then are done...until we start practicing for our singing Valentines in January. :)

I'm amazed I made it to every performance because like I said, a huge part of AS is fatigue. I was truly being sustained by the Lord. In fact, the day after our crazy 2 weeks, I crashed pretty hard. I didn't get out of bed much for about 2 days. Luckily though, I didn't actually get sick. It was a HUGE blessing.

Our last trial was that Allan lost his job last week. Needless to say, we are pretty stressed. It's also been a great blessing because it's truly brought Allan and I closer together and closer to the Lord. We've felt a constant feeling of peace both with each other and in general. It's so nice! But if anyone knows of job openings, please let us know! We so appreciate everyone's prayers.

I'm hoping to post a Christmas card on our blog soon as we just didn't have the time nor energy to get them made and mailed out to people. In the meantime, happy holidays to all!

New Calling

Last week Allan and I were called to be primary teachers. I was SO excited. Due to illness, moving and pregnancy, I haven't had a calling since we were married. We will be teaching the CTR 7/Valiant 8 class and I am thrilled! I started today (Allan was at drill this weekend so he'll start next week) and enjoyed every minute of it. There were 8 in my class today. Luckily, they aren't too roudy. Insanely talkative, yes, but respectful when I tell them to be quiet. I love them already. I don't think any person has ever been as excited as I am to be a primary teacher.

I think my favorite part was singing time. I fairly recently borrowed my mom's primary song book so I could remember the songs to sing to Lindy. This is even better! And I surprisingly knew most of the ones they sang today. There's only one I didn't recognize. I'll remedy that very quickly.

Another fun part is that all the kids love Lindy. They kept asking if they could hold her. Even one of the boys wants to! So I've decided to use her as leverage. If they can be quiet and listen to the lesson, I'll let them hold her. I usedt his on one of the boys today who was being...a boy. It worked well. He was quiet and participated in singing time afterwards so he'll get to hold her next week. Love it!

I can tell that this particular boy is the "problem child" of the class, but I adore him. He kept giving me fives in singing time after he'd answer a question right or help somehow. When he left he also (very excitedly) said, "See ya next week!" How can you not love it when little kids are so happy to see you? I left wanting to bake them all cookies & such.

After church, my new visiting teaching companion came up to tell me when we will be visiting our sisters. I was amazed at how overjoyed I was today when leaving church. I've heard that you're happiest when serving others and I can attest that it is absolutely true! I love being able to help the people in the ward and in turn make friends (I'm refering to the kids too) and feel like I belong.

A Place Of Our Own

We are officially under contract! We bought a house! Ok, it's actually a condo. But still, it's all ours. No more paying another's mortgage. We were motivated by the $8000 tax credit and because of it, we're able to do this. We're SO excited!

This has been quite the process. We started looking in the beginning of April so we didn't have much time. The first place we put an offer in on was a short sale and although it was already approved at the listed price, we offered $1000 more just to make sure. However, they didn't accept it. Our agent and the seller's agent were so mad! But we moved on.

The second places we made an offer on didn't work out because the seller was kind of retarded. They wouldn't work with us on price at all and actually ended up raising it above the original asking price. So we walked on that one. We walked away from this one with only a week left to find a place & get under contract to get the tax credit.

Turns out the 3rd time really is the charm. As soon as I walked into this condo, I knew it was the place. It was just a gut feeling (and I'm learning my gut feelings are NEVER wrong). I didn't even need to see the rest of it to know it was "the one." We put in an offer that night and ended up in a bidding war. We upped our offer just a little bit & were nervous we wouldn't get it, but the seller accepted it! And we found out that our offer was lower, but they felt like we would be better to work with. HOLY COW! We are so lucky!

Because we are in a basement apt, we had some pretty basic requirements. Ya know, windows, a bathtub, a full size fridge, etc. We got way more though. This place is super nice. It has lots of great upgrades like super nice carpet, a water softener, tile floors, corian counters (in the kitchen, bathrooms AND laundry room), stainless steel appliances (and we got the super nice fridge as well!), walk-in closet and my personal favorite, a jetted soaker tub! It really is beautiful.

After our first two disappointments, Allan told me he thought God didn't want us to have our own place because he wasn't helping. He was so discouraged and I really can't blame him. It was pretty discouraging. But I told him we couldn't lose faith and we'd find something. And we did! God really is aware of us. So we will be out in Eagle Mountain within the next month or so. Woo hoo!

The Emotional Aspect

Having a baby is the most amazing experience. That is also the biggest understatement of the century. I had been so nervous about it until right before I went in. We had a blast dancing our hearts out at ULX so that probably helped distract me. Miranda came over on Sunday to help me finish some things up before I had to go into the hospital and she couldn't believe how calm I was. I think she was freaking out far more than I was. I'm so grateful for priesthood blessings that allowed me so much peace about the whole thing.

Because of the c-section, I couldn't see Lindy when she was born. However, that didn't stop the wave of emotion that washed over me when I first heard her cry. I was not expecting it. It hit me so hard and it was so overwhelming (not in a bad way) that all I could do was cry. I had tears streaming down my face. I had no idea that I could love someone SO much and so quickly. I knew I would do absolutely anything for that little girl that I hadn't even laid eyes on. It was amazing. I know Allan felt it too because he started tearing up as well. He was just stronger and held the tears back. Our little family had finally started and it felt wonderful!

It's mind boggling to think that this child was so recently in heaven and is so perfect. I was in awe that I could be trusted with the responsibility of taking care of someone so precious and teaching her the right.

A few people have asked me how it feels to be a mom and all I can think is that there is no way to explain it to someone who doesn't have children. You can try, but no words will ever sufficiently explain the absolute love you feel for this new little person in your life. But it is wonderful and I love it.

The True Spirit of Christmas

I've been so overwhelmed with these feelings recently that I decided to post them. Maybe it's due to pregnancy, maybe it's not. Either way, this is what's going on.

Every year my family goes all out for Christmas. They always have. We have always had a Christmas tree (or two) and lights up on our house. In addition to this, we have tons and tons of other Christmas decorations around the house. I noticed this year that they even spilled into the bathroom. Yes, there are Christmas decorations in my family's bathroom. I couldn't help but chuckle at that. I must say, it's been impossible to not catch this spirit. I LOVE decorating for Christmas and putting up lights, etc.

This year, we don't have enough $ for a tree so we are going without. I think this is the first time in my life I've not had a tree. At first this was incredibly upsetting to me. I looked and looked for a tree we might afford without much luck. We don't have ornaments either or lights so I'm not exactly sure what we would've done with the tree, but still, we would have one. I was thinking I'd string popcorn. :) We also are not getting each other any presents for the same reason. My favorite part of Christmas is definitely GIVING the presents. So this has been hard as well. 

I recently realized that this doesn't have to be hard. I was the one who was making it so. I just had to choose to be happy and grateful for everything that we do have, because it really is a lot. First and foremost, we have each other. Even if I had a more lights and decorations than anyone in the neighborhood or if I was able to give hundreds of presents, it would not be one of my best Christmases if Allan was not with me. In fact, it would probably be one of the worst.

We have a roof over our heads, a running car and our health. Good health is not something I've known throughout my life so this is a really big one, especially during pregnancy! We also have our families and our friends and a wonderful bishop and fellow ward members who are doing so much to help us make ends meet. I know that a lot of people do not have a lot of people they can turn to in times of need. We do. We have been extended a helping hand by so many people that it has been overwhelming. Things are still hard, but we know that we will make it because of these other people. The Lord truly does help us through the service of others. 

I've realized that even without lights, trees, presents or other Christmas decor, I have felt the true spirit of Christmas more this year than I ever have before. Even without a lot of the simple luxuries of life, I am genuinely happy. How grateful I am for wonderful people in our lives and for the gospel of Christ that enables us to experience and know the true happiness in life that the world cannot offer.

Happy holidays to all! We hope you are enjoying them as much as we are.