The Plan

We were talking with our good friends tonight...friends that are still in Oregon and they are better than good (just for the record....) they are Amazing!!! Anyway, we were talking about how for us, this move to Alaska really fell into place. I know I've told pieces of this story before....it has been a pivotal point in my life....I've learned many lessons from it and I return to it often. these friends of ours are trying to decide if they should make a huge life change move like this one! I relayed part of this story to them here's the beginning....

When Cole was laid off in June 2010 we were devastated....I remember being 6 1/2 months pregnant and so scared! It was a Friday afternoon and Cameron and I had taken him to work that morning so that we could have the car for the day. We were there to pick him up at 3pm when he got off and Cole was late...a little odd but no big deal. A few minutes later Cole came out to the car, got in and started to drive off....I asked how his day had been and he didn't respond...a few minutes later he told me. I tried really hard to stay composed! Really hard! And I did till we got home. Once we were home we turned a movie on for Cameron and went to our room where we could grieve the loss of this job and try to regroup...try to make a new plan.

After a weekend full of tears and prayers we started the 9 month job hunt! Hundreds of applications, a few interviews and several side part-time every once in a while jobs. But never in that 9 months was he offered a full-time or even part-time job. He worked with a plumber in our ward for several weeks but it was on and off and never steady. The only steady "job" was milking the cow at the farm....it paid our bills and to this day I'm not sure how! Looking back I can see that it was part of "the plan"....

I feel as if there was a "plan" for our family. I know that there was a plan for our family! looking back I can't deny the hand of God in our lives, in our decisions and in our challenges. I know He was there. It is nothing short of a miracle that we were able to provide for our family....the four of us....one being a brand new baby (at this point) and in diapers!!!...living in an apartment, with a car payment.It doesn't make sense when you put it on paper but it worked!

When Cole interviewed for this job in February....I spent many hours deep in prayer....I prayed to know if it was right for us...if moving our family from Oregon to Alaska for a brand new job would be right for us....I already knew the answer because it is what we were being prepared for. You see, with Cole milking a cow twice a day everyday we spent many hours together....we spent more time together than we ever had....and I really got to know my husband. Don't get me wrong, before this I knew him, but spending that much time with somebody....you REALLY get to know them. Before, I knew what made him tick, I got him....but after I feel like I knew him on such a different level....it's so hard to describe! Anyhow, this job is what He was preparing us for. We received confirmation of that several months before we ever knew about this job....being told about this job gave me goose bumps because I knew it was it!

Once we were told about this job everything went soooo fast!!!! Meaning....Cole applied for the job online Sunday evening. He was contacted by the hiring manager Monday morning, had an interview scheduled for Tuesday morning, Interviewed on Tuesday and was then contacted Thursday evening and offered the job. He started work the next Monday....which was Feb. 28th. On march 6th Cole flew to Salt Lake City for training at corporate headquarters. He returned the following Saturday....worked in Medford for one week....packed the car and drove up the Al-Can the following Saturday..March 19th! Upon arriving in Wasilla he didn't have a place to stay!!! That is how fast this went!! We called a local bishop and he was able to stay with him and his family for 6 weeks...these are some pretty special people! they have opened their hearts to our family and for that I will be eternally grateful! Anyhow, when he arrived in town he had a car full of things....tires, boxes...basically everything he owned that could fit....everything else that was HIS was thrown away! I was only going to be responsible for mine and the kids things...after all I was left behind to figure everything else out...where to put it what to bring what we HAD to have...

So after talking with Bishop Breshears about his dilemma...the car full of boxes and tires...and needing room for more things he had to pick up the next day for work...he learned that the Breshears actually own a storage unit complex....NO WAY! I know, right! I'm not kidding when I tell you that everything has gone this way. One moment we will be in a panic because we don't know what to do or how to do it and then it will be there....I believe with my whole being that THIS is what Heavenly Father has planned for us. At the end of the day...not matter how happy, lonely, out of place or panicked I feel I know with my whole heart that we are doing what we are supposed to be. It hasn't all been easy....I have spent days in tears here and there....but it has been worth it.

Since the kids and I have joined him things have continued to fall into place...things from furniture (which we had none!!! and found some and were given some and oh my!) to beds, dishes, and hangers! Hangers you ask? Yes, hangers! We didn't have a washer an dryer and with two kids that is unbearable! I can't afford to go to the laundromat very often...so we bought a washer on clearance at Lowes for dirt cheap....but I didn't have a dryer still! I had no where out side to hang a clothes line and contemplated creating one in the house....when we received a truck load of mattresses and bed frames (Camerons bed came from this for FREE as well as a matching bed for Joshua for someday!!!) as well as some clothes and three garbage bags of hangers. I took those extra hangers and I have since been using them to dry our clothes on in the house....yes, I hang clothes throughout the house to dry! There are days I feel super lame....but we are doing what we have to do and right now....drying clothes in front of windows is what we have to do! How could something as simple as hanger be an answer to our prayers....Daily I am reminded of this simple answer...and I have embraced this answer and have taken full advantage of this blessing! But that is what I mean....something so simple....yet so necessary fell into place at just the right time! It's not always convenient...but it works and I believe, yet again, that it is what we are supposed to do!

I am so very blessed to have such a marvelous husband. sometimes he drives me crazy...but almost always he is just what I need....that best friend to turn to in the dark and share my darkest fears with and that best friend to share the laughter of the kids with! I wouldn't want to be on this crazy adventure with ANY body BUT HIM! I believe with my whole heart that God planned for me to be with Cole. And I am so grateful for that!