So since Matthew lost his new job last year we have gone through a lot of changes.  We unfortunately were unable to pay our mortgage and still haven’t to this day.  We are currently in the foreclosure status which stated our home will go through an auction on July 30th.  That so happens to be my last day of class and I go out on ex-tern August 2nd.  So we decided to go the short sale route since we really couldn’t afford to be out of our home at a crucial time for me in school.  After careful thinking, praying, studying, and prayer we have decided to move July 30th to Utah.  It was a very careful decision which Matthew and I feel very good about.  I am able to do my ex-tern there which would be nice for having job opportunities where we will be residing and Matthew’s temp agency also has an office there where he could find permanent work.  AZ has not offered us any benefits since Matthew lost his job, in fact our lives have been turned upside down.  We have struggled with full time regular work, Matthew being placed in a permanent job, trying to find a way to make the mortgage payment to save our home, spending time together as a family, and staying on task with day to day chores.  After all these things we have found that maybe the Lord has made these things a struggle for a reason.  Maybe he has made it to where we needed to make this move happen.  Matthew and I both know if this trial with our home and jobs we would have never moved to the place we have longed to live.  The Lord definitely knows what is best for us and even though it was very hard and tough at first we are now very excited about our upcoming journey.  Yes we will definitely miss my family here, our ward, our friends, and our community but we will still have them in our life as well as adding a new and welcoming journey ahead of us.  We will definitely miss all of you who have been very close to all of us (Matthew, myself, Kayla, and Sydney) but technology has come along way.  We have the internet, telephones, and mail to keep in touch.  We are always open and welcoming to any of you who want to visit us in our new place in Utah.  Currently we do not have a house and I do not have my ex-tern set up but I have faith things will start falling in place very soon.  The current location we are looking at is Murray, UT.  A very nice small town just outside Salt Lake City.  Yes, this is only a little over 7 weeks from now so we are doing a lot of busy work currently.  As time progresses and things start finalizing we will begin to provide contact information to all those who wish to have it.

We are truly grateful to our Heavenly Father and our brother Jesus Christ for the trials and blessings we have received from Them.  We have faith and knowledge this journey is the right one for us at this time and we know everything is going to work out as planned.  I know that this is also going to be a difficult beginning but we also know that new beginnings bring great growth to all.  For now this is what we are providing at this time and soon there will be more to follow (hopefully, with my track record of blogging).  The Lord is definitely on our side and I am grateful to have that knowledge in my life.  I hope to have more updates soon…  ))

Yesterday I let 2 students in my class draw my blood.  No problems and we all had a lot of fun.  We practiced on each other right away without any test objects so it was a little scary.  I was okay with it though since I’m always around needles with my insulin pump for diabetes. I drew blood from 2 students also and I had no issues either.  YAY!!

Today I let 2 students in my class draw blood from my hand.  !st person did great.  2nd person didn’t do so well.  Tube wasn’t pulled away when it was supposed to have been  so it caused a vacuum in my vein.  OUCH!!!!!  I did 2 people and had no issues.  YAY!!  Blood draws in the hand hurts a lot so I was nervous.  Luckily my victims were awesome and felt nothing…

Tomorrow we are doing straight sticks.  I’m not so sure I will freely give myself to 2 people this time.  We used skin blocks today to get the feel of it so we will see how tomorrow is…

1st the bad news…

I lost my job I had working in a group home on Tuesday 2/9/10.  I have been set up by my clients and the staff I worked with ever since I started school.  There was prejudice and favoritism going on and I am extremely grateful I’m away from all that drama I had to deal with there.  It is a problem for us to have me lose my job at the same time as Matthew being unemployed.  We have been barely hanging on the edge with Matthew out of work and now I am too.  Lets get onto the good news shall we?

Good news…

I had already set up an application/interview with a different agency that pays more, has flexible shifts and days to work.  They are basically an on call agency dealing with behavioral health facilities.  Since it is an on call agency the work that is given is based on availability.  You also get to pick the areas you are willing to work in (Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe etc..).  So anyway…  I filled out the 2 hour long application (phone book size app) and had my meeting with the recruiter.  He is going over all my paperwork and talking about the employee contract which includes the pay and he has me initial off on that so I ask him…  Does this mean I am employed?  He says “Oh yea, you have already been employed”.  I am sitting in my seat thinking to myself saying…  Yahoooooo…  1 day ago unemployed to today being re employed with a lot better options and pay for me.  I am sooo excited.  I went and had my TB test and drug test done so all I need to do next is get my physical and immunization records and I will start working on Saturday.  This is totally amazing!!

Matthew:  After almost 6 months a temp agency finally scheduled an interview with him for tomorrow morning (let’s hope there’s a job along with it).

I will probably be losing mine tomorrow but not certain yet.

When will the job trial end for us?  Obviously we haven’t passed what we need to learn from this one yet or we would be on a different trial not related to financial employment issues.  I definitely have faith that Heavenly Father will pull us through and eventually out of this situation…

So many things have happened since I last wrote so I will give a family update…

Matthew is still unemployed (4 months now) but is still receiving unemployment benefits.  He has been networking with a lot of people but there just isn’t any jobs here for him to even get help to apply.  It’s terrible right now.  Our mortgage company is working with us so we don’t go into foreclosure processing.  I’m grateful for that.

I’m still receiving medical assistance from the state as well as food stamps.  I’m still working in a group home caring for 2 adults with mental and physical disabilities.  I just enrolled in school which my class starts January 4th.  I will be completing a 9 month program to be a medical assistant which will actually change my current job to working in a doctor’s office.  I am so excited I can hardly wait.  The program has the following subjects: Anatomy, Physiology, Terminology, Computer basics, Math fundamentals, CPR, First Aid, Office Management, Insurance and coding, Business writing, Exam techniques, Clinical, Surgical procedures, Pharmacology, Medical law and ethics, Medical office laboratory procedures, Medical specialty procedures, communication and then 5 weeks of an externship with job placement.  I will be learning a lot but I am so excited about it…

Kayla is in 6th grade and is in Middle School/Junior High.  She loves it and has many friend’s.  She has one best friend that she hangs out with a lot and she tends not to do what she’s supposed to and gets grounded from time to time.  She’s 11 and going into the teenage mood swings so it has been very interesting lately with that.  She is very helpful around the house so that’s good.  Total teenage behavior hasn’t hit yet (thank goodness).

Sydney is in Kindergarten and she loves it.  She has an amazing teacher and lots of friend’s.  She has a very outgoing personality and likes to talk ALL the time.  I have no idea where she got that from (LOL).  Sydney turns 6 in a few weeks but she has way too much knowledge for a 6 year old.  Her spirit must be old since she is amazingly smart.  Kayla is too.

Matthew and I are primary teachers – We teach the CTR 5 class and that’s been a lot of fun.  We were placed in this calling a few months ago after being building librarians for 4 years.  Kayla goes into young woman’s next August and Sydney goes to CTR 6 in January.  We just found out that in January we will begin teaching the Sunbeams.  (YIKES!!)  That should be a lot of fun in actuality…

The Lord has placed so many people in our path that have helped us so much it’s been amazing.  I have been so blessed and humbled by this entire experience these last 4 months.  I am the one that’s usually humble about all things but this has made it even more of a humbling adventure.  Kayla and Sydney have been so wonderful with our situation too.  They haven’t asked for much and they try to do all they can to help.  Everyone has us in there prayers and it has reflected so much in our home through our family, friends and even in the community through Kayla and Sydney’s school.  We have truly appreciated everyone’s help, prayers and support.