Blessings come with Trials

The last couple of weeks have been... let's just say... difficult.

First, I have been worrying about the baby. Like any soon-to-be mother, I always wonder what is going on inside that little womb of mine. Another huge worry is my lack of morning sickness! But after a few doctor appointments I feel better about the uncertainty.

Two weeks ago, I had a doctors appointment for this beautiful little baby that is growing inside me. It was my 12 week appointment where they first try to find the heartbeat with the battery-operated Doppler. The Doppler is usually quite accurate, but in my case... the baby was not being heard. Fear of a miscarriage, started to fill my mind, but lack of bleeding left me still hoping. So an appointment on Monday, leaving a weekend for the baby to grow a little more, was scheduled. I went back on Monday and just like Friday, the baby was still being shy. The fear of something being wrong grew stronger. Because of both tries being negative with the Doppler, an ultrasound was necessary. It took about three seconds for the doctor to find the baby, and the heartbeat! I am so happy that everything is still going how it should. We even got to see the little boy/girl move around! All the excitement of that weekend ended in a 3 lb weight loss.

Last week, my husband's boss announced that he was cutting my husband down to 32 hrs a week, and he took away the vacation pay. We had been planning on me quitting my job in December, which would mean that we would only be living on Justin's  income. Now with his income being cut by 1/4 what we had been planning, budgeting has gotten even more difficult. Today... Justin let me know that his pay has now been dropped a $1.50 an hour and he still can only work 32 hrs a week. Its almost as if we are being tested... Welcome to mortality.

Saturday was a wonderful day for my family. My Dad has recently had his priesthood restored and it was time for him and my step-mom and their three beautiful children to be sealed in the temple. What a wonderful blessing that is for them and for us! On Sunday, my Dad had the privilege of blessing Alysa and Canyon. I am so heartbroken that it didn't work for me to go out and see these wonderful things happen. But seeing and hearing the change in my Dad while he has been working on his priesthood restoration helps me to recongnize more and more how wonderfully blessed our lives are.

Let me rephrase my title to explain more what I have learned from all the things we have been blessed with lately. The new title is: Blessings come FROM trials.