Patience

I have not been very good about blogging this past year. I think I need to remedy that. We'll see...
To sum up our lives lately: Barrett finished his internships in May and graduated with a doctorate degree in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University. We went to Arizona for his graduation and had a nice little family vacation. The day after we got home we went to Helena, Montana for a job interview, so we did a lot of driving. Our kids are troopers when we travel!

 We stopped at Lake Powell for a little while on the way home. Wish we could have stayed longer!

Thankfully Barrett was smart and took his national boards in March (most of his class didn't take them until July) so he was able to work a lot earlier than most new graduates. He got a job at Performance Therapy in Idaho Falls and is really enjoying it. He is one of two therapists at the clinic and really likes that he gets more interaction with his patients than most other places he's worked at. It's been a little bit of an adjustment going from school life to working life, but we are so thankful to finally be making money! And I'm so thankful that we don't have to be separated any more and he comes home every night!

Our biggest struggle lately has been that we are still living in my parents' basement. We started looking for houses as soon as Barrett got a job, but it's taken a month just to get financing stuff in order. We finally have and made an offer on a house on Friday. It's not looking like we are going to be able to get it in our price range though, so we will have to start over again. Pooey. Buying a house is way more emotionally draining than I ever thought! I feel like I'm on a roller coaster ride all the time! (That also might have something to do with being 32 weeks pregnant. Maybe.) The fact that we are expecting a baby in 8 weeks or so is making us a little frantic to find a house! Hopefully now that we have financing in order we can get everything done pretty fast. Thinking about having a newborn and still living in my parents' basement does not sound like an inviting prospect to me. Then again, at least I'd always have someone to take care of the other kids for me! :)

It was Barrett's birthday on July 1

Anyway, we've just been trying to be patient and trust in the Lord's timing for us. As much as we wanted to get out of my parents' house as soon as possible I can see already that staying here just a couple of months extra has helped us in many ways. Mostly financially we wouldn't have been able to afford to furnish a house at all or stock up on food! So I know the Lord knows what he's doing and I'm just trying to enjoy life and trust in Him!

Things are going to get crazy around here soon though. My brother Greg is coming home from his mission to the Philippines on Thursday and we will have family here for the next several weeks. I wish I had my own home to escape to when all the people are around though! I might have to lock myself in the basement every now and then! :) No I am really excited to see everyone and have my whole family together in one place, but it really will be a mad house! Wish me luck that we survive the next month and find a house soon!

Oh, big PS: Caleb is potty trained! I was going to put it off until we moved but decided to go ahead anyway. He picked it up so fast and I'm very relieved!! Now only one child in diapers when this baby comes!