Ahhh, life is getting better

Here is a pic of the front of our soon to be house....we are living in it...but renting for 2 more weeks until we close.

Here is Lily pretending to sleep in the drawer of the dresser at our lovely hotel. She makes me laugh so much.

Lily enjoying snow in Alamogordo, NM.
Lily swinging in Alamogordo.
Here is Lily and I sleeping at our "lovely" hotel in Alamogordo. I am so glad that those days are over!




So, our life is definitely getting settled...FINALLY!

We are in Carlsbad, NM in a house, that we are "renting" until we close on buying it in 2 weeks. We are thrilled beyond measure to be in a house, and to be together with our baby girl. We feel extremely blessed in so many ways.

Rob is liking his job. He has to commute about 40 minutes 3 times a week, which currently leaves me at home without a car, but since we are in a house and I have lots of projects to do it doesn't really bother me.

We went to church for the first time today. It was such a nice feeling to be in a ward where we know we are going to be for a while. Lily also went to nursery for the first time by herself (she turned 18 months yesterday). She did great. She didn't even care that we left and stayed in there the whole time by herself. She was THRILLED beyond belief to see Rob again, but she did so good. My baby is definitely not such a baby anymore. I am trying hard to get used to that concept!

Here are some random thoughts:

1. I never really pictured myself living in the "mission field". Growing up, we always talked about the mission field (anywhere besides Idaho and Utah where Mormons are the majority by far) as some mysterious far off place we prayed for. I never really imagined myself living out in that mysterious place. But, we have been for 2.5 years now and you know, it is great in a lot of ways. It is a much different experience than living in Idaho or Utah, but not a bad one. I am grateful for all of the things it has taught me to live somewhere outside the Mormon bubble. You rely on church members more, and you meet some really awesome people in all sorts of different places. I am grateful that we have had the opportunity to live where we have lived. I am hoping that we are going to have a positive experience here in New Mexico too. It is also a change to have to drive 1.5 to get to the Stake Center....we are definitely not in the bubble anymore.

2. There is a lot to be said about being somewhere and feeling settled. I am thoroughly enjoying this feeling of settling down...buying a house, my husband has a stable good job, etc. I am also so grateful that I get to stay home with Lily and be with her. I am just so grateful that I get to be at home with her.

3. The Roswell NM UFO Festival is July 1-5 if anyone wants to come down! It should be AWESOME!





This is Lily and I at the Lubbock temple. It is beautiful, definitely on the smaller side.

Here is Lily thoroughly enjoying her water cup at Texas Roadhouse in Texas. The place was packed so that must mean that Texas Roadhouse is really good Texas food.

Lily at Christmas

Here are some long overdue pics from the Lil-ster at Christmas!

Another update

We are heading to Carlsbad tomorrow to start working. It is very exciting.
Rob actually has to go to Alabama this weekend for a training so he will be gone from Thursday to Monday.
I will post more about the house once I know more. We just put an offer in, but haven't heard anything back yet, so I am waiting to share the news about the house hoping for more definitive news. If we don't get this house, at least we will be in Carlsbad now to continue the search.

Passing the test, getting his license, moving to a different town, leaving for 4 days for a conference, and trying to buy a house all at the EXACT same time is stressing my poor husband out a bit. He is overwhelmed to say the least, but in a very good way.

Hooray!

Good news for our life!

• Rob passed his test! We found it online yesterday!
  
• He just received his license this morning..a licensed Occupational Therapist! YEAH!
• We put an offer on a house this morning..let's hope for good news there!
• We are headed to Carlsbad tomorrow for him to start working.
  

Now, I have about 89 things to do today...but can only sit here and wait for Lily to wake up!

So....our life

So, here is an update on our lives...some people think we have fallen off the planet.

Rob took his test again on February 5. We will know the results on Feb. 22 and we are VERY hopeful.

I am at my sister Jeanette's house and have been for over 3 weeks. I leave to go back to Alamogordo, NM tomorrow.

We will be in the hotel until the end of this month in Alamogordo, NM and then we are moving to Carlsbad for him to start working for real.

We are going to Carlsbad on Saturday to buy a house! I can't even wait! We will definitely appreciate it more after having been "homeless" for months.

So, that is our story. Buy a house this Saturday and then have one more week until we know the results of the test. Then, once he gets his license that week, we will go to Carlsbad where we will hopefully only have to wait a few more weeks until we move into a HOUSE!

This situation has definitely been challenging. I was SO not prepared for the months following graduate school to be more difficult than 2.5 years of Graduate School....but we are being blessed in the meantime. I am definitely trying to have faith and be grateful for all that we do have right now.

We have definitely decided that Heavenly Father tries us so that we will be INFINITELY more grateful for our blessings when they do arrive. That seems to be the pattern of our life. We always have to wait longer than we had hoped for our blessings, but we are SO much more grateful when they arrive.

I am definitely looking forward to leading a boring, predictable, stable existence full of cleaning my house, cooking, projects, and playing with Lily!

Lily swinging with cousin Hailey