Election Day 2016

A momentous event happened in our nation's history. The Presidential election was between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and TRUMP WON!! It was amazing! For the first time in 8 years, the person Josh and I voted for finally won!

The rest of the country, however, is not so pleased. All the liberal crazies are out burning cars and killing people. Yeah...they're great....

This was such an intense election for all of us because both parties were supporting completely opposite agendas! You had the Democrats who were as liberal as liberal gets, supporting full term abortion and legalizing marijuana for everyone! And then you had the Republicans who were trying to solve all the important problems like illegal immigration, health care, foreign policy/trade, etc. Oh gosh, I can't even tell you how relieved I am that Trump won! I had to turn off my Facebook for a while because I couldn't take all the Democrat cry babies though because they were killing my vibe! For the first time our country will be run by someone who cares more about business than politics. Seriously, that is exactly what we need!!!

The race was ridiculously close and had us all on the edge of our seats until about 2am.... well, Josh and I fell asleep because we had to go to work but woke up to read about the winner the next morning! I get up for work at 3am so I wasn't too late :).

Basically, our country is now trying to move on from the huge divide that this election caused. People everywhere have been posting the famous quote from Mother Theresa that if you want to make a difference in the world, go home and love your family... or something like that. And that is exactly what we have been trying to do! Everything will be alright. Somehow we survived 8 years of Obama so it couldn't get any worse...at least I hope so...

First Day of Preschool!

My sweet babies on their first day of Preschool!

My babies both started their first day of school on October 3rd, 2016! I know the date is probably irrelevant but this is such a big moment for me! Seriously, if you only knew me.... I never thought my kids would have to go to Daycare. I always assumed I would be a stay at home Mom, or my Mom would just keep helping me out for the rest of my life. Yeah, that didn't happen :(. But this has been good for us! It has been so good for Austin to step outside of his comfort zone and socialize with other little people as well as other big people. And Evie has been able to continue being her super bubbly social self with more friends! Yay!

I am so overly protective when it comes to who can watch my kids so over the past 3+ years I have worked crazy hours to make it all possible for them to stay at home and have a family member come to our home to watch them... completely safe and sheltered. Well, I guess the baby birds have to leave the nest sometime!

Josh and I found the most expensive, educational school in the area and when the kids toured it with me, they LOVED IT! It's called THE CHILDREN'S LEARNING ADVENTURE. It truly is amazing! Every hour they move to a different class room that specializes in something, like reading, cooking, art, Spanish, gym, you name it! Eve is in the toddler class so her learning is not so extraordinary, but Austin gets to experience it all! He comes home with all sorts of crafts and tells us how he made things like "cheese danish" in cooking class. I absolutely love it! Education is so important to us and I so badly want to inspire the desire to learn in my kids! 

I took the day off on their first day to make sure if anything were to go wrong, I could be right there in a heart beat! I did get a phone call from the administrator telling me that Evie was holding hands with a little boy during dance time and he bit her hand :(. So sad! But the lady said she was fine and there was no need for Mama Bird to swoop down and rescuer her! So I spent the day at the gym, Starbucks, and finally catching up on some annual doctor's visits that I never have time to go to! Honestly, I thought it was going to be complete bliss finally having a whole day all to myself, but the entire time all I did was worry about my babies and miss them like crazy! For example, on my drive home from the gym I almost started crying because I couldn't hear Austin's little voice in the back seat asking to have a drink of my protein shake!

Back up to the drop off.... Both kids were super excited! They each had their special backpack (Austin got to pick his out all by himself) and were totally ready to explore their new surroundings! Neither kid cried which is totally unusual, but helped me feel like I was making the right decision. As we were chauffeured to their new classrooms, the kids were waving to every passerby and saying hi! Austin was so proud of his dump truck back pack and wanted to show everyone who would stop and listen!

When I picked them up they both burst into tears which had me feeling awful, but I was told that this is normal and they will get used to it. I don't know if they were just overjoyed that I actually came back for them, or if they were super scared all day and were just holding it in for the moment when Mom came back, but they did this multiple times throughout the first couple weeks. But things have gotten better now. Josh drops them off and I pick them up, which I love because I get to be the first to hear all about their days! I get to pick up their daily progress reports and find out what they ate, what songs they sang, what books they read, and all the other fun details! And then Austin and I chat about it all the way home :).

I'm only working twice a week now so we decided to only send them to full-day preschool for one day and to have my friend from the ward (Amy) watch them on the other day. She also babysits some other kids so it is a fun homey place for them to go and socialize. It's not as structured, and they seem to like Amy's house the best because they bake treats and play outside on the swing set, or play with play dough all day. She is a heck of a lot cheaper too! But I want them to start getting a more formal education as well, so this one day a week thing seems to work. Anyways, that's the scoop on our new situation and almost three months later, I am happy to report that it is going well!!

Could he get any cuter??? The answer is no! (3 years old)

Trying to get Evie to show me her sign or her backpack was basically impossible... She's only 17 months old though so I wasn't that surprised...

Yes, I was that crazy Mom taking pictures of my kids holding signs in front of the school on their first day! People were literally laughing at me.

Her sign said "First Day of Daycare" since she is technically not in the preschool part of the school yet until next year.

And here are some pictures that Amy has sent me throughout their day at her house. I love that she does that and gives me little updates on how they are doing!

Austin and Abby playing light sabers! Austin's favorite!!

Learning how to grind wheat to make bread!

Hearing Evie say "Abby!" is seriously the cutest! I love that they all get along!

Apparently it got hot :)

Miss Amy took them to the pumpkin patch with some other kids in the ward. For just $10 per kid we were all able to reserve the whole place! So the kids got to explore everything as much as they wanted! That meant Evie spent most the day in the bouncie house while Austin and Abby went down the giant slide over and over and over.... I wasn't there of course (Boo!) but Amy is great at describing all the fun to me! It helps that we are good friends!

Chasing geese!

 

Craft time

Austin eating the loaf of bread he made at Ms. Amy's house. He refused to cut it! Silly boy....

All the kiddos at work!

Halloween craft! Making candy corn :)

Home made muffins! YUM!

Amy also took them to her husband's work Halloween party. Apparently it is very kid friendly!

Oh these two.... I wish so badly I could experience all this with them, but then if I were there, there would be no reason for them to be out having all this fun with Amy! Hmmm... I guess this is good for all of us.

Austin LOVED his sword!

A little early trick or treating :)

And a couple pictures of the crafts they made from Preschool....

Look a that proud grin!

As always, Eve didn't understand the concept of showing me her picture hahaha!

Seriously, I could eat him up!

Angels Among Us ***Tear Jerker Alert!!!***

I work with a technician who is always happy. She is loud and boisterous, and constantly in search of the next patient to spread her love to. Some people find her annoying, but I welcome the positive energy she contributes to the group. I assumed she was just like the rest of us, but maybe loaded with a little extra caffeine each morning.... I was wrong. How well do we really know anyone that we work with, or sit next to at church, or even the people who live next door? We are so quick to judge them but have we ever actually stopped to truly get to know them? I find that each time I step out of my comfort zone and try to see into someone's heart, rather than taking them at face value, I learn an intense amount of information and with that I feel like they in turn have helped me become a better person. I hope that by sharing this story, you too will feel the same!

This is the story of my sweet, incredibly happy coworker. 

 

This is the story of Elizabeth:

I was born in Mexico to parents I never knew. A child with no name. I was left at an orphanage overrun with unwanted children, as is common in my country. As there are too many babies and not enough adults, we kids just kinda took care of each other. A little 5 year old  boy named Raymond fell in love with me and with the best abilities that an innocent 5 year old boy can muster, raised me. He wanted me to have a name, so he gave me the most beautiful American name he could think of. The only American name he could think of. He called me Elizabeth. Every night he told me that I was better than this. I was better than Mexico. He told me that in America every Elizabeth is beautiful and lives a beautiful life and someday he would take me there so I could have that. 

When he turned 12 years old, and I was now 7, Raymond started getting beaten a lot by the adults. There wasn't much room for older kids there and they wanted him to leave. But he would never leave me. So one night we ran away together! For the next few years we lived on the streets, he worked day and night to send me to school because he told me I would need an education when we go to America. We saved everything we had for that day. Each day he walked me to school and every day he chauffeured me back to our makeshift home. On our walks he would make sure I always walked on the inside, farthest away from the streets. "I can't ever let anything happen to you Lizzy" he would tell me. We would talk about what I had learned that day and each day he would tell me, "Whatever you do Lizzy, make sure you are doing your best. When we get to America we will do whatever we have to do to earn our freedom. Even if we are scrubbing toilets, we will make those toilets shine! Because we will finally be free. We will finally have our dream." 

When I was around 16 years old, Raymond started seeing a girl. They had an innocent friendship, completely platonic, but for once he had someone besides me to talk to. What he didn't know, was that her father was a drug Lord, very high up the ranks in the world of crime and malfeasance, and he didn't like Raymond hanging around his daughter.

So one day as Raymond was walking me home from school, a car came barreling up the street, firing gun shots from behind us. Raymond instantly threw me to the ground and flung himself on top of me. 

They shot him three times in the back and then drove away.  

His last dying words whispered in my ear were, "Go to America my beautiful Lizzy. Find our dream and be happy."

So that's exactly what I did. The streets of Mexico are no place for an innocent young girl to live alone and I knew I didn't have much time. So I gathered up all the money we had saved and I found a group of "Coyotes" who are basically professional border hoppers to take me across. I gave them everything I had and they promised to get me to California safely. 

They lied.

One horrible night, somewhere in the middle of the desert, they gang raped me and broke my neck in the process. They left me to die there and I would have if an American Border Patrolman hadn't found me. He took my naked broken body to an American hospital in California where they tried to heal the damage that had been done. It was there that a doctor told me that my body would never again be able to have children. I joke about it now, and tell people that children just don't want ME. But the pain of that revelation still hurts to this day. 

Then one night, an angel of a nurse came into my room with clothes and $100 in cash. She told me they were going to send me back to Mexico in the morning and she couldn't let that happen. My angel helped me sneak away into the night, and told me to go to far away from here. The money got me as far as Alabama where I found my first job. I knew that night when my Angel let me go, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing what she did. Saving lives, and rescuing injured souls. I learned English with a southern drawl from a nurse there in Alabama, got my American citizenship, and somehow found my way into Hemodialysis. I have spent the past 20 years of my life serving the dying, and loving the broken. I dedicate every moment of my time on this Earth to my now guardian angel, Raymond. Every time I feel like this job is just too much, or this life isn't everything it should be, I remember that even scrubbing toilets in America is better than living on the streets in Mexico. I also remember that once, in the dead of night, someone gave me a second chance at life. A chance to find my American dream. And I know I can't let her down. 

This is the part where she stopped talking and looked over at my sobbing, pathetic figure. I couldn't help it!! The beauty and tragedy in her life's tale was too much! I will never see her again as ordinary. No, not this beautiful human. 

Sometimes it feels like humanity has gone insane and evil has won. But I don't see it that way anymore. Because there are angels walking among us disguised as humans. They may not be beautiful to the eye, or glow with an angelic hue. But neither was Jesus.

I hope you all feel uplifted by my beautiful friend, as I was. I hope this story makes you want to go out and be somebody else's angel today. Because as long as we are all trying to take care of others and see them with the pure of love Christ, Good Will Always Prevail :).

I have always loved this painting and have it hanging in my baby girl's room. Life is rough, but we are never alone.