The Blessing of a New Life...

So what a whirlwind our family has been in the past 4 months!! Lets see...just to start naming a few things we have experienced....

• Sydney was born April 7th =D
• Chris' work went crazy and offered him 2 options (April 8th): move to Reno, NV or Turlock, CA or lose his job. We went to Reno to check it out for a week (Chris + me + 2yr old Kenna + 2 week old Sydney = not a good choice!)
• Decided not to relocate and so Chris became jobless...
• Because Chris was jobless we were able to spend the summer camping and swimming and just playing together as a family =D What seemed to be a horrible thing, turned into a blessing for our family. We were able to spend more time together as family! (Chris has worked 6 days a week since we were married 4 years ago, so this was a HUGE and needed change!)
• Chris decided to go back to school. He starts back up at Dixie State this month. =) (another added blessing. He has not talked about going back to school for a long time. His job never allowed the time to even consider it!)
  
• I started looking for a job and was hired at Vista Charter School. (blessing....check :) I will be in a Kindergarten Class half day and then teaching extended homeroom for Math the other half of the day.
• I start officially teaching tomorrow! =) CRAZY, but I'm really excited. I love the people I am working with and feel so great about Chris watching the girls. If it was a sitter everyday or day care I would feel very differently! (another added blessing!)
  
• Chris is now the best "stay-at-home-daddy" around! =) Seriously, he cleans the house, takes the girls on walks, plays with them, and even does their hair!! (I'm still working on getting him to cook...but that will take some time ;D) I couldn't ask for a better husband! It works out perfect because he will take night classes and online classes and watch the girls during the day! (one more blessing...that we were able to work his schedule out to do so!)
  
• Our roles have switched places completely. I am working and he is the student and care-taker of the girls!
  
• Oh, and Sydney is 4 months old....how that happened so fast, I don't know!!! =)
  

It has been a crazy few months! I am excited for the new changes in our lives though. Everything has proved to me even more that we have a Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers. He is aware of our struggles and knows of the things we need in our lives. I am so grateful for that knowledge. It may be stressful at times, but I always have that faith that everything will work out. =)

Another tender blessing that recently happened to our family was with Chris' sweet sister Nicole. I feel that it was a blessing for Chris, as well as for everyone, for him to not have a job while she was so sick. We were able to be there for her, for her sweet baby Taylee, for Chris' parents, for her husband, and for everyone else. We didn't have obligations to anything other than our family while it was all happening. I felt that was such a sweet blessing. I saw and felt how important it was for Chris to be able to be with his family and with his little sister. I don't know how much of an impact we really did make, but I do know that my own personal testimony of the power of family was strengthened so much during those few short weeks. My testimony of the power of prayer and faith in our Savior was also strengthened so much.

The power of family, prayer, and faith is immeasurable and can honestly move mountains...or in our case, provide a healing miracle for a new mother! :) We love you Nicole and are so grateful for you in our lives!