Whirlwind Adventure part 1

Oh boy, where to start.  The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, tornado may be a more accurate discription, and I have barley had time to breath.  I promised myself I'd take a few minutes today though because 1. friends have been waiting to hear all about it, and 2. I see too much of the Lord's hand in the last two weeks to fail sharing it all.
As you know, John has been in Virginia since Thanksgiving.  After the training they were going to find him a job and we knew that once they did we would have to get all packed up and go REALLY fast.  On the 24 of March he called me to say he had a job, they wanted him to start on the 31.  He told me he would not have time to come back because the company wanted him to stay in VA until Thursday and finish up some work and paperwork.  The plan was that I would get everything packed up with help from the Re;ief ociety and drive the kids out with his mom on Monday.  Women came en mass and packed like crazy people!  By Wednesday morning my friend asked why we didn't leave earlier since everything was getting packed up so fast.  I was still planing on leaving Monday so my mother in law could drive out with me and then Wednesday evening I got home after an afternoon of errands to find John!  He totally surprised me, I was shocked!  Well, that changed everything. We had to get packed up and out by Friday to get John to Indiana in time to start work the next Monday.  We still didn't have an appartment, but by Thursday I had found one, they would even let un in early, on the 30 so we didn't have to stay in a motel for a few days until April 1.  Everything was so crazy rushed I didn't get to see my brother before I left, and I bet some friends asked after me and I was already gone.  :)  We got everything packed and loaded and Friday afternoon we took off.  We made it as far as Laremy, WY that night, depressingly close to Utah, but we did get to stop and see my mom and dad so it was good.  The next morning we got started at 8:30 and drove until 12:30 before we stopped in Des Moines, IA.  Sunday morning we got going at 8:00 and arrived here in Fishers at about 6:00.  Thank goodness the nice lady in the office stayed and hour after so we could get into our appartment.  A group of men from the ward and the missionaries were waiting to help us unload the truck and car and taht was done by the end of the night.  The next day John would start work.  Here are a few pictures we took on the way.

Rock climbing for a few minutes right before we left Wyoming

There were so many cool things to see and fun places to visit, it would have been fun to take a few weeks and make it a vacation road trip.

The sunrise Sunday morning.  I had nver seen the sun rise without mountains blocking the view.

Benajmin had been looking forward to seeing the Mississippi river for months so we stopped to take a closer look.

A quick stop at the park for Lunch on Sunday before we made the last leg of the journey.

And finally these strange things we begane to see in IL.  They mark the touwns and each has the town name painted on the top.

St. Patrick's Day Fun

After taking the kids to a St. Patrick's Day puppet show Glen was very scared of Leprechauns, he was having nightmares and everything.  I set out to plan a St. Patrick's day that would have him looking forward to Leprechauns instead of fearing them.  The night before Lucky, Glen's class Leprechaun stopped by with instructions to make lucky charms.  We took pipe cleaners, made shapes, and put them in a jar that contained a mixture of 3 cups boiling water, 1/2 cup borax and some food coloring, then left it to sit undisturbed over night.

 Here is Benjamin's spider, Glen's snow flake, and my curly snowflake.

 Glen wanted to leave a cookie for Lucky.

 The next morning they found that Lucky had left a box of his special Lucky Charms cereal and a little magic in their bowl.  "Whoa, it's turning green!"

 We also found that our pipe cleaners had turned into crystal lucky charms!

Benjamin didn't want to try the milk, but when he saw the "magic" he decided he would give it a try.  Thanks to a few drops of food coloring under the cereal, and a little science experiment, the boys had a magical beginning to their day, and some special crystals to keep.
We also built a Leprechaun trap, but unfortunate Lucky got away so we didn't get our three wishes.  He did leave some yummy chocolate gold coins though.  Coins the boys would have kept forever if Grandpa hadn't shown them there was chocolate inside, they didn't believe me.

Discoveries in faith

Ten weeks they said, so we planned on ten weeks.  It has now been 14 weeks and we still don't know when John is coming home.  I have tried very hard to use those 14 weeks to learn as much as I can.  My theory is that we learn the most and grow the most when we are uncomfortable.  Well, I have definitely been uncomfortable.  I'm very pregnant, John is gone, I've spent most of those 14 weeks very sick, and every thing is harder without daddy here.  What have I learned?  I have learned that I can always turn to the Lord for comfort and help.  I have learned that I have a really great support system and to just say thank you when they help me.  I have learned how incredibly strong and capable I am, but also how very weak I am without the support of my helpmeet.  I have learned that as important as a clean house, teaching the kids to clean, nightly personal scriptures and prayers for the children, and learning time are, it's more important for my children to have a nice mommy.  Here's the big one: The lord is not only into the details of our lives, he WILL take care of the details.
That last one is the newest lesson, one I learned just last night in fact.  I did not sleep well a majority of the time because in addition to this lovely cough, I was stressed about being so close to my due date without John here.  What if he misses it?  What if I have to stay here alone with a newborn because John got a job, but couldn't wait for me?  What if in addition to a newborn I have to worry about getting packed and taking care of 3 little kids by myself?  What if...The list was endless.  Finally at some point, as I plead for peace and to be able to sleep the Spirit spoke to me.  I was told, though not in words, to stop worrying about the details and to stop trying to plan, to "Let me take care of it."  I have heard that before.  At times when I can't get Elizabeth to sleep and I am so tired I can't cope with it anymore I lay her down crying and plead for help and I hear "Let me take care of it."  And he does, he takes care of it the way a loving Father would and before long we can both be at peace and sleep.  It wasn't as comforting last night.  I had to struggle.  I have not struggled with my faith for along time, but last night I battled with myself.  I battled to give up control.
You see, I am not a controlling person, but I do like plans.  I like to make a plan, have a plan, or at least know the plan.  I plan birthdays and special occasions months in advance, I'm a planner.  I don't stress as much when I have a plan.  I have not been able to plan anything the past 14 weeks, not the important stuff anyway.  I can't plan where to live, where Glen will go to school, I can't make a budget, and I have no idea what I will find when I start looking for a midwife, a new dentist, a pediatrician, or or even how far to the local ward church house.  For a planner this has been the one of the hardest things about the past 3 months.
I'm happy to say that I won the battle, sort of.  I have still had to remind myself to let the Lord take care of it, but I'm trying.  I won't ask John to come home when I reach 37-38 weeks, I won't stay here if John gets  a job and I am close to my due date.  I won't worry about the trip, or packing, or whether I will be here or there when I deliver.  I'm just going to go with it.  At least I am going to try.