We are blessed!

This has been an incredible, yet stressful, year for our family. But from all of the stress and heartache we have felt have come some very real and amazing blessings. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for all He has done for is this past year.

When Sean and I got married, we spent years, literally, trying to decide what career path he would follow after graduation. We knew he wanted to do something in the medical field, but he had so many different interests. Shortly after we were married, he got a job as a physical therapy tech and a prosthetist/orthetist tech, and was able to experience what both those career options would be. After a lot of consideration and prayer, both those options were off the table. He also thought about med school and PA school, but after taking a Medical Professions class at BYU, didn't like the idea of PA. So we settled (I use that word lightly, because it wasn't really a decision) on med school, but it never sounded right. We fasted, prayed, and went to the temple a lot with this question in mind. It wasn't until 2.5 years after we were married that we decided a decision needed to be made. And that once we made that decision and moved forward Heavenly Father would guide us as to whether that was right or not. So we decided on med school. And after about a week felt like that was wrong, that PA was the way we should go.

Fast forward to this year, when we were actually ready to start applying for PA school. I had spent hours compiling a list of possible schools for us to apply to and we narrowed it down to 9. Nine applications, 6 offered interviews (so far), 5 accepted and attended interviews, 3 acceptances, 1 wait list, and a $10,000 scholarship offer later, we are so excited to say we know where we will be going for PA school! We will be attending UC Davis' PA program and Sean couldn't be more excited about the 4 day class week. The fact that once we decided on PA school, everything came so easy after that (it really was super easy to get everything done), and interviews were offered much earlier than anticipated (we really thought Sean would be flying all over the country after Christmas, leaving me with two kids and little help while he was gone).  But his interviews were all in September and October, and I was able to spend time with Kelly and her family (thanks again you guys!) to pass the time while he was gone. And, getting accepted and knowing where we will be going before baby comes was an even bigger blessing to me. This really confirmed to me that Heavenly Father answered our prayers, definitely not in our timing, but the way that would be best for us, and I can say I know we made the right decision.

Sean officially graduated from BYU last December, and after Christmas it was time for him to find a full time job. He started applying for jobs, and sent his resume to a random physical therapy office in Springville. They weren't hiring at the time but he got a call a couple days later asking him to come in for an interview. He was offered the job after talking to the head guy for about 2 minutes, and has been working there since! His schedule is crazy (7-5 MWF and 7-12 TTh) but we love it, especially Mason, since Sean has two afternoons off during the week. It will be great in the upcoming months as well because he will be able to volunteer at the Provo City Center Open House while that is running!

Right around the time Sean started his new job, I miscarried at 6 weeks pregnant. I was so excited for baby number 2, and it came as a total and complete shock to me. I was so upset for weeks, and it took us another few months to get pregnant again. From that though, I found out that I had a few ovarian cysts (a couple had already popped), which I would never had known had I not miscarried. I am currently cyst free thanks to being pregnant, and the other two cysts popping earlier this year (worst. pain. ever.).

We have been really lucky to live close to family while we have been in Utah. Sean's whole family lives here, and I have a lot of cousins. Kelly has really spoiled me by giving me tons of baby clothes, and now all the baby things they don't need anymore (exersaucer, high chair, johnny jumper, etc.) for the rest of our kids to use. Sean's mom and sister offer LOTS of free babysitting for us to go to the temple or out for a date night. My parents and sister spoil Mason with clothes (his entire 2T wardrobe consists of stuff bought by my mom and sister, or were hand-me-downs from Kelly's boys). I am so lucky to be so watched over in regards to Mason.

I have been working for Career Step since September 2008, since I graduated college (minus a 2 month break when Mason was 4-5 months old, then they asked if I could come back). In that time I have had a lot of different positions and responsibilities, and most recently have been helping with extensions for people needing more time for their course. While I am sometimes jealous of moms with one kid who got to always take naps when their kid napped, most of the time I am grateful for something to keep me busy, while providing necessary income for our family. Recently we have been wondering how we were going to make ends meet when baby came and I needed some time off, but at our company Christmas party, we found out that all employees were going to receive a $1000 bonus, and part time employees (me!) were going to get paid holidays finally! I almost started bawling my eyes out right there with 250 people in the room. You bet I went up to the CEO after and gave him a hug and thanked him, and let him know what a huge blessing that would be to our little family.

On December 30, baby Luke decided to join our family! And babies are just a wonderful blessing. His birth blog post talks about everything, but he came safe and sound despite me being very sick.

All in all, it has been a whirlwind of a year. I can't say it has been my favorite year, but we have been richly blessed in more ways than we probably even know. I am excited to see what 2016 brings our family!