The Lord's little miracles

First, I want to explain why it has been a while since I posted. We have had a crazy summer with car issues and basement finishing as well as pregnancy. With all this crazy stress we have continued to move forward in faith. Mackenzie is now in preschool and after a rough first day is loving it. Hyrum is growing like a weed and is strong. We call him our little Captain Moroni.

So now for the big news, Monday we had our official ultrasound to find out if we were having another boy or girl and we found out that we are having TWIN girls early next year. While we were shocked at first we are also so thankful for this amazing miracle. The girls are due February 8th but will probably come in January. I will post a pregnancy picture of my twin belly soon but first I need to finish healing. You see last Thursday I noticed a small rash on the nap of my neck. At first I thought it was a cluster of bug bites but when they began to hurt I thought maybe they were hives. I went into the doctor on Tuesday and found out that I have shingles. It is caused by the chicken pox virus that is still in your body after you have had chicken pox. It can be reactivated not only when you are older but also when your body is put under extra stress. It is painful but thankfully Eric and Mackenzie are great at helping me manage the pain. While Hyrum is my wonderful cuddle bug.

All of the recent events in my life have made me stop and think about adversity in our lives. While it may be painful and we may wonder why we are asked to go through these painful times I know that the Lord is there with us. Last night, I woke up in pain as some of my shingles began to pop. Has I was crying from the pain, because shingles are connected to nerve endings, I decided to listen to Hiliary Week's song Beautiful Heartbreak and it help me to remember that while the pain is substantial right now this too will be beautiful in the long run. I  truly believe in what Elder Richard G Scott has said:

"This life is an experience in profound trust-trust in Jesus Christ, trust in his teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning."

I may not understand now why my family and I have been asked to go through all of these challenges such as car troubles, ill health or unexpected additions but I know that the Lord knows. As I trust in him and try to make it through trials as positively as possible that the beauty of these experiences will come through.

Changes

So, it has been over a month since I posted. Sorry about that. Things have been crazy. Shortly after my last post, Eric was willing to drive me to my Spanish Pronunciation class. However, all did not go as planned. As we got on to Route 201 we had a warning that we had low tire pressure. By the time we were on 1-80 heading towards the University of Utah, we had a shredded tire. Needless to say, I missed my exam but was able to make it up. This incident began our saga of car troubles and repairs. Luckily we met a really nice guy who has been more than willing to help us. We have still had to pay for all the parts, and I will be feeding him for the next year or so, but we saved a lot of money. In the process, we have also decided to sell our Passat. It was a hard decision but we need a bigger car (minivan). We have found a buyer and a van we want to purchased that is more than reasonable! First, we just need to get little blue (the Prius) up a running again. With all this car issues my mind has not been on posting, so sorry for that. But I am grateful for all the little miracles we have had during this time. I don't know how many time, Eric and I have wanted to cry has the full extent of our car woes were reveled. However, with the strength of the Lord and thankfully our careful budgeting the last few months we have been able to handle it with grace and strength. This semester has been good. Just one more week!!! Then a few weeks to be with the kids all the time and thankfully only night and online classes this summer. Along with car difficulties, we are getting ready to finish our basement. We are going through the boxes downstairs, only took almost four year, and trying with all our might to get laundry caught up. We may have to take a lot of it to the laundry mat to get it all finished. We are so excited to actually get use of the entire house. Well I better get back to my day. The kids are fed but need to brush their teeth and have scripture study before I go to class today. Wish me luck Wednesday and my presentation, in Spanish on my project. Hope you all have a wonderful day.