Going Nowhere

A few months back a pair of Jehovah Witnesses came to my door. I invited them in and we had a very pleasant conversation. I was enjoying the points they brought up because it made me research and study my faith on a deeper level. They came a second time and again, had a great conversation. It was interesting seeing how a simple scripture can be interpreted in a completely different way. I am so thankful for the restoration and how it has cleared so many things up! However, they came a third time and I almost felt attacked.

I could handle the little comments about how they "only study the word of God, not the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith wrote" (which I totally corrected on the spot), but this time they crossed the line when they actually printed out discrepancies between the Book of Mormon and the Bible which therefore voids the validity of the Book of Mormon. Discrepancies that don't even make sense! The problem is, I don't know the scriptures well enough to compete with the knowledge they have of the Bible. They know everything about the Bible. I am envious. This has really motivated me to get to know the scriptures more, but is it healthy to keep having them come here? I'm afraid that I will keep looking like an idiot and giving the church a bad name. For example, they don't believe in pre-mortal existence or a spirit world after death. We do. So, they bring up bible scriptures like Ecclesiastes 9:5 and Psalm 146:4 that I have no clue how to explain except with the Book of Mormon which they don't believe in. Now I look like an idiot and they think they have caught me in a religious discrepancy. I know there has to be an explanation here, but I don't know what it is.

Obviously, we can't even get to common ground...so this is going nowhere. Now what? If I tell them to stop coming then I look like they I'm asking them to stop coming because I don't want to be proven wrong anymore. I've bore my testimony over and over, but that's all mumbo jumbo to them I think. Where do I go from here?

House Confusion

I first moved down here absolutely hating everything about it. But, I now love my ward, my amazing friends, and our neighborhood. If we get the house we put an offer in on, then we will be in another ward and in a new neighborhood. While I hear the new ward is amazing, it is huge with a ton of young couples. On the outside that sounds nice, but I would feel like we would get lost. With our ward now I'm happy that I feel like we add to our ward. We feel needed and wanted. Our girls love our yard in our rental house, we live on the corner so we have a nice view of the mountains, and we are less than a mile from the temple! We can't buy our rental and we have tried to find a house in this subdivision and we can't find anything in our budget. This is so frustrating. I'm wondering if all these doubts are creeping up because we should find out in a couple days if we have just bought a house, or if we really shouldn't have it and instead just wait for something else.

The new house is fantastic, but it doesn't "wow" me. Brandon and I talked about it and we don't think anything can "wow" us in our price range. We have looked almost everyday for the past 3 months and nothing compares to this house. My question is, does a good decision always get divine confirmation? I would like to think that if something is not the best thing for us then God wouldn't let it happen, but we all know that's not true. So...what to do, what to do? Free agency right? There have been only a handful of times in my life that I truly felt God's hand in my life, and one of those times was when we moved here and into this ward. That leads me to another question. Should we buy a house based on the ward? My answer is no since wards change so frequently, but why were we inspired to be here and then just leave?

I guess all of this is a little premature since we don't even know if we got it. I am going to go forward with it, I'm just hoping it's the right thing to do.

Good Reason...

I AM SO SICK!!!!! My throat feels like I have needles poking out of it. Yuck! So, after dinner last night I crawled up on the couch and fell asleep. I even missed my Chuck! I went to bed when the girls did and fell asleep for a full 12 hours. Peace on Earth.

I am so impressed with what a wonderful father Brandon is. When he came home last night he immediately went outside and started playing catch with the girls. Then, he took it upon himself to do Family Home Evening with the twins. I was busy cleaning Cali's poop off of the training seat and bathing her stinking butt. So, he read out of the Friend, and played music from the interactive music player, and prayed with them. He is amazing. I am so grateful everyday that I could snag him. Why am I so lucky? I think the Lord just knew that I would need someone with a really strong faith to save my stubborn soul.

Sister Wives

I love this show! Christine makes me laugh, she's my favorite. How does everyone feel about this show? I am proud of them for standing up for what they believe in, but I wish that everyone didn't think they were Mormon. It impresses me that their family functions so well and that they are happy.

House Hunt

This house hunting thing sucks! Why does House Hunters and Property Virgins make it look so easy? You look at 3 houses and you pick one, piece of cake! Oh no! They don't show you the 20 or so houses they had to look at before they could narrow it down to those three. They don't show you the numerous offers you have to make before actually being accepted by a seller. They don't go into the frustration behind short sales, 203K loans, and the cost of replacing carpet. I heard that this whole process would be difficult, but it is so emotional I can't stand it. Brandon warns me before we walk into any house that I shouldn't get attached, but it is so hard not to imagine where your furniture will go and what color to paint each room because that is the most exciting part of buying a home, making it your own. Anyway...we put an offer on a short sale, we are waiting for the seller to get his butt back into town to sign the papers so we can sign his counter and get on with this. He's only countering with the exclusion of a home warranty so it's pretty safe to assume he will accept it after we take that off.

I'm also having mixed emotions about the house we chose. I am always thinking that there is going to be something better. The house is fantastic and in a great neighborhood, it's a good deal, but it is in a new ward. Now, 2 months ago that would have been a really good thing, but I have really been enjoying our ward lately. I got a new calling that has tremendously increased my testimony and I would be sad to leave something I have invested so much time into. However, I am getting ahead of myself because since it is a short sale we won't find out for several months if the banks will accept our offer. Here is a link so you can look at some pictures

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/645-Meadowbrook-Dr-Central-Point-OR-97502/58492081_zpid/

There have been so much I wanted to blog about recently and I can't remember what I was going to say. We gardened today! Freshly cut grass smells so good!

Cali said something cute the other day. After sneezing about 3 times in a row she said, "Mom, my bless yous keeps coming out!"

We are watching the craziest movie right now called Ponyo. It is a Disney movie, but it is Anime style, so weird. Brandon called me a xenophobe last night because I didn't want to watch this Japanese film that one of his co-workers said we HAVE to watch called Departures. I have nothing against foreign culture, but foreign films are usually crazy! This one was actually pretty good, just sad. Not sad sad, happy sad. I cried the whole time. I hate crying over movies. I don't watch TV to cry, that's stupid. I watch TV to escape sad and laugh at stupid people. That's entertainment.

I have a sore throat. BAD!!!! It hurts to swallow my own spit. So you know what I'm gonna do? Go to the store, buy and apple pie and some ice cream and watch a funny movie.

This post is for Kristin. She was getting on my butt about not posting and I tried to tell her that what I have to say isn't that exciting. She insisted that I just write about what is going on in my day. So here you have it. My goal this week is blog EVERYDAY. You lucky people!

Halloween

Halloween was a success. The girls had more fun giving out candy at our door than doing the trunk or treat. They were plastered to the window next to our front door and when trick-or-treaters came up the sidewalk they would do a happy dance before opening the door. Of course, Adia woke up this morning puking all over the place, so I think we will have to stick to veggies and water today to work all that candy out of our systems.

Brandon and I were invited to the most awesome Halloween party I had ever been to last week. It was 80's theme, so I decided to make us Ms. PacMan and Ghost costumes. The costumes turned out great, but I didn't even think about how massive they would be. At the party we had to stand against a wall because we couldn't fit anywhere! It was worth it though, we took home the prize for best Arcade Look-a-Likes. I can't bear to throw the costumes out, but they are so huge they take over a side of our garage. What am I going to do with these things?

Last week was a good week, I was really happy. But, the last few days have been really tough for me. I think I need to get outside and enjoy the sunshine today and count my blessings. I could go on for hours listing the things I think I have failed at. I've handled these emotions before (usually monthly if you know what I mean), so I know I will snap out of it. Monday's are especially hard because I always have a great weekend with the family and then Brandon takes off for work. On a more positive note, I have found an awesome running buddy who makes it easier to get out and run. On Saturday we ran 4 1/2 miles. I want to make it up to 5 this week.

Another thing I can't wait for is Reno this coming weekend. I miss family so much, and we will be down there for our newest nephew Jackson's baptism. Oh, I can't wait.

Yes, It has been since January

Well, obviously I am a horrible blogger. So much has happened since January. Brandon finished law school, passed the Bar, and we moved to Medford, OR. We have only lived here for about a week and half and it is definitely growing on us. This move has been extremely emotional for me though.

I loved Salem. The minute we moved there I wanted to live there forever. I had just been accepted to OSU before Brandon got his job offer too. Not to mention my family is there and we were in the most amazing ward ever. So, this is a change, but one we had prayed about and knew was the right thing to do.

So here we are in our pink house. Yes, I said pink. It was built in 1990 and hasn't been redecorated since. We have mauve and dusty blue wallpaper in almost every room. The light fixtures are brassy gold and the trim outside is pink. Our girls LOVE our house.

Brandon got the job of his dreams too. Even before going to law school he worked with kids with behaviorial problems. While in school he worked at a DA's office doing Juvenile law and he was just hired at the District Attorney's office here in Medford doing Juenile dependency/deliquency. I am so proud of him.

We are incredibly blessed. We finally have a house, a job, and we are now almost halfway between both of our families. This will be good (at least that is what I tell myself everyday).