Strong convictions make a person do difficult things. I believe in my religion with all of my heart, I know of it's truthfulness and can bear testimony to anyone of a kind and loving God and Savior. I believe those things so deeply that today I left my son at the Missionary Training Center in Provo Utah...not to be seen again for two years.
We hugged for a very long time, tears streaming down our cheeks. I knew he would be fine, I knew I would be fine but, man oh man...I'm gonna miss that kid. I'm so proud of him though. He chose to serve this mission, yes...I whole heartedly supported him, but at any time he could have chosen not to become a full-time servant of the Lord. Yet, even though he was scared of the unknown...he did it. And he did it well! What a great looking son I have.
Our children do things to make us proud, some times they do things things that don't make us so proud but, today I'd have to say...was an incredibly proud day. This young man...who gave me so much grief and so many gray hairs over the years really did good. Oh, the stories I could tell about when he was growing up....lol. But, to have him reach this point in his life where he is a clean, moral, worthy 19 year old male...willing to serve others...makes me more proud than I can even express.
Sometimes, sacrifice must accompany hard choices but it usually returns 10 fold in great blessings. I know that this experience for Carson will help him identify both sacrifice and blessing and learn a greater understanding of what those are to him in his life and I know that by sacrificing my son for two years I will be blessed along with our entire family.
How blessed our family is to have the knowledge of a higher power and have a greater understanding of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, than many. I hope that anyone reading my post will know that a they are loved by a loving Father in Heaven and a chosen Savior. My son may even be on his way to find you and teach you just that. May we all open our hearts and our minds so that we can be blessed.
judy
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Making it Happen
So, after much hesitation and procrastination my hubby and I finally moved forward with our life plan. We decided, about a week ago, that we really needed to do "something" to start the ball rolling. We took some pictures of our house and posted it up for rent on Craigslist. We actually started out a little higher than we thought we could get and we figured it might take us a little time to find someone who wanted to pay that much.
Three hours later I had had phone calls from 3 different people and by the next day we had five different parties coming to look at the house and every one of them was interested in renting. Then, we had to make a decision. Everyone seemed so nice when we met them, they all had great jobs and what seemed to be awesome kids. I couldn't imagine that any one of them would be unreliable or not take care of our home, but ultimately we had to choose the family that felt right. It was so hard to call the others and tell them we had decided not to rent to them, but I guess that's just part of being a landlord.
So, in May we will be moving out of our lovely home and into...something...somewhere. We haven't quite decided where we're going yet. Life has been very busy figuring out how to finish up our schooling and where exactly we can do that. Just today we finally figured out that we'll both be able to finish our bachelor's degrees from right here in our town and the we'll have to decide where we'd like to get our Master's. Which means we'll be able to stay here for at least another year to year and a half.
So why rent out our home? Have you ever done something that you weren't quite sure about just because it felt like the right thing to do? That pretty much sums it up for us. We simply felt like it was the right thing to do. We're not sure if we'll rent an apartment or buy another small home. It would sure be nice if we could own some properties and rent then out, but then again maybe we'll end up in the trailer park? Just kidding. Truth is though, it really doesn't matter where we live...wherever it is will be home.
I learned a long time ago that that illusive place called "home" is simply where your heart is full. Whether it's in an apartment, a small house, a large house or the infamous double wide, if that's where your heart feels good then that's home.
I've had many different homes in my life. I think I counted the other day and I've moved close to 20 or more times...and all after the age of 19. Maybe staying in one house so long made it easy for me to move around, but all I know is...I like it! I love moving into a new to me house or apartment and making it mine. I love redecorating, even if it's with all my same old stuff. It all seems to look better when it's on a new wall or in a different room and I get the chance to appreciate it all over again.
So, even though I have no idea where I'm going to be living in 7 weeks or so, I'm excited. I'm excited for change and I'm excited to move and I'm excited that that next chapter is starting. It may be in the midst of my son leaving on his two year mission and my daughter may be having her second child and I might be starting college one more time...but...how fun it will be! Life is good my friends and I can't wait!
Three hours later I had had phone calls from 3 different people and by the next day we had five different parties coming to look at the house and every one of them was interested in renting. Then, we had to make a decision. Everyone seemed so nice when we met them, they all had great jobs and what seemed to be awesome kids. I couldn't imagine that any one of them would be unreliable or not take care of our home, but ultimately we had to choose the family that felt right. It was so hard to call the others and tell them we had decided not to rent to them, but I guess that's just part of being a landlord.
So, in May we will be moving out of our lovely home and into...something...somewhere. We haven't quite decided where we're going yet. Life has been very busy figuring out how to finish up our schooling and where exactly we can do that. Just today we finally figured out that we'll both be able to finish our bachelor's degrees from right here in our town and the we'll have to decide where we'd like to get our Master's. Which means we'll be able to stay here for at least another year to year and a half.
So why rent out our home? Have you ever done something that you weren't quite sure about just because it felt like the right thing to do? That pretty much sums it up for us. We simply felt like it was the right thing to do. We're not sure if we'll rent an apartment or buy another small home. It would sure be nice if we could own some properties and rent then out, but then again maybe we'll end up in the trailer park? Just kidding. Truth is though, it really doesn't matter where we live...wherever it is will be home.
I learned a long time ago that that illusive place called "home" is simply where your heart is full. Whether it's in an apartment, a small house, a large house or the infamous double wide, if that's where your heart feels good then that's home.
I've had many different homes in my life. I think I counted the other day and I've moved close to 20 or more times...and all after the age of 19. Maybe staying in one house so long made it easy for me to move around, but all I know is...I like it! I love moving into a new to me house or apartment and making it mine. I love redecorating, even if it's with all my same old stuff. It all seems to look better when it's on a new wall or in a different room and I get the chance to appreciate it all over again.
So, even though I have no idea where I'm going to be living in 7 weeks or so, I'm excited. I'm excited for change and I'm excited to move and I'm excited that that next chapter is starting. It may be in the midst of my son leaving on his two year mission and my daughter may be having her second child and I might be starting college one more time...but...how fun it will be! Life is good my friends and I can't wait!
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