Just Hard Times

I haven't been thinking about what to write for this post for a long time. 2009 has been a hard year for our family. In fact, I think it has been the year most fraught with trials since John and I were married. Nothing terrible has happened and we are all actually very well. But selling a house and moving 1,000 miles is hard. Living with your parents when you are in your 30's and when you have a group of destructive toddlers is hard. Moving into a new house is hard. Starting a new job is hard, and for that matter being unemployed, interviewing, and feeling uncertain about the financial welfare of your family is hard. Having all of your kids get a severe stomach flu and mostly all in one night is hard. Changing doctors and having a baby where ob practices are very different is hard. For the last month John's new job has not paid him at all. They are saying they may have half a months pay next week. That is hard. The month we were unemployed we had $3000 to live on. But moving and being unemployed and all has bottomed us out to nothing but more debt than we have had ever. This is hard. However, we have each other and we have the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the comfort we find in the Temple, the scriptures, and from the Latter-day prophets. We also have 7 healthy, wonderful, and good kids. We also live in America where we have clean water, central heat and air, dishwashers, hot showers, thrift stores with cheap clothing and a government that generally takes care of the poor in way that provides them with many comforts that the poor in other nations just do not have. Unlike people in several countries we have safety from war and destruction. So in reality, while things are not the way we want them to be, we are very okay. I am not scared for our family. I am sure in time we will be blessed with a job that pays and be able to provide for our family very well. I know without a doubt that as long as we work hard and live good, clean lives hard times will come and go and life will still be good. I also think that we need to let this be a time of learning for our family-- not a time of complaining.