We recently got our family pictures done, but before I post those, I want to post our pictures from last year:) I’m a terrible slacker, and needed to do that a long time ago. My dear friend Celise Salmon took these for us, and I think she did a fabulous job! It’s definitely not easy to get my guys to hold still for very long, but we did it.
Wow, looking through these makes me reflect on so much that has happened since those pictures. Here’s the update since the crazy and emotional time of Shaun’s job loss.
Shaun was out of work for about 4 months. Seeing your dear sweetheart stress over paying the bills with no income is the worst. It’s scary, and a huge test of faith. Yet, we were so blessed to receive so much kindness and help from friends and family during those months. It was an enormous blessing. Shaun worked every day on sending out resumes, learning how to do good job interviews, and doing a few interviews here and there. The waiting was hard, but the time we got to spend with Shaun was priceless. Going from only seeing Shaun on Sundays to seeing him everyday was absolute heaven for the kids and I. He now works only 4 days a week, and that is much better.
- We did our best to stretch our dollars. We tried using home made laundry soap for awhile. For some reason, all the recipes I tried of soap never seemed to get our clothes quite clean. Instead of switching back to Tide, which is great but also expensive, we went with a big generic powder box at Costco. Works fine.
- We slowed down. We took more walks. More park days. Shaun got to know the lifestyle at home more. We cut out the Direct TV, and other bills, and did our best to squeeze. I have to say this; I love not having TV channels. The commercials are gone. No channel surfing. Whenever I go to some one ‘s home and the TV is on, it just seems so loud to me. We do Netflix now. Its great!
- In this last year, we were able to cut the car debt. With the blessing of tax return, we purchased a used Honda Odyssey mini van. It’s a smaller change from the big Armada, but it’s so much more little kid friendly. Whenever I push the button on my keys, the doors magically open, and I think my car is some super James Bond car. I love the opening doors. Another blessing; Ethan can get into his seat and buckle himself. I would practically cry tears of joy over this. Before, I had to climb into the back of the Armada to buckle him in. It was the equivalent to climbing Mount Everest. Super hard. I love my mini van so much, and it’s paid off!
- Learning how to budget and keep track of the expenses better. We use a few apps on our phones that are awesome; Accounts and Grocery IQ. Accounts means we can both make notes of what we spent in what account, and share it with each other. Totally up to date on our expenses. Same with the grocery list. They synch with our phones. Excellent.
There’s lots more, but I need to go make breakfast. Losing the job was a big, scary, and faith testing change, but it was meant to be. Heavenly Father knows what trials to send to his children. He knows the bigger picture. He was watching out for us, through many angel friends. Everything is getting better and better. It was hard to learn that way, but we definitely learn from our hardest trials.
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