Guide Me

Trent and I are coming up on some decisions that have been on my mind a lot lately.  Most what we are going to do in five months.  I really didn't think we would be faced with options so soon.  I was expecting that two months before we graduate, we would have about 10-15 options to choose from.  And we would carefully and prayerfully chose the best one.   Is it sad I really thought that was reality?   Regardless, I just really want to know that whatever we choose is the right choice.   Which brought back so many memories of choosing to come to BYU-I.  I realized I had never written down the events that brought me here.  And I have NEVER felt the hand of God directing me more in my life than during that time. I just really want that to happen again.   I remember sitting with my friend Samantha senior year during a BYU, BYU-I, BYU-H, and LDS Business College presentation in a large auditorium.  She said she was going to BYU-I and I just knew that school was NOT for me.  I was going to BYU.   Fast Forward to me applying for schools.  My plan was to only apply to BYU.  I had a pretty amazing shot.  I met every qualification.  But something was prodding at me to apply for BYU-I also. Just in case, of course.  By some crazy miracle that I was not accepted for BYU, at least I would have a Plan B. And I am the type of girl to have a Plan A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.  So it felt like a safe approach. I remember sending the final application in February on a Thursday evening.  Three days later, on Sunday, I had been fasting and praying to be accepted to BYU.  I remember saying my prayers last night and feeling as if I should have a more, "Thy will be done attitude. Please lead me and guide me to what you have in store for me."    I would NOT have had that attitude if it wasn't for one of my role models and dearest friend, Vanessa.  She is the epitome of "thy will be done."  I remember her telling me a story of two days before she was supposed to go to UVU, or some college similar to that.  She said a prayer and told Heavenly Father that if she was not suppose to be on this path, direct her where she should be. Anyways, a few minutes later she got a call from a Dental School in Utah that had her information from somewhere.  She has no idea how.  But she took it as a sign and completely changed course.  It inspired me. I am not that trusting, but I hope to be.   So I remember praying to Heavenly Father and it probably went something along the lines of, "Hey. I really, really, really want to go to BYU.  But if by some crazy conspiracy I am not suppose to go there. Let me know where I am suppose to go. And if you could let me know sooner than later, that would be great."  Instantly, after my prayer I felt a prompting. Check your e-mails.  I grabbed my computer and the top e-mail told me there was a letter waiting for me from one of the schools I applied to. I was shocked. I had JUST finished the application Thursday along with thousands of other students?  How was my ENTIRE application processed so fast.  They don't work Saturday and Sunday? I logged into the account, and to my surprise there was an acceptance letter.   From BYU-I.   I so vividly remember thinking, Is this my sign?  Then, just as soon as the thought came to me, I remember shutting my computer and saying. No. No. No. No. NO! NOOOOOO! I am not going there.   And then a month later, the rejection came from BYU.   And a week after that, another letter of acceptance came from BYU-I saying I was accepted to the Winter 2012 semester.  I was accepter in February for a school that started all the way in JANUARY?  I had to wait an entire year!   Great. Now my excuse of, "I am sorry.  I can't be serious with you, I am leaving to BYU in the fall," was shattered. Time to face situations like an adult because my excuses were vanishing.   And.... cue the entrance of Trent into my life. But.  The Lord knows what he was doing.   After my rejection from BYU, I STILL refused to go to BYU-I.  They gave me a paper that showed several steps of how to accept the acceptance letter.  I remember cleaning my room in May, two/three months after my acceptance letter was sent. My intention was to throw it away, but I could not bring myself to do it. It was the strangest thing.  I had a nagging feeling telling me not to do it.  That I was really was still suppose to be there.  So I comprised with the prompting and didn't throw the paper away.  Instead, I put it behind a bunch of my things where I completely ignored it for another two months until I could not deny the Lord any longer and finally signed up as a student for BYU-I.      Fast forward.  Trent and I fell in love and were married in September.  In November, I turned to him and said, "Well. I am suppose to be at BYU-I in January. And since your married to me, I think you are suppose to be there too." So in NOVEMBER, Trent took the A.C.T., applied for BYU-I, and amazingly was accepted... for JANUARY? You guys. Anyone who knows college knows that you don't just sign up for a four year institution a month before it starts and get in the following semester.  We all know this. We signed him up for classes two weeks before school started and two days after Christmas we were in Rexburg, Idaho.   When life has become discouraging, I have held onto this memory. I know with everything inside of me, that were directed and orchestrated by the hand of the Lord to come here.   It makes all the difference when you are where the Lord wants you to be.   And now, it is all coming to an end.  And we are faced with options quicker than I anticipated.    Please, guide this little family to where we need to be.  Send us to a place where we will grow as husband and wife. Where Trent and I can experience help, but continue to lean on each other like we have done these past four years. Send me to a place where I can raise my sweet babies in a morally strong community.   Send us to a place where we can learn from others differences.  Send us where we will meet some of our new greatest friends that we will have for a lifetime.  Send us where you need us to be.   I will try to not be as stubborn this time.    

Education

First of all, it cracks me up that in the picture below my phone is almost dead. Story of my life. My phone is ALWAYS on the verge of dying.  I am so bad at charging it.  Half of the time I can never find the right cord, so I just let it die.  If someone really needed me, they would call Trent.

Trent and I were talking about this subject the other day.  A member of our stake presidency is the Dean of Students at BYU-I.  He told Trent the other day that we only pay 45% of the actual cost of our education.  Tithing covers the rest.  It is SUCH a blessing to be here.  I could not imagine going anywhere else for our education.  All the other colleges are so dang expensive!  I just can't wrap my head around it.

I really loved the second part of that quote.  Using our education to serve our fellowman rings so true to me.  As an educator, it is very easy for me to find ways to serve in our church and to serve others around me.  I asked Trent how he thought he could apply this principle.  His exact words, "Are you out of your mind?  Service is everything in engineering.  I make public places safe.  I build things that will last and be safe for others to use.  Drinkable water is one of the most scarce resources on Earth, yet without it you will die in three days.  I develop ways to purify and distribute that water.  Everything I do is to better the world for mankind." 

SOMEBODY got a little passionate. 

I also LOOOVE the following sentence.  Using your education to help you become what God created you to be is so key to this life.  We learn of our potential through personal revelation.  But learning from others and putting ourselves in those learning environments helps us to become.  

I recently applied for a scholarship that would pay for my Masters Degree.  Even if I don't get that scholarship, I will still continue to take classes someday.  I think after Trent finishes his Masters and has been working for a solid year, I will start to take one class a semester.  I will never be done learning.  I am too passionate about education.  

I believe in being good at a certain skill.  My skill is teaching.  Trent's skill is math and engineering. We need these skills to help us be a valuable member of the community.  But I also believe in learning about many different things.  I want to take classes on astronomy, business, communications and more.  I want to learn many skills and then use those skills to better my family and also serve the others around me.

I love listening to the Apostles.  They are so inspired.

The Announcement.

Really. I shouldn't be posting this on ANY social media sites. It's still a little early. Buuuuut....   But, I was looking on how many people have seen my pasts posts, and its between 8-10.  I can probably name 5 of those 10 people, so the other five - you get an early sneak peak.   Baby Thompson #2 is coming!    The Reveal:   About three-four weeks ago, I was due for a visit.  I knew the likeliness of me being pregnant was slim.  I mean, that month was our first go, we didn't track, or do anything special.  But. I couldn't stand the suspense {a definite personality flaw that drives Trent nuts}, so I bought and $0.88 test at Walmart, and tried it out.  Nothing.  I went back to the box and read the directions (you probably should do that before you take the test), and realized I had read the results wrong. So I went back to the test, dug it out of the trash, and there was a faint line.  But there was a line.   I couldn't contain myself.  But I so badly wanted to reveal it to Trent in a cute way. He was seriously  going to be SHOCKED.  So - I stole an idea from Kayla she had shared with me like 2 years ago.   We went to Fat Cats, (it's a move theatre, arcade, and bowling spot in town).  Trent, Porter, and I played arcade games, won tickets and prizes, and had a really great time.  Towards the end, I told Trent I really, really wanted to do the photo booth they had there.  He grudgingly agreed, and while the countdown was happening to take the pictures, I whipped out a pregnancy test and caught his reaction on camera!  Cute, right? Except we are the Thompsons. So nothing ever happens picture perfect.  So Porter is screaming the entire time, and you can't really see mine and Trent's face, and the pictures are SO blurry. Whatever, it's real life. *Note to self: Next time, don't include Porter in the reveal.   The Ultrasound:   Two Thursdays ago, I started throwing up.  I knew it was going to happen, but a girl can wish. I wasn't going to set up an appointment with the Dr. until 12 weeks, but I needed Zofran, and I needed it now. So at 7/8 weeks we scheduled the appointment and did the ultrasound.   Honestly, they couldn't really find much.  It was pretty heart wrenching.  She could sometimes find a heartbeat, and she showed me the sac(?), and there was a baby she tried to measure, but it was all to small.   She thinks the same thing that happened with Porter is happening this time.   Remember? With Porter, I went in at 9 weeks to do the ultrasound, and I was really 6 weeks along.  Well, this time we thought I was suppose to be eight weeks along.  But when she measured the grain of rice, six weeks and two days came up on the screen.  Then she said, "I wouldn't trust that measurement because you are just too early to tell."  Then I had to ask her the hard question, "Do you think it is so small because I might be having a miscarriage."  My heart breaks just thinking about it.  I told her to be honest with me. I didn't want it sugar coated.   She then said that she would be very, very surprised if I had a miscarriage.  The sac looked completely healthy and I could find a heartbeat and baby, the heartbeat is just too small to hear and the baby too small to measure. After we talked, I felt at peace.  I asked Trent his thoughts and he said he felt good about the situation.  That doesn't mean it won't happen, but we can't live in fear of the future.  We have to live with faith in the present. {Totally easier written than actually done.}   Symptoms:   I'm crazy nauseous, I'm emotional, I'm exhausted, and I am determined to have a better attitude with this pregnancy. Let's face it, the reason why Trent was so hesitant for a second child was because of my constant complaining during my first pregnancy. I think because I am so nervous our little one being okay, I am actually slightly grateful for these symptoms. 
UPDATE:
I didn't post this. I am glad I wrote this post two weeks ago when it was fresh in my mind.  But I couldn't bring myself to post this until my last ultrasound.  We went in this last Tuesday on September 29th.  We were able to see a beautiful babe on the screen with a heartbeat! Apparently, everything looked great and healthy and we are very grateful.  The heartbeat was at 178, which I thought was a little high but the doctor reassured me that it was normal.  I am at 9 1/2 weeks.  I will be 10 weeks on Wednesday. And the arrival of #2 is expected on May 4, 2015. 
I won't be posting it on social media until  the end of the month before Halloween.  I have to tell my students first before social media, and I want to wait until I am in my second trimester. 
A family of four, it just seems to good to be true! 

The Envelope System

Yikes. So many good things are happening in the Thompson home.  I need to remember that as I struggle to wake up these days.  Optimism, folks. I need more optimism.  

  We get most of our ideas from others around us.  I remember watching my friend, Samantha, raise her little babies before I had Porter and taking note on things I liked she did.  I wasn't judging AT ALL. My mother taught me better.  But I remember thinking, "Oh! I should do that when I have kids someday."   And I ALWAYS steal Kayla's great ideas. That gal is full of them.  So it isn't surprising that when she talked to me about the Dave Ramsey envelope system I jumped on board. I mean if the Merrells are doing it, we should be doing it too, right?  Luckily, Trent adores the Merrells like I do, and when we saw them put their system into plan on vacation, I knew we had to do it too.   Trent and I have always, always, been good at saving.  We have had a budget since the first month we have been married.  But lately, we have been a little lax.  And when I say lately, I mean for the past like seven months.  We were still saving some money, but we were losing our self-discipline we spent years trying to obtain. I was pretty frustrated.  Also, at the end of every month, I would try and track what we bought at each store and how much we spent on each category.  I couldn't figure it out! I can't remember what I bought at the beginning of July at Walmart?! It could have been for Porter, groceries, medicine, whatever!  We also tried budgeting Apps like Mint, but that was a complete waste too.    Basically, the envelope system is where you create a budget and create a category for every aspect of your life.  We created budget with 16 categories.  Some of our categories are groceries, toiletries, Porter, Date Night, Fast Food, insurance, gas, etc. One of those categories also included Christmas.  By putting money aside each month for Christmas, we aren't spending loads of money at the end of the year buying plane tickets and presents.  We have started preparing for those expenses since August.  It's quite wonderful - Bishop Christensen shared it with us when we were engaged during our monthly meetings.   After you create those categories, you take all of your money out of the bank, and stick the amount of cash you decided in each envelope. We have sixteen envelopes we keep in our safe.  When I need to buy gas, I take the cash out of the "gas envelope," buy the gas, and then put the receipt back in the envelope.  When I buy diapers and wipes for Porter, I do the same.  I take it out of the "Porter" envelope, buy it, and put the receipt back into the envelope.    We have only done it for one month and it was a success.  It would have been even more successful if Trent didn't buy that hunting gun - we all have our vices. But really, it was so... freeing. As dumb as that really sounds.  I love being in control of finances.  I have seen, multiple times, what finances can do to a marriage.  Because of what I have seen, {divorce, stress, blaming, hard feelings} finance is my number one fear. Money makes people say and do crazy things.  I want us to be happy, but I want us to live below our paycheck.  I want us to be smart.    Luckily, Trent feels 100% the same way I do.  He bought into this system Day 1. He loves it. We are no longer asking each other, "When did you buy this?  What is this debit card charge?"  We know. We know that if we have $20 left in fast food money, and we have three weeks until our month ends, we better start cooking real food. It's a reality check for us. It helped me realized, "Hey Kari Anne's frozen custard 3x a week is not part of the budget."   Obviously. This doesn't work for everybody.  I am just so relieved after four years, we finally found a system that works for us.  Thanks for the idea, Merrells!