You know what this means....

He got the job.

:)

Don't worry, I stole the pen we signed the contract with.

Lately the past few months, I've been trying harder to have the influence of the Spirit in my life.
I've tried to keep the house cleaner.
I've been praying and reading my scriptures everyday.
Having a kid or two had really gotten me out of the habit of doing those things, especially the prayer and scriptures part.


And wouldn't you know, it hasn't really solved all my problems.
My children are still cranky.
I still get stressed out.
My marriage isn't perfect.
But I wanted to record some of the things that have happened since making a true and honest effort to involve the Lord more in my day-to-day life.

I have been amazed at how much more I'm noticing when the Lord answers my prayers.
(Turns out that it's sort of hard for Him to answer prayers if you aren't praying, I guess!)

Recently I had been praying for more friends.  It's been hard moving around from place to place the past few years, and sometimes it takes awhile to really "fit in" to a new place with new people.  But wouldn't ya know, almost the exact day that I included that in my prayers, friends starting dropping out of the sky right and left, including me in playdates, inviting me over to watch TV-shows-that-I'm-too-embarrassed-to-admit-I-watch, etc.  I felt so blessed.

A few months ago, BK and I started looking around Dallas for different cities we would like to live in.  We looked many places, but none of them really seemed to match up to the first place we looked. The second we pulled into the subdivision BK and I both fell in love with the area.  Upon further investigation, we were heartbroken to find out there were only two lots left.  With BK not graduating until May, we thought surely we had missed the boat.

But all of the sudden, things sort of started working out.
Job interviews started coming in out of nowhere.
Job interviews with job offers months before the start-date.

And so we looked back into the whole building-a-house-thing in the area we loved.

And wouldn't ya know, it just might work out after all.

This weekend we put money down on this here lot:

(Beautiful isn't it?  Hmmm....I promise it will look better when we're done!)

And so, for now, it is ours.

There are still several things that have to fall into place for this dream to actually become a reality--so I'm not quite ready to reveal the colors I chose for my granite countertops and kitchen cabinets.  It could still fall through--as anyone who has been through the loan approval process knows.

I don't consider the house an answer to my prayers (yet). I consider the ability to have the Spirit's influence in my life the answer to my prayers.  I can tell it's there.

Just today I sat down to crunch some numbers to see if we can really make this work.  I felt specific promptings "Amy, you know, maybe if you make a table showing this information, you'll be able to understand it better."  or "Do you see how much easier this can be if you pay off the car a few months early?"


When I couldn't find where my two-year-old had relocated my scriptures today, I was prompted to read an article in the Ensign.  It directly corresponded to the problem I was trying to find a solution for, and I was blown away with how specific the advice was to our situation.  It made me feel that the Lord approved of the solution I had been thinking about.

I'm a smart girl, but I have absolutely no experience in these sorts of financial matters.  I knew that the Lord was helping me to understand how we could make this work (and if I'm lucky it actually will...)

I was reminded of another time I specifically felt the Lord's guidance in financial matters.  When BK was in Iraq, he made quite a bit of money (in comparison to our part-time college salaries anyway!).  And I was left solely in charge of it.  I knew the money was a blessing, and I sought out the Lord's guidance to know how best to use it.

Again, using a language I understand (namely math and charts and tables), He led me to see how by paying a car off a little bit early and by saving x amount of dollars a month here and there, how we could actually have some money saved by the end of our undergraduate time at BYU.  And you know what?  It actually worked.  We used that money to pay for part of BK's tuition for physical therapy school and our babies and other big things.  But there's no way my 21-year-old self could've had that kind of foresight with little-to-no-experience in financial planning.

Like I said, I understand math.  I get it.  But handling money just makes me nervous. So I have greatly appreciated the times the Lord has stepped in to show other solutions to problems and other ways to reach our goals.

My children will still be cranky.
I will still get stressed out.
My marriage will never be perfect.

But as long as I'm trying to have the Spirit in my life, it will all be okay, and I'll know what to do in any situation that comes up.

And that, my friends, is what I learned today.

The First Time Landon Broke Something of Worth

I guess I should consider myself lucky that it has taken my child almost three years to break something I actually care about.

I mean, usually, it's like, "It's okay, Landon. We'll get another Ensign next month."

Or


"It's okay. I can reload all my apps on the ipod another time..."

But yesterday that little weasel scurried himself up to the top of our entertainment center, snagged my Kindle, and attempted to pry it off my $65 blue leather cover (with attached reading light!) that I got from BK for Christmas. The lovely little gold prong snapped off, and so now the reading light doesn't work.

I. Was. Ticked.

He eventually apologized, but I found myself still mad because--guess what--the apology DIDNT FIX THE KINDLE COVER.

Yesterday had been a rough day even before this whole episode, and it was sort of the last straw.

I put both of my children to bed at 6:20.  They were both crying.
But actually this is where the whole thing gets a bit comical.

I overheard Landon crying to Spencer:
"Spencerrrrrrrrrrr.  I'm SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD.  Spencer, where's DADDDDYYYYYYY?"

(Landon, let me tell you something.  If you broke something of "DADDDDYYYYY"'s he would be a WHOLE lot more upset about it than I was.  Just for the record.)

Then Landon breaks out of his room and comes to tell me that he has an oww-ee on his foot.
I see nothing on his foot and tell him to go get back in his bed.

"But I want to read SCRIPTURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRES!!!"

Well what sort of a parent is going to turn that down?  At least not in good conscience anyway.

"Fine. Sit down on the couch."

We proceed to read a scripture story, and then I told him to go get back in bed.

"But what about a PRAYERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!"

I told him it was his turn because I really didn't feel like praying.
He said the prayer, and during it, I decided that I was feeling better about my Kindle cover and that I could nicely talk to Landon about rules.

Me: "Landon, do you know what a rule is?"
L: "Yeah, like follow the rules."
Me: "Exactly."
L: "And eat a roll for dinner."
Me: "No, that's a roll.  I'm talking about a rule."
L: (looks at me like I'm an idiot, since it sounds like the exact same word.)
Me: (explains what a rule is) (gives examples) First of all, no more climbing inside.  Climbing is for the park.  If you climb on the entertainment center, you could fall and break your arm.
L: Here is mine arm. It's mine radius.  I could break my radius.
Me: Yes, that's your radius.
L: Here is mine femur, and mine patella.  And mine tibia.  Could break.
Me: Yep, they'll all break.  Don't climb on my entertainment center.
(BK likes to have bone discussions with Landon, can you tell?)

This morning when Landon woke up, BK got up with him.  The first words out of his mouth?

"Dadda!! I'm can follow the rolls!!!"

And then when I got up:

"Momma!!  I'm didn't break your book today!!"

So, he's totally got obedience down now.

Right?

:)

Dear BK

There are lots of reasons I like you.

And there are lots of reasons why we are good together.

But today I was thinking of a reason I never thought of before.

Namely, that I'm really glad that we have the exact opposite tastes in granola bar flavors.

Because in our Great Value Brand granola bar variety pack, I really don't like the s'more ones.

But you do.

And so everytime I open up the box and find it filled with the peanut butter chip ones that you so luckily despise, it just makes my heart happy.

And I know you feel the same about the s'more ones.

So it just works out.  You and me.  And our granola bars.

Happy Valentines Day!

Love you,
AmyLynne