Announcement!!!

Had to post this picture of our Halloween costumes this year...

That's right...there's a bun in that oven! 

Expected to be fully cooked by May 14th!

*Disclaimer: That was the announcement! The rest of this post is simply for my own records. But feel free to read :)*

Honestly Jeremy and I couldn't be happier! For those who know me I love kids! However I was perfectly content with enjoying other people's kids for quite awhile longer. I have been blessed to be an aunt since I was 5 years old and I have always had great examples in parents from the people around me. Seeing what it takes to be a parent is totally overwhelming and I think I just wanted to wait until I was older! But then Jeremy and I had a very spiritual experience. 

A sister in our stake gave a talk in our stake conference about receiving personal revelation. She told an experience about praying for an answer and her realization that she was going about it all the wrong way. As she explained that she had merely been "informing" Heavenly Father of her plan, I realized that I had done the same thing! I hadn't truly asked for guidance in my life plan, but instead had said, "Here's what I'm doing, just thought you should know." I think it's moments like this that Heavenly Father just smiles as he waits patiently for us to figure out that we don't have all the answers! After that conference Jeremy and I chatted and came to the conclusion that we had both felt the chastisement from the spirit. So we decided to move forward with efforts to truly seek guidance from the spirit no matter if that meant receiving an answer that didn't fit with our original plans. As we prayed we received answers! First, in regards to starting a family we felt that it would be "sooner than we planned". We also felt that I needed to make a visit to my doctor which ended up being a real blessing as they were able to find a small medical problem and we were able to get that corrected. After that visit I already felt so comforted knowing that because we had prayed with an open heart, we were receiving answers from the Lord.

 I was also able to receive an answer to my personal decision that I was going to teach in Idaho for a year before moving to grad school. I received an answer quickly, but it wasn't what I wanted to hear so I ignored it and couldn't bring myself to even say it out loud to Jeremy. I had just worked for four years to get a degree in teaching and was so happy at the time student teaching. Why would the Lord tell me not to pursue a job? I didn't understand. Finally, after some time, I told Jeremy, through my tears, that I received this answer. Talking about it with him made it more real and I knew I had to come to terms with this new plan. After a couple weeks I felt a little better and was just hoping that I would soon understand more of why this was to be. No sooner had I come to terms with this new plan did I have an amazingly perfect opportunity arise for a job. I immediately jumped on it, so excited thinking here was the real answer to my prayer! But I started to feel sick almost immediately. I called my mom and told her about this new job and how I was feeling and asked for some advice. She told me a story about a time that her and my dad were trying to sell their house. It wasn't selling so they prayed and felt that they should take it off the market. They decided they would the next morning. The next morning came with an offer on their house. Thinking this was the real answer to their prayer, they took the offer and sold the house. After doing so, things with their original life plan didn't work out the way they thought, causing them to have to move around until finally they were back on track. At that time, their old house was up for sale again for quite a bit more than what they had sold it for. Her moral was that if they would have listened to the answer they had received  they could have been saved a lot of headache. She didn't tell me what to do, but this anecdote was just what I needed to hear. I was putting my trust in the Lord and that was it. 

Without understanding the why, Jeremy and I moved forward with faith that we would be taken care of if we listened to the Lord and did all that we needed to do. Our new plan consisted of moving in December after graduation and being more open to the idea of children sooner than we planned, knowing that it would happen when it was supposed to. The doctor had said it would take some more time than usual. But, like so often, doctors are mistaken and they can't calculate the Lord's will. We were pregnant fairly quickly and aside from the shock and a little fear, were ecstatic! It was a fun secret to have together (even though it didn't last long before Tisha called after tapping into her sixth sense of knowing when people are pregnant) but now we are happy that the secret is out!