Amazing how much stuff can happen in one year...

I think Don and I have experienced more changes in the past year than any one year period in our lives.  One year ago tomorrow represents that for me.  On May 31st, 2009 was a joyous and a sad day for us.  Or what we thought was sad.  We closed on our house and Don lost his job on the same day.  The place we bought was a short sale so the whole process took 5 months and we didn't even know if we were for sure going to get our place until a few weeks before we closed on our house.  It was such a long, stressful, lots of surprises and grueling process.  Shorts sales are nightmares!!!  But I am so grateful we endured it and ended up getting our home.  Having a bigger place that is ours has been such a blessing.  Granted anything was bigger than our apartment we were living in previously.  Now that it has been one year I look back on the events that took place afterwards and even a few months before closing on our house.  Here are they are in order:

• Getting pregnant
• Having a miscarriage
• Getting pregnant with Jackson
• Trying to buy a house
• Finally buying a house
• Don loosing his job
• Remodeling our home
• Moving
• Trying to get my photography business off the ground
• Don starting a new job in December
• Having our first baby
• Buying a car

I went to a lunch and learn seminar at work last year and they talked about dealing with stress.  The person talking created a list of the biggest stresses a person can experience in their life and just about everything Don and I experienced last year was on that list.  I remember thinking wow I must be in denial or better at dealing with stress than I thought.  I think in the moment I knew we were dealing with a lot of things at once, but we just dealt with it and moved on.  Now that I look back I honestly feel like 5 years went by in a span of one year.  There was just too much stuff that went on that I feel do not fit in a span of one year.  I definitely feel like we accomplished a lot in one year.

I found that Don loosing his job didn't turn out to be such a bad thing.  In the moment it was hard and we struggled, but it was actually a blessing for us in the end.  For one it made me realize what we could and couldn't live with out.  I think it made us depend on each other more which made us stronger.  When Don finally found a job at the end of the year it was a better paying job, more benefits and a better opportunity to grow in a company.  Before he lost his job he was a Quality Assurance tester for programs.  When looking for another QA job, his recruiter told him that QA was a dying field so he needed to look at doing something else.  I guess it is better we found that out now instead of having Don put more years into that position.  He actually wanted to leave that job and look for something else, but given the state of the economy, he was going to suck it up and stay there until the economy was better.  The job he has now is still in the computer field, but different from what he was doing.  He is doing tech support for programs on medical equipment.  He could probably explain it better than I can, but basically he remotely dials in and fixes the programs on medical machines like MRI's, ultrasounds, stuff like that. At first he struggled a little getting the hang of it since he didn't know the programs, but he knew computers so he caught on quick and he is doing really well.  His company also offers to help pay for some school so I am hoping Don will take advantage of that in the next year or so and get his degree.  They obviously don't pay for it all, but anything is better than nothing.

So with all that said, looking back, Don loosing his job wasn't so bad after all.  I stressed about it when he did loose his job, but I think deep down inside I just knew everything would be ok.  I said it is in the Lord's hands, we just needed to trust him that he knew what was best for us.  So I tried not to think about it too much and I think that was the only way I stayed sane.  My faith was tested last year too and in spite of going through that, I still trusted the Lord and I knew it would be ok.  It was definitely an exciting and trying year for us, but I don't think I would have changed anything.  Well, maybe I would have changed having a miscarriage.  I had a hard time with that when it happened, but I am ok now.  I take comfort in knowing what we know in the gospel.  I don't find sorrow in that anymore.  Instead in my mind I know we have had two children so far and I can't wait to meet the other one in Heaven someday.  Being a Mom has been such a blessing and I love it.  Having Jackson has brought so much joy to our lives and I couldn't imagine it with out him.  He was the best thing to happen to us this past year.

For anyone reading this that is going through hard times like we are or going through things even harder, all I can say is just trust in Heavenly Father.  He knows whats best for us.  It's so hard to trust that he has a plan for us or even cares for us, but he does and we need to have that blind faith and know that we go through these things to grow and to refine ourselves.  Many people right now are being affected by this economy and having a hard time.  In the midst of everything I knew things could be worse, but they weren't.  We are never given more than what we can handle.  There were other things we went through/are still going through that are personal and I don't want to share with the whole world, but even though we are still dealing with hard things I still feel positive.  Again, things will just work out and I don't worry about it.  That or we have been dealing with it for so long I just don't care anymore!  ;o) But bottom line, remember things could always be worse, so chin up and put your big girl panties on (or big boy britches on) and deal with it.  Hehehe...  That's my motto!  That reminds me of a cute picture I saw.  Here it is:

I also loved this quote - "Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect.  It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections." So many people base their happiness off of material things or they base it off of how good their life is going.  Things like "I will be happy when I win the lotto or I would be so happy in a bigger house.  Basically the grass is greener on the other side type stuff.  Granted winning a ton of money would be awesome, but the chances of that are very slim.  My point is you can choose to be sad or choose to be happy.  Happiness is a choice, not a reaction from things that happen to you.  If you see the positive and joy in everything, than you will be happy.  If you see the negative and sadness in everything, than you will be sad.  It's as simple as that.  I bet you guys didn't know I would be telling you the secret to being happy huh!?!?!  Now aren't you glad you read this. :o)  Now go be happy no matter what and spread the happiness around like an infectious disease.  Isn't that a pretty mental picture?  It could have been worse.  I could have gone into detail about the infectious disease so be grateful I didn't.  Instead you will be thinking about it and wondering what I would have put...  :op