Curveballs

So, life has thrown us a few curve-balls lately.

Rob took the Boards for Occupational Therapy in mid-December, and despite him studying to the VERY best of his ability, he did not pass. He was only 4 questions off of passing. So, after both of us crying all day and getting migraines, we tried to figure out what to do next. After a very long weekend wondering and worrying, his boss in NM called and offered to still let us come to NM and work at the main clinic in Alamogordo until he takes the test and gets his results again. So, we loaded up our stuff in our tiny car, and headed out.

We spent the first day just driving to Cedar Hills, UT to stay at my sister Jeanette's. The next morning we left at 3am and started driving. We picked the absolute snowiest day to travel which was awesome. We know how to pick them. I figured it added at least 3 hours to our day with the snow, AT LEAST.

We went back to Cottonwood, AZ, loaded up all of our belongings out of our storage unit and put them in a U-Haul. We hitched the car to the back, and loaded all 3 of us into the cab of the truck. It was still snowing HEAVILY so it took us about 4 hours to go what should have taken us 2. We drove to Holbrook, AZ to a crappy little motel and got there at about 8pm....only 17 hours after we started!
We got up and were ready to leave at 5am, but didn't anticipate this equation.....

TINY PARKING LOT + BIG TRUCK + TOWING A CAR = 30 MINUTES TRYING TO JUST GET OUT OF THE PARKING LOT

But, we survived. We spent that day driving to Carlsbad, NM where we unloaded our stuff into another storage unit. We then spent that night, New Years Eve in a hotel in Carlsbad where we were all asleep by 9:30. HAPPY NEW YEARS!

We drove to Lubbock, TX the next day and then Rob took an OT Exam Prep Class on the 2nd and 3rd of January. We are very glad he was able to take that and he learned a lot and got a lot of good study materials. Our hotel was again very crappy and even non-smoking rooms smelled like a smoke....but we all survived.

Then, on Monday of this week we drove back to Carlsbad and spent 3 hours looking at houses. We aren't sure we found OUR house, but we are still hopeful that we will be able to get a house when we are done here. And, now we are in a hotel room for the next 1.5+ months while Rob works and studies to take the test again.




Life is hard. Driving that much is hard. Leaving behind all of my family is hard. Living in a hotel is HARD. Seeing how disoriented my baby is, is hard. But, we are blessed. Heavenly Father is mindful of us. He knows our struggles, and he provides a way.

I am struggling....I am not gonna lie. I am feeling homeless, disoriented, and exhausted myself. I am trying my hardest to find peace, but I am struggling. Lily is not sleeping, which is only making it harder, and worse for Rob who still has to go to work in the morning. Last night I let Lily sleep in our bed between us, and she slept better, but neither Rob nor I got any sleep.

So, I know He is mindful of us. I know he is watching out for us. I know he provided a way for Rob to provide while he studies to take the test again, but it seems like a very hard way to go. In the middle of the night, almost every night, I am ready to buy a plane ticket and go back to Utah until we are done in Alamogordo. I may still do it....but I am trying hard to figure out what Heavenly Father needs me to do, and needs me to learn.

If you made it all the way through this post----WOW! Sorry about the long-windedness!