Average Adventures of an Everyday Homebody

So...it's been another month. It feels like it's been a year, or a lifetime...I can't believe it's just been one month since I last posted! What a roller coaster ride these last 4 months have been! We have experienced more trials/difficulties/challenges than I ever thought we would when we started out on this journey. But we also have experienced more blessings/miracles/tender mercies/joy than we ever thought we would also. What an awesome ride! For all the learning I've done, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I guess I should fill you all in on the recent "goings on" of this whole process...spoiler alert!...Heavenly Father has sent us some BIG changes of plans :)
So this last month has been spent trying to transition our family to Texas. Derick has been continuing to job hunt for a good job(i.e.=any job) that would get us to Texas. No jobs came. None. Crazy, huh?! But we kept pushing forward, trusting that the Lord would work it out and provide for us. So after a lot of fasting and prayer we decided that we would send Derick to Texas without the rest of us to find a job to start working and saving so that we could join him as soon as possible. We dreaded the thought of living apart for awhile, but felt like it was necessary and what Heavenly Father was asking of us. So we pushed forward. We got Derick's departure date set. We packed him up and put all of his stuff in his car. He said his goodbyes to family and friends. I shed some tears, and we both prepared to take another huge leap of faith. And then we got a phone call...a very awesome phone call! A company based in Dallas TX called, and were very interested in Derick. They were impressed with the resume he had sent them, and wanted to interview him. I thought, this is it!! A job...a great job!...that will finally get us to Texas! Here's the fun, awesome twist :) This company just opened a new center in Lehi, UT in the last 6 months. So he went in for his interview, they loved him, and they want him to stay in Lehi to help with all of the growth they will be experiencing in this next year. Although this was a HUGE blessing, we wrestled with the decision. We have been doing everything in our power to get to TX because we were certain it was the path the Lord wanted us to take. Was this job a huge answer to prayer, or one last test to see if we would be willing to pass it up to get to Texas? We stayed up all night talking over options. We prayed, buried ourselves in scriptures/conference talks/ wise counsel from family/friends. And then...the most critical part of this whole process, and what, I think, Heavenly Father has been trying to teach me through all of this...and maybe what this journey for me has been about from the very beginning...I let go. I turned it all over to my Savior. I prayed to let go of my will, my ideas, my anything...I let it all go.
So we took the job :) We feel such peace. We are 100% certain that that is where Heavenly Father wants our family right now. We know we would've gone to Texas if that is what Heavenly Father wanted. We don't question at all the revelation we have received through this whole process. I don't even ask why the path was the way it was. I trust that Heavenly Father has a reason behind everything He tells me to do, and I know that huge blessings come when I am obedient. I have learned a lot about letting go. This process has been so freeing in so many ways. In preparation for this move I had to be willing to let go of anything I had any sort of attachment to...family, friends, living in a place I absolutely loved...I even sold anything I could, which included pretty much all of my furniture. I learned how to let it all go (a lot of times kicking and screaming about it :) ), but I did it. ( Side note...I know a family that is looking for some cheap furniture... :)) I still have a long ways to go, and a lot to learn about letting go...like trying to ignore the small part of me that worries about what other people will think when they find out we actually aren't going to Texas, etc...but I will keep learning how to let that stuff go. One step at a time.
I will now skip to the fun part :) This week we have spent hunting for where Heavenly Father wants our little family, and we have been led to an awesome house in Eagle Mountain! We are super-excited! We move in this weekend! We feel so overwhelmingly blessed. We feel like it is such a tender mercy that we get to have a great job, a great home, a fresh start in so many ways, but we get to do it all in Utah close to family and friends. We are only an hour from the countless people we grew to love in Morgan. We are within an hour from all of our family here in Utah. And we are super close now to some old friends who we love who are in the "southern end of the valley"... (shout out to Lindsey, Brooke, and Kim) :) 
To sum it all up. We are so excited to begin this new phase of life, and this new journey. We have been surrounded by people who love us, support us, and pray for us, and we know that that will continue. I know now more certainly than I ever have that I can do hard things. My Savior doesn't just make a difference in my life...He IS the difference. I will continue to learn how to keep letting go daily in my life, and I know that if I can do that then I will keep growing how my Heavenly Father needs me to grow. Thank you to everybody that has sent prayers on my family's behalf. We have needed them and felt them. Love you all!!

This post has been a long time coming! The last 4 weeks have been a roller coaster of activity, emotion, change, struggle, and growth. I completely underestimated how difficult this phase of our journey would be. And I didn't realize that this phase of our new journey would be filled with little "mini-phases", the first being actually physically leaving Morgan, where our heart and soul had been for the last 8 years. This was _________. I don't even have a good word for it. We were so incredibly blessed to have so many beautiful people in our lives...way too many to name. :) As cheesy as it sounds, I have left pieces of my heart with all of them. I miss the people, but I also miss the beauty, and the mountains, and the stars, the streets, and even the fresh (and sometimes not-so-fresh) air :) The second "mini-phase" is adjusting to a new home/environment that we know is only very temporary.  For those of you who don't know where we are right now, I'll give you an update :) My awesome sister Alicia and her awesome husband Jon very graciously opened their home to us while we are getting all of our "ducks-in-a-row" to be able to get to Texas. (Where did that phrase come from, anyways?! It's kind of stupid...if I wasn't so tired I'd google it :). ) Since our Texas plans are coming along so smooth--I mean--un-smoothly, it is such a blessing to have a place where we can be until we figure everything out. Jon and Alicia better get 1 million extra blessings for opening their home to us :) So now we are with their family in Clinton, UT. Now I'll get to the honesty part of my blog, because that is what this blog is...an honest account of our journey. I have been struggling...m.a.j.o.r. This process has been so intense for me. We are in the middle of a huge transition in our lives, and the details of our lives literally change from day to day. Because this whole process has been so difficult, we are questioned almost daily about if we are "mis-reading" Heavenly Father's will for us. Our physical/mental/emotional/spiritual limits are being tested in a variety of ways each day. And then throw in Satan working overtime to make sure we don't do what we need to...lets just say it has been intense! And if you know me, you know I don't do anything half-hearted...and that includes struggling. I have had some super-un-graceful-faith-less-kicking-and-screaming days. And some long-dark-sleepless nights. Nights where first thing the next morning a favorite line from a favorite song becomes so literal ..."There's no telling how much a sunrise means to the one who's had a terrible night..." I know!!! Whine, whine!! Hey...it's my blog and I can whine if I want to!! :) But I'm telling you all of this because even after all of the struggle, even after reaching new personal lows....I know, as weak of a human as I am, that these experiences are only, ONLY for my good, and designed perfectly by a loving and merciful Heavenly Father to bring me closer to him (if I choose it), and to make me more like my Savior. And it doesn't matter if I kick and scream sometimes. It doesn't matter if I tell him how suck-y I think things are sometimes. It doesn't matter if I fall on my face and make mistake after mistake...he still loves me unconditionally--perfectly, and all I have to do is keep getting on my knees, and then keep getting up. Keep choosing Him. Keep trusting Him and His plan for me and my family. And that gives me purpose. And finding purpose in my Heavenly Father and my Savior and His infinite atonement makes every pain I experience worth having. (You guys remind me that I said that next time I have my stubborn super-un-graceful-faith-less-kicking-and-screaming day.) :)

Hi everybody! I have purposely let a few weeks pass since my last post. I have had a few ideas rolling around in my head about what I wanted this post to be about, but the last few weeks have provided some intense "learning and growing" opportunities that have allowed me to see some things with a clearer perspective.

I wanted to take a minute to talk about sacrifice. When this whole experience came about for us, I thought a lot about what I was going to have to sacrifice to be obedient to this personal commandment Heavenly Father had given our family. For me, the biggest sacrifice was leaving my family and friends, all the people I have grown to know and love, and live far away from them. I thought about other sacrifices too, but this was by far the biggest one for me. When I ultimately committed in my heart that I was willing to make this sacrifice, I naively thought that the rest of our process would go really smooth- i.e.: we'd find the perfect, high paying job that would pay for us to relocate, money would start falling from the sky(or at least discover a long lost great-great aunt that had left us a gigantic inheritance),we could align our move-out/move-in dates perfectly, we could get to Texas with plenty of time to get the kids settled before they started their new schools, money would fall out of the sky...did I say that one already?, etc., etc. I know...I know...I said it was naive!! :) Believe it or not, but things aren't exactly mapping out the way I thought they would! :) That is the whole problem...I've been thinking about things in MY terms, not Heavenly Father's, and I've been thinking about sacrifice all wrong. Or maybe not wrong...I just haven't thought about the whole process of sacrifice.

I've thought a lot about Adam, and the altar that he built right after he was kicked out of the Garden of Eden. It was an altar on which to offer sacrifices to the Lord. It was made up of a whole bunch of big, round, super-heavy rocks, and then on the top it had two humongous flat pieces of rock that came together to form the top on which the sacrifice was to be offered. As I see this altar in my head, I think about the way it looks, and I think about those two broken pieces that make up the top part of the altar. To me, those pieces represent a broken heart, and a contrite spirit...two things that are required of us when we are asked to make a sacrifice. I have learned that the Lord asks us many times throughout our lives to build altars to Him. I always thought mostly about the "end result" or the thing that I was being asked to place on the very top of the altar...like in this case, the "moving to Texas and leaving all my friends and family" part. But there is so, so much more to the process. I guess I never thought about the hundreds of other rocks that had to be pushed and pulled and rolled and dragged just to be able to form a place for those top two rocks to sit on-- the "end result" place--the "last" part of the sacrifice..and the sweat, and tears, and body aches, and endurance, and faith that was required to keep placing rock, after heavy rock, after heavier rock. I guess that is the part of the process I'm at right now. I haven't yet made it to the end "moving" part, and I have learned that this whole experience isn't even just about that part. It is about me choosing every single day, sometimes moment to moment, to keep moving rocks, to keep building my altar, trusting in the Lord that the process of me working and sweating and crying and struggling--the part of the process that creates the "broken heart and contrite spirit" will lead to me being more like my Savior, and will teach me how to continually rely on the enabling power of the atonement. Also, I have learned that even though it can be a hard, intense thing--building these altars--that there is always peace and joy to be found. Heavenly Father is loving, and merciful, and patient--and He always sends "tender mercies" that can be found everywhere if I am looking for them.  These tender mercies have allowed me to "whistle while I work", and I am so grateful for the opportunities I am being given to learn and grow and stretch my faith more than I thought possible. 

I hope all of that made sense...it makes perfect sense in my head :) Thanks for reading and caring...love you all!

To the dedicated 5 of you who actually read my blog...sorry to leave you hanging at the end of that last post :) Meant to follow it up yesterday, but life happens :) Here is the story behind our new beginning.

It started with my husband going to the General Priesthood session of conference a little over a month ago. He went, listened, and came home just like he always does. But this time was a little different :) I asked him about the talks, etc. and if anything stood out to him. He kind of looked at me funny, and then related the experience he had had. I will sum it up :) As he was listening to the speakers, he heard a distinct voice inside his head that said, "You need to move your family out to the mission field." It took him by complete surprise, but he summoned up the faith to ask where we were supposed to go. As clear as day the voice specifically and gently said "You need to move your family to Texas." And that was that. I wish I could say that I reacted peacefully and calmly. But since this blog is me doing my best to be honest, I will just say that I acted less-than graceful about it. I will say though, that I 110% trust my husband and his ability to seek and receive inspiration, revelation, and direction for our little family. This is just an example of a time where the inspiration received came completely out of far, far left field. It surprised us both, to say the least.

As soon as I was able to have a calm discussion :), we both decided that we would completely leave the situation in Heavenly Father's hands. If He really wanted us there, then things would start happening to lead us there, and it would become really clear. So we both prayed for the next few weeks about it, and neither one of us got a clear answer about if we were really supposed to do it or not. It seemed so crazy!! So after a few weeks went by, we both (especially me) went phew!!, I guess we don't have to worry about that after all! The very next day a company started recruiting Derick, completely out of the blue, from...Texas. It kind of took all the air out of my big "Phew!!" :) And from then on, the ball just started rolling. Heavenly Father would send us experiences every day, practically shouting at us that this was His will for us.

Probably my favorite experience: I was driving out to my sister's house for her birthday party. It is about an hour's drive and I had the car completely to myself...a treasured gift :) Anytime I have the car to myself I take the opportunity to pray out loud, because the opportunity to have a quiet minute all to myself with my Heavenly Father seems more rare than it probably should be. So I prayed the whole drive down. I guess I should use the term "prayed" very loosely. It was basically me crying and whining to Heavenly Father about how this was way too hard for me, and it was unfair of Him to ask it of me. Pretty sure there was swearing involved. :) Luckily Heavenly Father is so, so patient, and merciful. By the end of my "prayer" I felt peace, like if I had to do it, I could...I still didn't WANT to do it, but I would if it is what He really needed me to do. At this point I am almost to my sister's house. I was just quietly thinking, minding my own... I still didn't know if it was what He was for sure needing me to do...when a car completely cut me off. I had to swerve into another lane to avoid being hit. Once I got over my initial shock, I looked down at the "rude" car's license plate...and the word Texas might as well have slapped me in the face. At that point, I'm pretty sure I started laughing. I got the point. I am so stubborn that it took me practically dying to get it, but I got it :)

Each day since then, Heavenly Father has continued to direct and guide our little family. There are moments when I feel like this experience will require more faith than I currently have, but through the divine grace of the Savior, a loving Heavenly Father, and the countless people I am blessed to have in my life who are so loving and patient with me...I know I will be made able. That doesn't mean I won't still have my tantrums and pity-parties...I know myself too well :), but I know that Heavenly Father's plan for me and my family is ALWAYS better for me than my own. He loves me so much that He will direct me to the very best plan that will provide me with the very most opportunities to rely on Him and my Savior. I know that if I just trust Him enough to follow His plan, it will ultimately bring me the greatest capacity for peace and joy in this life.

Time to take the big leap of faith...Texas...here comes the Turner family!! 
 

Welcome to my new blog! I am starting this blog because I am beginning a new journey in my life and I want somewhere to ramble about it all. Isn't that what blogs are for? :) In this post I want to talk a little bit about me and how I came up with the name for this blog. It had to be a long name, because I am a total word-geek. Let's just get that truth out of the closet right now. It also had to have a rhythmic flow to it, to satisfy my inner OCD that surfaces for air every once in awhile. I would classify myself as a super-average individual. And I don't mean that in a self-deprecating kind of way. I say it in a I'm-a-really-nice-person-just-not-super-interesting kind of way. I would say I'm one of the world's most talented "homebodies". I know it's a little early in our "writer-reader" relationship, but I'm going to go ahead and pull out a stereotypical Utah-Mormon favorite... I'm going to define that word for you straight out of the-- Webster's Dictionary. Yep, I'm gonna do it :) Homebody: a person who prefers pleasures and activities that center around the home; stay-at-home. That definition perfectly defines me. I am not an adventure taker. I have never had a real desire to travel. I would rather read about different people/places/things out of a really good book in the comfort of my own living room sipping on Diet Coke. I could eat the same kinds of boring food every day for the rest of my life and be content. When I go out to eat I find one thing on the menu I love, and I order it for the rest of my life. I am only telling you all of these un-interesting facts about myself to show you that I really am just an average, everyday homebody. An average, everyday homebody that is being pushed out of my comfort zone and into an adventure by my loving Heavenly Father. This blog will be an honest look at my failures and my successes, my learning and my whining. Here we go...