Thursday, February 2, 2012
Lullaby Requests
Sometimes I think it's cute that Canon makes requests for which songs he wants to hear at bed-time. For a couple weeks he always asked for Teach Me to Walk in the Light. At first, I didn't even know that he knew that song. I asked if they sang it in nursery at church, but that wasn't where he heard it. Oh well, I couldn't refuse that song. Nowadays it's more Bah Bah Black Sheep and Itsy Bitsy Spider. I still like to sing longer ones like I Need Thee Every Hour or I Know That My Redeemer Lives. I find that the longer I sing to him, the more calm he gets for bed. However, I really don't want to take the time to sing him all the way to sleep. He'll have a little sibling soon enough...I can't take that much time singing kids to sleep!! A few times over this past week Canon has woken up super early for how late he went to bed, once at 2:45am. He came down and knocked on our door to get me up. Really all he wanted was for me to come upstairs and rock and sing him back to sleep. I like that he enjoys the cuddle time, and it only happens before sleep time...or when he's hurt and needs comforting. Throughout the day, there is hardly any voluntary affection in sight. :)
Mark's Job & Canon's Sleep-Time Behaviors
For those who haven't heard yet, Mark has gotten a job! Ok, ok...so really it's only a short-term contract position. Someone from church said that his firm was looking to hire a bunch of attorneys for contract work on a big case. It's doing really boring discovery work for the firm in Salt Lake City, and it only lasts for about 5-6 weeks or so. However, we are very glad for it because it's $35/hour for up to 45 hours/week, depending on how much he works. (Normally Mark would charge about $150/hr for work with his own clients, but when he only is able to bill about 3 hours/week, this contract job is a much better wage for the time being.) They allow him to take off time to do what he might need to for his own practice. The firm has hired about 8 attorneys to help with this "very boring" discovery work, and the case's deadline is Feb. 24th, so it's not very long-term. We're happy for the little bit of help though. We've prayed for SOMETHING for so long; there's no complaints here.
Canon has been doing some things that I think are cute...but kinda frustrating too. Imagine that...it's like he's a 2-year-old or something. It takes him longer to go to bed at night because he is always trying to stall me leaving. Will always ask for one more story. Then he'll ask for one more song after lights are turned out. Once I tell him that I'm saying "good-night" and "Remember, it's not ok to get out of bed. You need to stay in bed. I'll see you in the morning when you wake up. I love you!" that's when Canon starts calling my name without making any requests other than, "come here!" and "come back!" Over the past couple weeks he somehow got into the habit of having a sippy cup of apple juice in bed. HOW ON EARTH DID THAT HAPPEN?? I really didn't like that, so I've been working on trying to break that. Now when he asks for it I either tell him he can have water, or that he just doesn't need a drink. Most of the time I just need to have a thick skin and say "no!" (They taught me in middle school how to say no to drugs...but who teaches us to say no to our kids?!?! When they ask so nicely for something that in and of themselves are not bad- like apple juice- it's not easy to think of a way to make the rejection light for the kid.)
I wonder how long Canon stays awake in bed before going to sleep sometimes. Last night I went to a RS meeting where we worked on humanitarian aid projects. When we got home around 9:30pm, Canon heard my voice and came out with a huge excited grin. When I gave him a disapproving look, he changed his expression... not sure if he was going to be in trouble, but he was still so happy to see me. Apparently Mark had finished putting Canon down at 8:30pm, but when he heard my voice he just had to come see me. So I took him back to his room and rocked him and sang to him...only one song that time. And tonight he had been there for about 30 minutes. I went upstairs just to see how he fairing, and I saw that he was peeking out of his door. He heard the voice of Alex's girlfriend, Lauren, and he wanted to come out to see her. (I think he has a little crush on her. He is so excited to see her every time she's around.) I let him come out and give her a good-night kiss on the cheek and brought him back to his room. He gave her a little shy wave and "buh-bye" that I thought was really adorable.... but I couldn't just let him be awake because he's cute.
Canon has been doing some things that I think are cute...but kinda frustrating too. Imagine that...it's like he's a 2-year-old or something. It takes him longer to go to bed at night because he is always trying to stall me leaving. Will always ask for one more story. Then he'll ask for one more song after lights are turned out. Once I tell him that I'm saying "good-night" and "Remember, it's not ok to get out of bed. You need to stay in bed. I'll see you in the morning when you wake up. I love you!" that's when Canon starts calling my name without making any requests other than, "come here!" and "come back!" Over the past couple weeks he somehow got into the habit of having a sippy cup of apple juice in bed. HOW ON EARTH DID THAT HAPPEN?? I really didn't like that, so I've been working on trying to break that. Now when he asks for it I either tell him he can have water, or that he just doesn't need a drink. Most of the time I just need to have a thick skin and say "no!" (They taught me in middle school how to say no to drugs...but who teaches us to say no to our kids?!?! When they ask so nicely for something that in and of themselves are not bad- like apple juice- it's not easy to think of a way to make the rejection light for the kid.)
I wonder how long Canon stays awake in bed before going to sleep sometimes. Last night I went to a RS meeting where we worked on humanitarian aid projects. When we got home around 9:30pm, Canon heard my voice and came out with a huge excited grin. When I gave him a disapproving look, he changed his expression... not sure if he was going to be in trouble, but he was still so happy to see me. Apparently Mark had finished putting Canon down at 8:30pm, but when he heard my voice he just had to come see me. So I took him back to his room and rocked him and sang to him...only one song that time. And tonight he had been there for about 30 minutes. I went upstairs just to see how he fairing, and I saw that he was peeking out of his door. He heard the voice of Alex's girlfriend, Lauren, and he wanted to come out to see her. (I think he has a little crush on her. He is so excited to see her every time she's around.) I let him come out and give her a good-night kiss on the cheek and brought him back to his room. He gave her a little shy wave and "buh-bye" that I thought was really adorable.... but I couldn't just let him be awake because he's cute.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
A Toddler's Prayers
I know Canon has been talking for a while, and his language has been growing by leaps and bounds for some time, but I haven't been able to get him to say his own prayers. At least until about 1 1/2 weeks ago...Canon has now said his first bedtime prayer, his first blessing on his food...and a few more since then of each. Of course he needs our help and only repeats what we say, but it's a new milestone and I'm so proud of him.
Of course he doesn't sit still and reverent through ALL prayers, and he hasn't done a blessing of the food in front of the whole family, but he's improving. I think it's really cute, but I can't take a picture of him saying a prayer...that would send the wrong image to him. I wonder what his first prayer will be when he says it all on his own! Way to go, Canon!!
Of course he doesn't sit still and reverent through ALL prayers, and he hasn't done a blessing of the food in front of the whole family, but he's improving. I think it's really cute, but I can't take a picture of him saying a prayer...that would send the wrong image to him. I wonder what his first prayer will be when he says it all on his own! Way to go, Canon!!
Welcome to Motherhood...oh wait, I've been here for a while
When Canon transitioned to a toddler bed, it was practically seamless. He was so easy to put down and he just stayed all night long. I figured I lucked out and didn't have to deal with the phase of getting up and putting back to bed repeatedly every night. Over the past couple of weeks, everything has changed!!! Canon gets put to bed, he tries to stall my leaving his room by calling my name. Now it feels like I have to tell him to go back to bed 2-3 times each night. Oh well, I guess I couldn't be so lucky as to skip that phase altogether. It just took Canon a little longer than I expected to reach that stage.
A few nights ago, Canon was having a hard time going to bed, but I told him that he wasn't allowed to get up and I'd see him when he woke up. That night Mark kept me up with some pillow talk about his frustrations with his career at this point. (No, I don't blame Mark...it's bound to happen in his situation every once in a while...the point was that it was this night that it happened...) Mark had me up until about 1:30AM. I probably fell asleep just before 2AM...finally!
Then at 5:12AM I heard a knock knock knock at our door. I looked and saw that the lights were all on in the family room and now Canon was at my door. I got up and brought Canon back up to his room, turning off all the lights as I went, telling him that it was too early for him to be awake and he needed to go back to bed. Canon seemed to take forever to go back to sleep...I finally left his room around 5:35AM, but once I got back to bed I couldn't fall asleep.
At 6:30AM I was just about to drift off into dreamland when I heard someone trying to open my door...not a knock knock knock this time...but only Canon cannot open a door when it's not locked. I got up again and took him back to his room, turning off the lights again as I went. This time I think it was about 7:00AM when I went back to bed.
Falling back to sleep at about 7:30AM, it was less than an hour when everyone upstairs woke up and I could hear them walking around. Ugh! So even though I went to bed at a normal time, I got about 5 hours of interrupted sleep the whole night. I guess it's good practice for when the next little baby comes! Grr! :-/
A few nights ago, Canon was having a hard time going to bed, but I told him that he wasn't allowed to get up and I'd see him when he woke up. That night Mark kept me up with some pillow talk about his frustrations with his career at this point. (No, I don't blame Mark...it's bound to happen in his situation every once in a while...the point was that it was this night that it happened...) Mark had me up until about 1:30AM. I probably fell asleep just before 2AM...finally!
Then at 5:12AM I heard a knock knock knock at our door. I looked and saw that the lights were all on in the family room and now Canon was at my door. I got up and brought Canon back up to his room, turning off all the lights as I went, telling him that it was too early for him to be awake and he needed to go back to bed. Canon seemed to take forever to go back to sleep...I finally left his room around 5:35AM, but once I got back to bed I couldn't fall asleep.
At 6:30AM I was just about to drift off into dreamland when I heard someone trying to open my door...not a knock knock knock this time...but only Canon cannot open a door when it's not locked. I got up again and took him back to his room, turning off the lights again as I went. This time I think it was about 7:00AM when I went back to bed.
Falling back to sleep at about 7:30AM, it was less than an hour when everyone upstairs woke up and I could hear them walking around. Ugh! So even though I went to bed at a normal time, I got about 5 hours of interrupted sleep the whole night. I guess it's good practice for when the next little baby comes! Grr! :-/
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Holiday Festivities
Christmas this year was a really good time for our little family. Over the month of December we had a Ward Christmas Party where Canon met Santa Claus for the first time. He didn't want to sit on his lap, but he got close enough for me to take a picture.
We also attended a Smith Family Christmas Party where we went caroling while on a hay ride, ate a yummy lasagna dinner, and had a fun little program where each family presented a song or story or something. Canon was having a blast with the other little kids dancing in front while they all sang. That is...until he ended one of the numbers by running face-first into the end of the guitar Uncle Rob was playing...on the last cord of the song. nice timing Canon!! Poor kid! =( (I'd like to post this video, but I haven't gotten it off Grandma's or LiLing's cameras yet. I'm seriously considering sending it to America's Funniest Home Videos...once I get a copy of it.)
On Friday the 23rd, we went to my brother Rob's house for dinner and fun family time. We got a chance to visit with my Aunt Sylvia and her family. Canon loved playing with his 1st and 2nd cousins.
We enjoyed a relaxed Christmas Eve with Mark's brothers (with respected family units) and his parents. We had a nice breakfast and opened the presents we all exchanged to each other. (There's a another video that I need to get off of Grandma's camera, otherwise I'd just post the video to show what happened...but I guess I'll just have to tell the story instead.) Cory and his wife Sarah had a miscarriage about a year and a half ago, and since then have been trying to get pregnant, even using fertility treatments. Well, Mark's mom gave them a present of a little toy crib and a baby doll with a wad of cash and a note: We'll provide the crib, you provide the baby! Mark's reaction was, "That's really rude!" Tiffany's first thought was, "Are they announcing something?" I wasn't really sure what to think because I was mostly in shock that Mark's parents would give a present like that...talk about putting on the pressure for them to get pregnant! We were all watching Sarah for her reaction, and she choked up and started to cry. It made us all really worried- How could they give them a present like that?!?! Then Cory started to laugh and said, "Because Sarah's pregnant!!" Needless to say, we were all really excited for them. (It turns out that Sarah is about a month behind me, so our little ones will be really close in age. Their ultrasound pictures look a lot more like a real baby than my pictures did.) We also opened up some pretty amazing gifts from each other. Mark got a deck of cards and a book of card games to play with a regular deck. He also got a certificate for an eye-exam and glasses from his parents. I got a new pair of gloves, and Mark's parents got me maternity jeans and a sweater. They also got me a vinyl cutting machine. It's not a Cricut brand, but it's pretty amazing with features that the Cricut doesn't have. It's an Craftwell eCraft Cutter machine, and I'm totally excited. They also gave one to Tiffany. So far I've learned that there's a learning curve on how to use this thing, and I need some projects to start working on. That night we ate a nice turkey dinner at Mark's grandparents' house, and we enjoyed that time with some family chatting and caroling.
Christmas Day we had to rush to get to church on time (because Canon was more interested in playing than letting me get him ready for church), where we had a lovely Sacrament Meeting with lots of music. I directed the congregational numbers because I'm the chorister, but I also directed the 2 choir numbers because the choir director wasn't there that day. So I conducted 6 musical numbers...and my arms were a little tired by the time I got home. :0) After we went home, the 3 of us went downstairs to see what Santa had brought us. Canon got a "new" trampoline (thanks, Grandma!) because he loves the one at the chiropractor's office so much. He also got a little work bench with tools and fun stuff. (Thanks, Tiff!) He loves the little Cars Lightning McQueen and Mater that he got too. He's been carrying those around with him everywhere. Then we opened our little family gifts to each other. Mark got me a bathrobe and Canon got me slippers. Canon got pajamas from us. Mark just got a bunch of junk-food! =D That night we had a Christmas dinner at the same Grandparents' house where we went the night before and then exchanged gifts with our cousins.
Monday morning we went to Mark's brother's house to see what their kids got for Christmas. We played Just Dance on their Wii for a while and then had a snack. Mark, Canon and I had to then leave to meet my brother Jeff and his family down in Orem to join them for dinner and a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Happy 4th Birthday, Joseph!!
Mark and I enjoyed a New Year's Eve party at Brian's house. Canon loved playing with his cousins, especially the Wii Just Dance Kids game. In fact, he still tries to sing the "I'm a Gummy Bear" song from the game. The adults played a bunch of games like Taboo, Heimlich & Co., Ticket to Ride, and maybe something else that I can't think of...just a fun time chatting and having fun as family. Cory and Sarah were there too, so 3 of the 4 brothers with their families. It was pretty fun. We put Canon down in a play pen when it was bedtime, but he woke up and refused to be put back down at about 11:30PM. I tried about 5 times to put him back down, but he kept waking up and crying to be held. I ended up staying with him through the stroke of midnight. He heard the neighbors shooting off fireworks which woke him up a little more. At that point he started talking a little bit and I was finally able to just tell him that he needed to go back to sleep. He didn't fuss anymore after that, but I felt bad that he was even more awake than when we started. He had a difficult transition into the car after 1AM because I had some technical difficulties with the blankets, but he fell right back to sleep in the car and transitioned just fine into his own bed. (Thank goodness our Church start time changed to 11AM that Sunday, so sleeping in wasn't a huge problem!!)
Basically, we've been partying a lot, Canon has been going to sleep later than I want him to on a regular basis...and he's been foregoing naps, much to our dismay. I'm trying to get him back on schedule though, so we'll see how that goes. We've been seriously blessed with great family and fun times to spend with them. I'm looking forward to seeing my parents this week, so I guess all our festivities are not quite over yet.
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| Grandma Dahl helping out as part of the Primary Presidency, guiding Canon to Santa Claus. |
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| Canon, not so sure about this whole "Santa Claus" thing. |
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| The best picture I could get of Canon with our family friend Canon later requested another turn with Santa, but the line was just too long and he really needed to get home to bed. |
We also attended a Smith Family Christmas Party where we went caroling while on a hay ride, ate a yummy lasagna dinner, and had a fun little program where each family presented a song or story or something. Canon was having a blast with the other little kids dancing in front while they all sang. That is...until he ended one of the numbers by running face-first into the end of the guitar Uncle Rob was playing...on the last cord of the song. nice timing Canon!! Poor kid! =( (I'd like to post this video, but I haven't gotten it off Grandma's or LiLing's cameras yet. I'm seriously considering sending it to America's Funniest Home Videos...once I get a copy of it.)
On Friday the 23rd, we went to my brother Rob's house for dinner and fun family time. We got a chance to visit with my Aunt Sylvia and her family. Canon loved playing with his 1st and 2nd cousins.
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| Lucia (sister-in-law), Eric (cousin's husband), Rob (brother) and Uncle Rick |
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| Emma and Evan, Ragan and Eric's kids |
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| Aubrey and Lucia |
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| Lucia and all the kids getting ready to open the gift from Mark and me |
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| the family's reaction to "Settlers of Catan" |
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| still looking at the new game |
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| Aubrey sharing some candy with Canon |
We enjoyed a relaxed Christmas Eve with Mark's brothers (with respected family units) and his parents. We had a nice breakfast and opened the presents we all exchanged to each other. (There's a another video that I need to get off of Grandma's camera, otherwise I'd just post the video to show what happened...but I guess I'll just have to tell the story instead.) Cory and his wife Sarah had a miscarriage about a year and a half ago, and since then have been trying to get pregnant, even using fertility treatments. Well, Mark's mom gave them a present of a little toy crib and a baby doll with a wad of cash and a note: We'll provide the crib, you provide the baby! Mark's reaction was, "That's really rude!" Tiffany's first thought was, "Are they announcing something?" I wasn't really sure what to think because I was mostly in shock that Mark's parents would give a present like that...talk about putting on the pressure for them to get pregnant! We were all watching Sarah for her reaction, and she choked up and started to cry. It made us all really worried- How could they give them a present like that?!?! Then Cory started to laugh and said, "Because Sarah's pregnant!!" Needless to say, we were all really excited for them. (It turns out that Sarah is about a month behind me, so our little ones will be really close in age. Their ultrasound pictures look a lot more like a real baby than my pictures did.) We also opened up some pretty amazing gifts from each other. Mark got a deck of cards and a book of card games to play with a regular deck. He also got a certificate for an eye-exam and glasses from his parents. I got a new pair of gloves, and Mark's parents got me maternity jeans and a sweater. They also got me a vinyl cutting machine. It's not a Cricut brand, but it's pretty amazing with features that the Cricut doesn't have. It's an Craftwell eCraft Cutter machine, and I'm totally excited. They also gave one to Tiffany. So far I've learned that there's a learning curve on how to use this thing, and I need some projects to start working on. That night we ate a nice turkey dinner at Mark's grandparents' house, and we enjoyed that time with some family chatting and caroling.
Christmas Day we had to rush to get to church on time (because Canon was more interested in playing than letting me get him ready for church), where we had a lovely Sacrament Meeting with lots of music. I directed the congregational numbers because I'm the chorister, but I also directed the 2 choir numbers because the choir director wasn't there that day. So I conducted 6 musical numbers...and my arms were a little tired by the time I got home. :0) After we went home, the 3 of us went downstairs to see what Santa had brought us. Canon got a "new" trampoline (thanks, Grandma!) because he loves the one at the chiropractor's office so much. He also got a little work bench with tools and fun stuff. (Thanks, Tiff!) He loves the little Cars Lightning McQueen and Mater that he got too. He's been carrying those around with him everywhere. Then we opened our little family gifts to each other. Mark got me a bathrobe and Canon got me slippers. Canon got pajamas from us. Mark just got a bunch of junk-food! =D That night we had a Christmas dinner at the same Grandparents' house where we went the night before and then exchanged gifts with our cousins.
Here are some home videos in case you like that kind of thing, but they're not terribly interesting or funny. Just a view of what our Christmas looked like.
Monday morning we went to Mark's brother's house to see what their kids got for Christmas. We played Just Dance on their Wii for a while and then had a snack. Mark, Canon and I had to then leave to meet my brother Jeff and his family down in Orem to join them for dinner and a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Happy 4th Birthday, Joseph!!
Mark and I enjoyed a New Year's Eve party at Brian's house. Canon loved playing with his cousins, especially the Wii Just Dance Kids game. In fact, he still tries to sing the "I'm a Gummy Bear" song from the game. The adults played a bunch of games like Taboo, Heimlich & Co., Ticket to Ride, and maybe something else that I can't think of...just a fun time chatting and having fun as family. Cory and Sarah were there too, so 3 of the 4 brothers with their families. It was pretty fun. We put Canon down in a play pen when it was bedtime, but he woke up and refused to be put back down at about 11:30PM. I tried about 5 times to put him back down, but he kept waking up and crying to be held. I ended up staying with him through the stroke of midnight. He heard the neighbors shooting off fireworks which woke him up a little more. At that point he started talking a little bit and I was finally able to just tell him that he needed to go back to sleep. He didn't fuss anymore after that, but I felt bad that he was even more awake than when we started. He had a difficult transition into the car after 1AM because I had some technical difficulties with the blankets, but he fell right back to sleep in the car and transitioned just fine into his own bed. (Thank goodness our Church start time changed to 11AM that Sunday, so sleeping in wasn't a huge problem!!)
Basically, we've been partying a lot, Canon has been going to sleep later than I want him to on a regular basis...and he's been foregoing naps, much to our dismay. I'm trying to get him back on schedule though, so we'll see how that goes. We've been seriously blessed with great family and fun times to spend with them. I'm looking forward to seeing my parents this week, so I guess all our festivities are not quite over yet.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Holiday Letter
Normally I like to send out a photo card with a letter to family and friends for the annual Christmas letter tradition. However, this year with the recent events in car repairs and the lack of job, I couldn't justify the cost of printing about 100 cards, $40+ in postage, and the cost of the stationary. I really would prefer to send one to each of you, but this electronic version will just have to do. Below you will see the letter I planned to send out and a few pictures I would've made into a collage on the photo card.
Dearest Family and Friends,
Again we celebrate the wonderful season of love and sharing. We reflect on the past year and remember what has made this year special. In January Canon and Kat flew to Chicago to visit family. In March they flew to Maryland to see a high school friend of Kat’s. Early June brought a tornado right through our town, leaving horrible destruction in its path just a few streets behind our house, but our house was hardly scathed. The rest of June was spent cleaning up from the tornado and packing up the house to move. In July our little family moved from Massachusetts to Utah. This trip allowed us to spend Independence Day with family in Chicago and then Pioneer Day with family in Utah. In August Mark and Kat attended Education Week on BYU’s campus, and we got to have a little bit more time with Kat’s parents before they went back to Chicago. October brought Canon’s first Halloween where he actually understood what was going on, carving pumpkins, and dressing up, and learning to say “trick-or-treat”. That’s also when we discovered Kat was pregnant. Canon turned 2 years old in November and we announced to family and friends about the baby Dahl soon to join the family this coming June. For more details, you can visit our blog- http://katmarkdahl.blogspot.com.
With all that’s been going on in our home, Kat somehow found time to make 3 quilts for 3 new babies this year. Mark has been searching for a job through much of the year and has started his own law firm to try to earn some money while he still searches. So far he’s had a few interviews, but nothing has panned out. Pretty soon he may end up going full-throttle with his business and hopefully end up being a huge success. Canon has been growing and learning so fast. His language has improved immensely since we moved to Utah, and he absolutely loves having so much family around.
The Lord has blessed us so much over this past year, and even though we’re not where we pictured ourselves to be 5 years ago, we have all that we need. We have a wonderful marriage, a healthy family, food to eat, a roof over our heads (albeit, the roof belongs to Mark’s parents), and the Gospel of Christ that brightens our lives. With the many gifts we receive each year, we are forever grateful for the most precious gift of all- the gift of our Savior, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the World. May each of you feel the gift of God’s love at this special time of year!
Love- Mark, Kat and Canon Dahl
Merry Christmas from the Dahl Family!
Catch-up on Random Thoughts
Sorry, this might be a little long, and there are no pictures!
For those of you who prayed for us, thank you. The job in Duchesne told Mark that he'd know in about a week, by the very latest on Dec. 1st. Well, they never even called him back. We assume that's another "big fat no," but it still would've been nice for them to call. So, Mark has continued on with his law practice, and we keep praying for some sort of success for him. Right about now, we don't really care which kind of success, whether it's finding a real job or his firm really taking off. The only thing is that we know it would be so much easier if he could find a job that included health benefits. (Maybe that's the reason he hasn't been able to find one, because it's the easy route!)
I few weeks ago our bishop called us into his office. (I wanted to make sure I got record of it somewhere.) The bishop wanted to give us a little bit of counsel because he had been thinking of us. He said that we just needed to remember what to do what we're supposed to be doing, to be extra stalwart... you know, all the things that we've heard before. However, what made this visit special was that our bishop promised us that if we're patient and do what we're supposed to, that the Lord will give us what's in store- and it will be "wonderful!" I always knew that He'd bless us, but the fact that he said, "And it will be wonderful!" really hit me. Apparently it's not going to be something acceptable and bearable. That we'll figure out how to just make do. That gave me a little more hope than I was feeling before the visit. Is that silly of me to attach hope to such a small word? Anyway, after the little bit of counsel, the bishop switched around our callings a little bit. Instead of being the Primary teachers over the CTR4 class, Mark is now the companion of the little autistic boy in our class. Now Mark doesn't have to prepare any lessons, and they've called a new couple to be the class teachers. He then called me to be the ward chorister and the assistant choir director. Honestly, I was super excited because I loved doing that in the last ward. This time I don't have as much responsibility, but it's still doing what I like. Our choir director is going to be out of town for Christmas, so I get to direct the choir for the Christmas Program. :)
The other thing I wanted mention is actually pretty frustrating. Last week we got the oil changed in our car, and a few days later we took it in to get a glitch in the turn-signal fixed. Just this past Monday I was driving it a few blocks to do a couple quick errands, and something majorly wrong happened to the engine. It felt like something came loose and was clanking around under the hood. The car started sputtering and clanking, and I knew we had to take the car back to the shop. Turned out that Kent's Auto and Muffler doesn't deal with such extensive repairs. They suggested taking it to PK Auto because they do more intense repairs. Our AAA tow guy suggested taking it to a AAA approved shop, McNeil's. Turns out our best bet is to just replace the whole engine, which will cost about as much as the car is worth. So it came down to replacing the engine and hoping that nothing else goes wrong with the car, or buying another car that will last us a long time, and will accommodate our growing family. Looking into it, this wasn't really an easy decision because we can't really afford to do either. All the money we have isn't enough to pay for the repairs, unless you include the money in Mark's business. Since we don't really have a job (although I do work part-time at the chiropractor's office) we don't have an income to take on a new car payment. After all was said and done, we decided to have the car repaired by McNeil's with an engine that has a lifetime warranty. So we're down a car, but someone is lending us a car for a couple weeks while ours is in the shop. Ugh! What a perfect time of year to have such expensive car troubles. Grrr! Here's to hoping that we won't need any more repairs for a long time!!
For those of you who prayed for us, thank you. The job in Duchesne told Mark that he'd know in about a week, by the very latest on Dec. 1st. Well, they never even called him back. We assume that's another "big fat no," but it still would've been nice for them to call. So, Mark has continued on with his law practice, and we keep praying for some sort of success for him. Right about now, we don't really care which kind of success, whether it's finding a real job or his firm really taking off. The only thing is that we know it would be so much easier if he could find a job that included health benefits. (Maybe that's the reason he hasn't been able to find one, because it's the easy route!)
I few weeks ago our bishop called us into his office. (I wanted to make sure I got record of it somewhere.) The bishop wanted to give us a little bit of counsel because he had been thinking of us. He said that we just needed to remember what to do what we're supposed to be doing, to be extra stalwart... you know, all the things that we've heard before. However, what made this visit special was that our bishop promised us that if we're patient and do what we're supposed to, that the Lord will give us what's in store- and it will be "wonderful!" I always knew that He'd bless us, but the fact that he said, "And it will be wonderful!" really hit me. Apparently it's not going to be something acceptable and bearable. That we'll figure out how to just make do. That gave me a little more hope than I was feeling before the visit. Is that silly of me to attach hope to such a small word? Anyway, after the little bit of counsel, the bishop switched around our callings a little bit. Instead of being the Primary teachers over the CTR4 class, Mark is now the companion of the little autistic boy in our class. Now Mark doesn't have to prepare any lessons, and they've called a new couple to be the class teachers. He then called me to be the ward chorister and the assistant choir director. Honestly, I was super excited because I loved doing that in the last ward. This time I don't have as much responsibility, but it's still doing what I like. Our choir director is going to be out of town for Christmas, so I get to direct the choir for the Christmas Program. :)
The other thing I wanted mention is actually pretty frustrating. Last week we got the oil changed in our car, and a few days later we took it in to get a glitch in the turn-signal fixed. Just this past Monday I was driving it a few blocks to do a couple quick errands, and something majorly wrong happened to the engine. It felt like something came loose and was clanking around under the hood. The car started sputtering and clanking, and I knew we had to take the car back to the shop. Turned out that Kent's Auto and Muffler doesn't deal with such extensive repairs. They suggested taking it to PK Auto because they do more intense repairs. Our AAA tow guy suggested taking it to a AAA approved shop, McNeil's. Turns out our best bet is to just replace the whole engine, which will cost about as much as the car is worth. So it came down to replacing the engine and hoping that nothing else goes wrong with the car, or buying another car that will last us a long time, and will accommodate our growing family. Looking into it, this wasn't really an easy decision because we can't really afford to do either. All the money we have isn't enough to pay for the repairs, unless you include the money in Mark's business. Since we don't really have a job (although I do work part-time at the chiropractor's office) we don't have an income to take on a new car payment. After all was said and done, we decided to have the car repaired by McNeil's with an engine that has a lifetime warranty. So we're down a car, but someone is lending us a car for a couple weeks while ours is in the shop. Ugh! What a perfect time of year to have such expensive car troubles. Grrr! Here's to hoping that we won't need any more repairs for a long time!!
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