Another Week...

Well another week has come and gone and we are starting a new week.  We all had a good Thanksgiving break.  Good food, lots of playtime and no alarm clocks!  Friday we put up our Christmas decorations and the kids slept out in the living room by the Christmas tree.  They love doing that!  Sunday the kids and I sang in church.  Olivia didn't - she said she couldn't remember how to sing so she sat with Michael.  The other kids did a great job.  Monday was the start of school and getting back on a schedule.  The weather turned cold over the weekend and we got a little snow yesterday.  The kids were so excited.  It was our first snow of the season.  It barely covered the ground but they still got on all their snow clothes, drug out the sleds and played until dark.  Actually it was just the girls - the boys had to clean their room :)  I started making phone calls to Green River and Rock Springs trying to find out about rentals and other such things.  Not much luck yet, but I know it will all work out.  Michael left messages at Haliburton but so far they have not returned his calls.  They weren't in the office yesterday.  Hopefully we will hear something today.  I still have this fear that all this will fall apart!  It all happened so fast.  Nothing like this has ever happened to us before.  I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it.  I think it will stay that way until we are actually there and living it.  In the meantime I have started some packing.  We will have to downsize so I am trying to sort through things and get rid of everything that we absolutely don't have to have.  I have started in the storage room.  I hate the thought of having to move all that food storage again, but we will and it will be fine.   Things are already getting crazy with empty boxes stacked here and there and packed boxes along the walls downstairs.  Time will go quickly though, especially with the added busyness of the season.  This week we have basketball practice tonight.  I will take all the kids while Michael goes to his church meetings.  Michael has more meetings tomorrow.  I have a church program Thursday night and the girls have their school concert that night.  Michael leaves early Friday morning to go to Kansas until late Saturday night.  The boys have their school concert Friday night.  Maddi has two basketball games Saturday morning.  Saturday evening we are headed to Hendricks.  Sunday is church and Michael has to work Sunday night.  Crazy times, but fun times!  Hopefully things start coming together and we can get everything done that we need to!

Maddi's Birthday

I feel bad I procrastinated blogging about Maddi's birthday.  This week has been such a whirlwind of a week!  We celebrated Maddi's 10th birthday Saturday night and Sunday.  She wanted for her birthday supper a baked potato bar so we had that Saturday night.  We also let her open one present.  Sunday was a busy day.  Michael had early morning meetings, the kids had their primary program in sacrament and then there was a Thanksgiving potluck after church.  Then we had to meet with the bishop for tithing settlement.  The kids and I went home and Michael stayed for more meetings.  He got home later than usual and Olivia was sleeping so poor Maddi had to wait until about 5pm to open her presents.  It was killing her!  She did get to talk to people on the phone and that helped pass the time.  For her cake she wanted a basketball (a green one) so that's what I made her.  They started putting candles in it before I could get a picture but that's alright, it just looked like a round green cake anyways :)  We did have a fun day and she went to bed saying it was her best birthday ever!

We are so thankful for Maddi.  She is an amazing little (maybe not so little anymore) girl.  She is so helpful and thoughtful.  She tries so hard to do what is right.  She wants really bad to be a grown up but she has fun being a kid too.  She loves sports, especially basketball, and it is fun to watch her develop and improve as she gets older.  She'll be good on the court when that time comes!  She is a wonderful example to those around her and has tons of friends because of the person that she is.  We love her so much and are so blessed to have her in our lives.  She has held a special place in our hearts from the moment we knew she was coming!

 

FINALLY!!

These last two days have really been something! After the job offer last night, the crazy weather, the closed interstates and then the reopening of those interstates when Michael needed to get through, it has been quite the roller coaster!  He went early to his interview this morning so he could talk to Laci about the job offer from the night before.  She was in meetings so he ended up just talking to Heather (the person interviewing him today) about both jobs.  She also ended up offering him a job!  She told him to let her or Laci know Monday morning which job he wanted.  He got all the specifics about wages, overtime, benefits, vacation and shifts.  Then he called me.  He told me which job he was leaning towards and I agreed with him on the decision.  The job would pay more than the other and he would like the work better.  With minimum hours worked he would be making almost 2 1/2 times what he is making now.   When he got to the airport he tried to call Heather back with his decision but they were already gone for the weekend.  He left a message and he'll call back Monday.  Can I just say, I am so excited to FINALLY be able to say that yes we are moving and we know where we are moving to!  I feel so good.  It is like a huge weight has been lifted off me.  I haven't felt this good in so long.  We didn't expect things to happen this quickly, but I am so glad it did.  While we will be leaving behind people that we love, we will be going closer to family and that will be a wonderful blessing.  I can't help but acknowledge Heavenly Father in all of this.  The way it all came together, the amount of money that we will be making, all the little miracles that have happened over the last two days - it couldn't have happened without His hand in things.  I am so grateful.  I feel overwhelmed and kind of in shock.  We have been dealing with this for so long, it seems unreal that it is ending.  I keep thinking I am going to wake up and find it is all a dream.  The kids are also excited.  They know we will be moving closer to family and they love that.  Dillon already started packing!  I am glad they are excited.  That will help the transition for them.  When we left Hendricks, they were not at all excited and it made it really hard and I felt horrible.  This time I think it will be a little easier all the way around.  We still don't have an exact date.  Once they get Michael's decision, they will start his background check.  Once that process is started, they will be able to tell approximately how long it will take and then we can base our two weeks notice on that.  It could be as soon as two weeks or it could be as long as 6 weeks.  We won't know until it is submitted.  But at least we have a destination and the answers that we have been seeking for so long!

A Phone Call and Crazy Weather

We dropped Michael off at the airport this evening a little after 5 then we headed to school so Maddi could have basketball practice.  About 6:30 Michael called.  He was getting ready to board the plane.  He told me that the lady from Halliburton that had interviewed him for the first job had just called and offered it to him.  He laughed and said he was on his way to Rock Springs to interview for another job.  She said that her office was right next to the person he was meeting with tomorrow so she wants him to stop into her office and talk to her too.  Kind of exciting, but there is still things to be discussed before a decision can be made.  When I got home I called my parents and they informed me that the weather between Salt Lake and Green River was not good.  Part of the interstate was closed and you had to have 4 wheel drive or chains to get up over the mountain pass out of Park City.  We had been watching the weather all day and supposedly it was suppose to get better.  I guess it had to get worse first!  We are hoping that it will be cleared off before morning so he can get to his interviews.  That would be sad to get so far and go through all that just to have to turn around and go home without an interview.  Originally he was going to drive straight to Green River and stay at my parents house.  Now he is going to get a hotel in Salt Lake and wait until morning to drive.  Anyways, I guess if he doesn't get to the one, he at least has a job with the other if he wants it!  We'll see how it all goes...

Prayer for a Little Finger

On Sunday one of my sister's little girls got her finger pinched in a door at church. It cut it off at the first joint. Only a ligament held the tip on. She's barely 3 years old. Today they did surgery to reattatch the finger tip but it was already turning gray. The doctor said it was the second worse finger he's ever seen and he doesn't give much hope that it will be saved. They will take her back next Monday to see. In the meantime all of you who read this blog, please send up a prayer for a sweet, brave little girl and her finger and also her sweet mommy who is dealing with a lot of emotions and guilt over the accident.

I Have a Bunch of Miles

As I stated in the last blog, Michael has been asked to go to Rock Springs for a second interview.  We were planning on doing it Wednesday.  We had thought (mostly I had, but I convinced Michael to think the same) that since the kids didn't have school Wednesday and since Rock Springs is 20 minutes from my parents house that we would all leave Tuesday night and spend Thanksgiving with my parents.  Then we would come home Saturday.  The kids were excited and I was excited to be able to see family over the weekend.  Then the weather reports started getting bad for this week and we weren't sure a long trip, through the night, would be a good idea.  I didn't want to take the kids out when it could be bad conditions but I didn't want Michael to drive by himself either.  Then last night we got a phone call from my younger brother, Stephen.  He had talked to my parents earlier and they had told him about Michael's interview.  He travels a lot (weekly) with his job.  In fact he was on his way to a hotel when he called.  He said he had tons to points saved up and he could get Michael a flight from Sioux Falls to Salt Lake Tuesday night and then have him back in Sioux Falls Wednesday night.  Wow!  What an answer to a prayer that had not even completely been said!  Not only will it save us money that we did not have to spend, but Michael will not have to drive that 13 hours to get to the interview.  He will be much safer and I will not have to worry about him while he is gone.  Michael said that would be great.  Stephen got to his hotel, booked the flight and sent us the itinerary.  Just like that, it was done!  The kids were quite sad this morning when they found out we would not be going to Wyoming for Thanksgiving but we talked about fun things we could do instead and they were okay by the time they left for school.  I am a little sad too but I am hoping that this interview leads to a job and that we will be living there soon so we can see family whenever we want!  Anyways, what a blessing that short sentence was.  "I have a bunch of miles" has lifted a burden and solved a problem that we weren't quite sure how to solve.  So thank you to my brother for offering something that he did not have to offer and thank you to my Heavenly Father for answering a prayer that had not fully been uttered yet.

Yay!!

Michael's interview went well this morning.  They want him to come to Rock Springs as soon as he can to do another interview.  We are trying to figure out the schedule so he can make it there next week.  Hopefully the kids and I can go too so we can visit my family.  We'll see...  He has a lot going on right now so it will be hard to squeeze a trip to the far side of Wyoming in!  At least it's a breakthrough.  We'll see what it leads to!

Yet Another Interview...

Michael got another call from the same company in Rock Springs to interview tomorrow for another job there. We should hear back on the first job by Monday. I finally got his resume faxed off to the mine in Challis so we will see where all this leads us. I sure hope it leads somewhere, I've had about all I can handle! My sleep is horrible, my energy drained yet I have to keep going because I have children and a husband who count on me for things. Plus we have birthdays yet to celebrate, thanksgiving in a week and then Christmas will be here. All of that requires me to be cheerful and fun so my children don't feel the stress I do.

Happy Birthday Makenna!

Monday we celebrated Makenna's 9th birthday. She was so excited for it to come! We took cookies to school so she could celebrate with her class. After school she got several phone calls from grandmas and aunts wishing her a happy birthday. She chose hamburgers and onion rings for supper that night. I made her a cake. It had a unicorn on it and I tried to make a pond with a field with little flowers in it. I also tried to make a few rocks. It didn't turn out quite like I pictured it in my head but once the candles are blown out and the cake is cut, you can't tell what it was anyways! We opened presents that night after supper. She loved all her gifts and seemed to have a great day! Now I have two nine year olds for a week!

We are so thankful for Makenna. She can be hard but she has a very tender spirit that makes her so sweet. She is so aware of those around her in need of kindness and friendship. She has a wild spirit that keeps us all on our toes and constantly amazed at what she comes up with! There's a song on her Alvin and the Chipmunks album that makes me think of her every time I hear it. It's called "The Song". She has something inside her that no one can stop. She really does have a song inside her that she moves to. I love to watch her figure out life and her place in it. She blesses us all and we are so happy to have her in our lives. Happy Birthday Kenna!

Her song is in the post below...

The Song