Monday, November 9, 2015

MM: Grig's New Job!

Today, Grig started his new job. He's been there since 6:00 this morning, so I'm assuming it's going okay.

Last week, we had a miracle that his old job, even though they technically fired him on the previous Friday, asked for volunteers to come and work in the line for one more week. Grig was great enough to volunteer. By doing so, we now have insurance for the whole month of November.

Monday night, as he completed his first day of volunteer work, he received a call about 7:00 p.m. It was a call from a job that he had applied for the week before. They told Grig that they wanted to offer him a job and asked when he could start. He felt as though he should finish out the time that he'd promised to finish, and told them that he could start the next Monday (today). I'm going to call the new job W&Fabricators on this blog.

They then told him to come in before then and get his drug testing and paperwork done.

As he hung up the phone, I didn't know what to feel. I should have been excited, but I wasn't really. In fact, I felt kind of nervous. I had been expecting to wait for months and months, and so, to have the blessing come so soon, was kind of strange. Lately, it has seemed that as soon as we had extra money, there was a reason to spend it. We are getting extra money, so I thought we were going to have to live off of it until Grig found a job.

I guess this goes to show that I don't know the mind of the Lord or His plan, but it's always better than we think.

After talking about it, we decided not to tell people until he started because we didn't want to jinx it. We were probably being silly, but we were worried.

I compared it to how you feel when you've been waiting to get pregnant for a long time, and suddenly you find out you are. (No, this is not an announcement.) :) You don't want it to go away, so you don't tell everyone right away. It might be silly, but that's how we felt. However, as the week went on, we began to get more excited and grateful about it.

The interesting about this particular place is that Grig first applied there because the car broke down  practically right next to it. As the car was getting repaired in the car repair shop that we always go to, he walked over to W&Fabricators next door and applied. They told him at the time (a couple months ago), that they didn't have any job openings, but they liked his work.

Then, two weeks ago, I was browsing jobs. I had felt kind of helpless during this whole process because there wasn't much I could do to help. So, I decided to look for jobs for him to apply too. One of the jobs I found was at W&Fabricators. I didn't recognize the name at first, but when I told Grig about the opening, he informed me that he had already applied there. He decided to call and ask if they still had his application and what else he needed to do in order to apply for the opening.

They told him to bring in his application again. He did, and they asked him to come in for an interview.

I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for this blessing. This job seems to be perfect in so many ways. It is closer to us, it has insurance, and it pays about as much for starting pay as Grig was making at the end of his previous job. It also is utilizing the skills that Grig has been working and going to school for.

This job feels right. Even the fact that we go to that particular car repair place is a miracle and a blessing. Grig is a little nervous, because he is going to be learning new skills and he doesn't want to mess up. However, we know that as we put our faith in the Lord and do our best, that he will qualify us for whatever work he gives us.
We love Grig! He's the best!

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Halloween!

We had a great time on Halloween.

We decided to have a small party for Kevin and a few of his toddler friends. We started off with 5-10 kids in mind, but by the time we invited people, we ended up inviting about 30 kids. Luckily, not everyone came (though they all wo
uld have been welcome).

We ended up with about 30 people, parents included and about 12 kids under the age of 8. I cooked most of the food, though I had some help and some people brought more food. This is what the table looked like afterward:
My jello worms are in the white bowl. A lot of people wouldn't eat them because they looked gross. :) Success!
We had mummy hotdogs, deviled eggs, jello worms, and pie. My aunt brought some quesadillas and fruit. Some other friends brought some doughnuts. I also made lemonade. The night before, I took a clean plastic glove, filled it with water, and froze it. Then, I put the hand-shaped ice inside the lemonade so it looked like a creepy ghost hand. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. For games, we fished for bugs and had a pumpkin beanbag game. The kids got to keep their plastic bugs and they won glow-sticks by throwing the beanbags in the cardboard pumpkin's eye and mouth. 
Kevin was so excited for his "Halloween Party." The whole day that we were preparing for it, he kept talking about it. I think he really enjoyed himself and he loved having all the friends and family over. A big thank you to everyone that came. I hope you enjoyed it as well!
After the party, which we kept short so as not to infringe on Halloween time, Grig took Kevin trick-or-treating. Kevin dressed up as a knight. I stayed behind to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. 

I was pleased with how many people came by our house. 

Kevin had a pretty good haul too. 

Grig found a pretty nice treat while they were out as well. He was walking down the middle of the street, and he looked down to see something that looked like a giant roach. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a giant water beetle. 
Being my amazing husband, he caught it and brought it home. 
He's holding the bug in his hand.
We kept it until tonight, when we decided it would die if we didn't let it go hibernate. They eat bugs and fish. We don't have any of those in our house and winter is coming. It was fun to have around for a while though. 

Here's a closer look at the bug

We had an excellent Halloween, and our son was a fantastic kid. He had such a great time. The next day, he was pretty upset when I was putting the Halloween decorations away. He didn't want Halloween to end. Then I explained that next was Thanksgiving, then Kevin's birthday, and then Christmas and he decided that it was okay. 

I'm pretty excited for the holidays this year. He's at such a fun age!

Monday, November 2, 2015

MM: The Power of Toddler Prayers

Due to NaNoWriMo, my blogs may be a little shorter, but I'm still trying to continue writing.

Our car has been having a few issues lately. Mostly, it hates relief society meetings. The last two times I've gone to a relief society activity, the car wouldn't start after it finished. Grig hasn't had any problems with it at all. It just hates me.

I prayed really hard the first time it happened, and after a little while, it started up.

The second time, I came out of the church after helping clean up to discover my car wouldn't start again. I had Kevin in the back seat, and I prayed really hard, and it wouldn't start. So, Kevin and I went in to get some more things and ask if anybody could give us a jump. Some women said they'd be there in a minute. So, Kevin and I went back out to the car and tried again. The car once again wouldn't start.

So, I turned to the back seat and said to Kevin, "Would you pray that the car will start?" He nodded and folded his arms. Then he said a very simple prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help the car start.

Once he finished, I turned the key in the ignition again. The car started right up. Just as it did so, another woman drove up and asked if I still needed a jump. I told her I didn't, but thank you. We then drove home.

I know that the Lord answered my son's prayer. I think that He hears the prayers of little children and as long as the prayer isn't contrary to the Spirit, He answers their prayers.

Today, I asked Kevin if he wanted a brother or a sister. He became very excited and said, "Yes." Then, about ten minutes later, I asked him what he wanted for breakfast. He told me, "Brothers and sisters."

That was pretty funny. However, I explained to him that we couldn't choose when to have babies, but that Heavenly Father would send them. Then I asked him if he wanted to pray to ask Heavenly Father to send brothers and sisters. He said that he wanted to, so we kneeled down and he said a prayer.

I love how much he likes to pray and how much faith he has. I wish my faith was as strong. Toddlers are pretty amazing people, and miracles happen when they exercise their faith.
I love this kid