This blog post started out being named, "I think 2020 needs a little electricity" - you know, a little jump to restart it! But as I have reflected I have seen the blessings in our lives. 2020 started out with us in Las Vegas. We have never done a trip during New Years before and so we were super excited. We met up with Emma and Clayten and some other family for a day or two while there. 
We enjoyed the 2020 festivities, although we didn't do anything fancy as we had the kids with us, but just being there with all the people and the fireworks was fun.
Trial: Rob and I had a flight (leftover for when we were going to take a job in Vegas and were going to find a house), but the boys took the van to Vegas as a boys' road trip. As we were preparing to take off for our return flight, the boys texted us telling us the van had broken down. It was the second time in a few months. They were in the middle of the Arizona desert! I did a quick google search and found them a place they could take the van to get it fixed and called my brother Karl asking if he could pick them up if need be. We planned on landing and immediately getting in our car to head to Phoenix. What a way to start 2020- right?
Blessing:: The boys were able to go 30 miles an hour back to a small town, on the advice of Karl, and there was a garage that fixed them up for just around $300. Luckily Rob had thought to give Sam a credit card for anything they might need. They made it the rest of the way home safely.
We decided we were done with our beloved van forever after that. You can't strand my babies in the middle of the Arizona desert and think I'm going to keep you around! It was still hard to let it go. We have so many memories with this van. It has been with us 11 years. We've driven it across the entire United States and all over Europe. Max was just 3 when we bought it. It was the first car we bought straight out and since then we haven't had a single car payment. We have saved money and paid outright for cars. We bought Rob's, Emma's and Sam's cars all without a loan. I stewed over which car to get knowing we would be in debt again. I finally decided since we didn't have the money to pay for any of them right now, that I might as well get the one I really wanted. Behold the 300 horse power Mini John Cooper Works Countryman. It's actually a medium size car. There is plenty of room in the back for the boys (the two that are left anyway!) We can never go on a trip all together again without taking two cars, but I figured we were only a year or so away from not ever doing that again anyway.
Trial: At the end of January we started working on Samuel's paperwork to go on a mission. We had everything except his physical done (including getting all the boys new passports.) He went for his physical and fainted when they took blood. He always looks like he is seizing a little when he faints. They did an EKG and he sent it to me. That's when I intervened. They sent him home with an EKG that said he was actively having a heart attack. We got him another appointment and did another EKG that wasn't a whole lot better, so the doctor said she wouldn't sign his paperwork until he saw a cardiologist and a neurologist. He couldn't get an appointment to see either until August. When he came over for Sunday dinner he said he probably wouldn't go on a mission if he couldn't be seen until August and then had to submit paperwork in the fall and maybe not go until winter. And I can't say I blamed him, but I went into panic mode. I found someone who was willing to see him in Utah in a couple of weeks, but we were worried about insurance.
Blessing: His doctor was able to talk to the cardiologist and he was seen within a couple weeks. The initial EKG was better and the Echo and stress test showed nothing wrong except a slight leak in his tricuspid and pulmonic valves. No heart damage and no ventricular hypertrophy! Also the neurologist had so many cancelations due to the pandemic that they talked to him via Skype in between his cardiology appointments and passed him with flying colors. (He did have an MRI already.) So he now he just has to pick up the papers soon after he talks to his doctor on the 5th of May. We wanted those papers in by the end of March, but with the mess that is going on now, it's probably a good thing to have waited a little.
At the beginning of February, Rob had surgery on his knee.
Trial: He had the same problem as before and couldn't pee after the surgery.
Blessing: He had told the nurses that I was a nurse and so after we stayed waiting until almost the end of the entire day, they gave us a couple foley catheter kits for me to insert if needed. And most thankfully, it was not needed!
Trial: Middle of February we had two big and one tiny trial. The tiny one- my foot! A blood vessel just decided to pop and the foot got huge and painful. Thankful it did that while I was on administrative leave. See my boss was forwarded a picture I put on Facebook that showed the logo of the hospital on the uniform. A month and a half later I was complaining about how stressed I was and included people going all crazy and rude at the hospital as one of the things stressing me out. That was also forwarded to him. Apparently that's enough to get thrown into administrative hell, lose a weeks worth of pay and a decrease in my position. I now make $2 less an hour. I almost lost my job over that, because I was about to write my boss and tell him exactly what he could do with that job. My husband stopped me and wrote a very humble text back instead. Thank goodness for husbands. Of course I have no need of this job and can quit anytime, which I still think about, occasionally. The other big trial was finding out we owed almost $8000 in taxes. Something slipped through the cracks there- even though I claimed no exemptions and Rob only claimed one!
Blessings: I still have my job, the foot healed without too much pressure on it that week, since I wasn't on my feet 12 hours a day and we actually had the money to pay off the taxes. Who has $8000 just lying around. We did, thankfully!
Trial: Ah March, the start of "everyone is in jail!" The official quarantines hit, churches, temples, schools, everything shut down. But I still went to work, just with a lot more PPE!
Blessings: The boys have been doing their school work online, which we have no problem with. Rob works from home and I still go to work. Neither one of us lost a job or income. We have been given the right to do sacrament in our own home and I have 4 priesthood holders that can do that for us. Max prepares and passes the sacrament, Joe and Sam bless each week. With the Come Follow Me program we have been prepared to teach in our homes already. I have had some amazing experience as we have prepared for and given lessons to the family, as I have tried playing the hymns again, as we have sat around and discussed scriptures with Yvette, Sam's non-member girlfriend. I have felt the spirit more than I have at church for a long time. I feel part of the process, again, finally.
Trial: That brings us the April. In April our garage freezer decided it was done working. We noticed the mess of fruit juice all over the concrete and realized what was happening. Looking for a freezer to replace it was disheartening, however, as it seemed to be one of the many things people were hoarding. Who hoards freezers? We finally found one- it was the last one left; a floor model and big enough to hold a 7 foot linebacker or three regular bodies. By the end of the day we had the mess cleaned up except for the stains on the concrete, but then realized the fridge had quit too. AAAHHHH! It took us a couple days to find a fridge, because people who were hoarding freezers moved on to fridges.
Blessings: We now have a chest freezer and an "apartment fridge." I have always wanted a chest freezer. We eventually found both and saved some stuff, although the meat had to be thrown away- no one trusted it. We also amazingly had the money to pay for both!
I am not super excited to see what May brings. We are still in quarantine. I hope that will be lifted by the middle of May, because I need a break from the same every day! There have been plenty of trials this year already, but thankfully we have had lots of blessings too!
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