Lots of Milestones

I am ashamed to see how long it's been since I've blogged. I don't spend much time online and when I do I usually give it to Facebook. It's just so much fun!

Shane graduated on May 28 from Mountain View High School. The ceremony was held at the Marriott Center and it was a great day. I didn't think I'd get emotional because I was just so glad and ready to be at that point. . .until he put the robe on. That did it! All of a sudden he looked so grown up!

Kelly's mother flew up from Texas for graduation, and his sister Jessie flew her son Nathan down from Iowa and they both stayed for about a week. It was a lot of fun having them here; we don't get to see Kelly's side of the family very often, so it really meant a lot to have them here. My mother also attended, and my brother Fred surprised us when he walked in with his family. Brittany's best friend Elisabeth came with us; she used to attend Mountain View but moved to Provo last year so graduated from Provo High the next day. She, Shane and Nathan have been friends since grade school so she wanted to be there. We all ate at Golden Corral afterward. It was so nice sharing the day with so many loved ones.

Shane had his mission physical on Friday, and has his dentist appointment tomorrow, so his mission papers are officially started! It's hard to believe we are actually to this point. I'm so proud of him! He has overcome a lot of challenges over the last several years and has stayed firm and true to what he knows is right. He has taken the initiative with meeting with the bishop to get his papers started; we haven't set it up or pushed it at all. He seems to have a good sense of direction.

You hear of blessings a lot when people talk about sending a missionary and having one out, and I believe we are certainly experiencing that already. A little over a month ago Kelly was laid off from his job because the technology he was over was moved offshore to India, and the strangest thing was that I didn't feel a sense of alarm over it. There have been things going on with that company for awhile that he didn't feel good about, but if he had gotten a job elsewhere he would have lost quite a bit of money. He had 11 years in with the company, which built up a sizeable severance package. With the layoff, he got the severance package as well as vacation/sick time that he had let accrue. Even without the severance, the vacation time was about 7 weeks of pay. One thing that was upsetting was that the timing of the layoff was just right to eliminate some stocks he was awarded last year for performance, which were vestable at the beginning of this month. Two weeks after the layoff Kelly got a call telling him that the local director was upset with the situation and went to bat for him. Kelly had never said anything, so this was surprising. The result was that his official termination date was extended to June 2 so that not only would he get the stocks, but he would also have an additional paycheck. In the current economy, this is absolutely unheard of. I firmly believe that one of the reasons we have had so many blessings this way is so that we can pay for Shane's mission.

Kelly was able to start interviewing fairly quickly, expecting to have to take a cut in pay. He ended up with two offers at the same salary he was making. One was with a local startup company that has some really great possibilities, and the position they offered him would work into a director/VP position if they grow the way they project. The other was with an established company in Riverton, which is only about a 30 minute commute. The deciding factor was benefits; the local company isn't large enough yet to offer the kind of health insurance we need, and the Riverton company has a package similar to the one we currently have. So Riverton won, and he starts work tomorrow. All said and done, this layoff ended up making us money. It is a relief to me to have some money that we can lay aside for a rainy day and put toward retirement. We are so grateful for the Lord's hand in this.

Truly, I feel that "the windows of Heaven" have been opened and I hardly have room to receive the blessings! I have often wondered if the time is right for me to work fulltime to help pay for Shane's mission but not feeling quite right about it, and I remember just a couple of months ago having the feeling to continue to make being home for the kids a priority and the Lord would take care of things, and He has. I really have felt that I still need to be close to home for Brittany, and it's going to take a little extra time and maturity for her before she is ready to start college and live more independently.

At the time I had that feeling, I also had a strong impression that one of the reasons Heavenly Father would take care of things is because I have sacrificed so much to be home for my kids. I had the strongest feeling early on that for my family it was very important. For some families, the mother needs to work fulltime or opts to, and it works well. For whatever reason, I just knew that that was not an option for me. It has been really hard at times, especially during lean times when we have struggled, and I've wondered if I was out of my mind. I've had a few part time jobs here and there, but inevitably they haven't lasted longer than a year because I would get a feeling that I needed to stop and then it would turn out that our kids needed extra support, whether with learning issues or other things. I believe strongly, especially now that we have diagnoses for our kids, that the reason it was more urgent for me to be home and be available is because our kids have needed extra support because of the challenges they have had.

I still hope to go back to working fulltime; my goal is to go back to being a secretary/office administrator in a college environment. That is what I did before I had Shane, and I loved it. If I can work at the local state university, our whole family can go to school free of charge, and I feel that that is a way we can cover the kids' educations. We don't have college funds set up, but this is another way that can be taken care of. But for now, Shane's mission is paid for already and we can set money aside to get Brittany started at college when she is ready. And I can continue to make being home a priority and enjoy my little part-time night job at the Distribution Center as a sanity saver. :) Who knows how many more therapy appointments we'll be in for over the next several years!