What we've been up to

I will do another post on Young Women's Camp when I can get those pics up. It was super busy leading up to camp. I had lots of meetings and planning. I have also been working really hard to get my medallion by the end of summer. I had my Virtue project which was to read the entire Book of Mormon and take notes. I ended up really studying it using the institute manual and learned a ton! Seriously one of the greatest things I have ever done and so life changing. I also was trying to index 5000 names for my Individual Worth project. Finally got that done the beginning of the month. Took me so long but thanks to the New Jersey obits and my mom's laptop I was able to bust it out. Then I also got my Choice and Accountability project done. Scott and I went through everything in our basement and even though our basement is unfinished we turned it into something functional. We had some carpet from his brother's house that was still in really good shape. We even had padding too. So we laid it out in two of our downstairs rooms. There is no sheet rock but it is framed out. So we have a tv and vcr and 4 chairs we've gotten from family and used throughout the house before but recently they've been moved to the basement and just sat. I have a bunch of stuff to go to DI. We neatly stacked and organized everything. Vacuumed up all the nasty dead spiders and bugs and swept everything. I actually like being down there now. The kids have some toys and room to move. The slide is down there. It's just really nice and cool. So glad we finally did that. Its not as nice as a finished room but Scott pointed out that even with the cement walls from the foundation it is still nicer than the homes he was in in Argentina because we have carpet down. They don't have that and the walls of their homes weren't as sturdy. I just can't ever complain really because I look at how much we have and even though its used it is still more than a lot of other people around the world have. The big tvs and the fancy furniture. It really means nothing to me anymore. We may not have the most up to date things but everything we have is functional and we're fine. Trying to feel like you have to keep up with everyone else around you is exhausting and really not healthy. It's all about simplicity for me. So glad Scott feels the same. Makes life easier! So we're really enjoying our new space we've made.

Leading up to camp was pretty stressful for us all. Scott was trying to work as many hours as he could plus with people on vacation at times he'd have to step up and do that person's job too so his days were a little long at times but we made it work and I got my meetings done. Even though it was really hard at times we had a couple neat little miracles that really made a difference in our life. Right before camp I told Scott to make sure he checked on his vacation time. His 9 yr anniversary is this month so we figured it'd be resetting but we wanted to use up what he had before it reset. The pay period we needed the vacation hours was after what we thought his anniversary was. We knew they'd work with us but didn't really know how it all worked. Well we got the best news ever. They actually just do their vacation time annually so it resets every Jan and it can roll over but maxes out at 160. He has 140 hours left for the year. Hallelujah! Then he gets a full 160 I believe starting next year because its his 10th year. So we are so set! We might be able to use that up to pay off a lot of medical bills or help towards our car insurance since medical is eating up our money. Thankfully my stuff will be paid off in the next 2-3 months then we just have Jackson's stuff to worry about. So I have been pretty stressed over finances because of all the medical bills plus the car insurance but this might actually help us out. Phew!

Another little miracle is our water heater. When we were down cleaning I noticed water around the water heater. Great! And it wasn't a leaky valve or anything. I grabbed the flashlight and what do I see? Water dripping out of the bottom! Noooooo! That is a death sentence for a water heater. So here we are a few short days before camp and it looks like our water heater is going to take a dive. Luckily Scott's manager who is also a neighbor can get us one. I'm pretty sure he has his contractor's license. Currently we do not have the money. Seriously none. I barely have money for food because of the medical and car insurance bills due. So I'm thinking, great... more money on the credit card that I can't afford. It's been bad enough that some of our groceries have had to go on there again recently because I've tried to work with the hospitals but they still don't give us much help. I'm forking out between $400-$500/mo on medical bills right now. So we are seriously stretched. If only they would give Scott a raise! Then we could finally get out of debt in a decent time frame. And I won't have anymore kids if he doesn't get a raise. Too hard financially. We'd have to move. Sorry for that crazy tangent but a new water heater right now is so not something we can handle. We'll see in a few months. So I kept an eye on it and the day before I had to go to camp it was all dried up and nothing was leaking. Seriously? I sat there and watched it drip from the tank but not nothing? I told Scott that I won't question it but I will just be thankful for whatever change and hope that it can at least give us 4-6 more months of life until some more bills are paid off.

So I am very thankful for those little miracles that help relieve a little stress. I am so thankful for the Food Bank food drops that really help us a ton. I just keep trying to do the best I can in my calling and try to take advantage of opportunities to serve those around me. When I do what is right the Lord will provide a way for our family to be taken care of and have what we need. It's not easy and it takes a lot of faith sometimes but we still have our house and we still have our cars and we have food everyday. We are so blessed!

Another exciting thing was Scott got released from his calling as executive secretary. We had been able to manage our callings fairly easily. Sundays got a little crazy when he'd have to hurry home so I could get to the church for ward council or byc but we made it work. I guess the stake finally said it was time to give us a break so he was released. He won't have much of a break because he was released yesterday morning and already given a new assignment yesterday after church. I'll post that once we know details. Much more low key and Scott is excited. It's a calling we had together in the past and he knows it is an area our ward needs help in and he's glad to help wherever the need is. So that'll be fun for him and hopefully a little less stressful for us.

The kids are doing great. One night when I was at mutual Charlotte got out of the bath to go potty and her being herself somehow slipped forward and hit her tooth on the tote that hold all the bath toys. Scott said she knocked it loose but it hasn't fallen out yet. So we'll see how that goes. She starts kindergarten next month. Crazy! Jackson is super duper smart. He loves playing games on my kindle and knows all the letters of the alphabet and can read numbers 1-10. He loves singing songs and is putting his sentences together really well. He says some funny stuff. He was telling Scott in church yesterday, "Stop pushing me!". Haha! He knows some shapes and all his colors. He has a pretty good vocabulary and is just the craziest, sweetest, cutest little guy ever. So glad he came to our family! If we don't have anymore kids, he was a great one to end with! We're just so thankful for the two kids we have and we have a lot of fun with them. Hoping we can take a trip to St. George this fall with them but not sure how we can work it with Toby so I don't know. I'm still undecided what we're gonna do.

So anyway, I think that's it. I'll do my young women's camp update soon and hopefully be caught up. I'm such a slacker! :)