Waiting on a Miracle

I thought that I would do a different type of post today - something that I've been thinking about lately.  Our circumstances of late have put us in a bit of limbo.  I've been worrying about a lot of things that have been and/or will be happening lately and wondering how things will work out.  As I've been pondering on these things the scripture Ether 12:6 has been popping up everywhere.  The scripture says:

"And now I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; for I would show the world that faith is things hoped for and not seen.  Wherefore dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."

I think the Lord is trying to tell me something.  So, what I've decided to do is write down all of our dilemmas that are going on right now and hopefully soon, I'll be able to report back on how the Lord has followed through with His promise to take care of us.  He always makes things work out and here is another way he is going to manifest miracles in our lives.

Here's the first dilemma:  Our Van / Children

A couple of weeks ago the radiator went out on our van.  It cost quite a bit of money, but the Lord provided a way for us to pay for it.  We were paid to watch the son of one of Ben's professors (the son has cerebral palsy).  It turned out that the amount he paid us gave us just enough to pay to fix the van and pay tithing.  However it brought more closely to the fronts of our minds that our van is on its last hurrah.  It won't be very long until it doesn't work anymore.  Very soon (hopefully not for a few years) we will need to buy a new family vehicle.  The problem is that we think we're supposed to have one more child.  Having another child is not the problem, but finding a vehicle large enough to hold our whole family is the problem.  It bumps us up to a more expensive car/van bracket and I have to be honest - I have no idea where that's going to come from.  But, Heavenly Father knows what we need even before we do, so I'm sure he has something worked out and I'll be interested to know what it is.

Okay, so here's what's happened:  We ended up deciding not to buy another vehicle for the time being.  What we did end up doing is buying another 3rd row bench seat for our van (which seats 3) and putting it where the 2nd row seat goes.  Now our car seats 8 passengers!  Ben is an absolute genius!  He went to a junk yard and bought the seat for $34 and it matches our car perfectly.  Also, with the configuration that he used we have a lot more trunk room.  Now, if our car can keep from breaking down for the next few years, we should be set! (6/14/2012)

2nd Dilemma:  Employment

We've been so blessed this past year that Ben has been employed temporarily by the university.  It has paid enough to allow us to pay for the baby and pay down his student loans.  It appears as though he may have employment through this next December.  If we use our finances wisely, we may be able to pay down almost half of our student loans which would allow us to actually take a job and survive.  The problem is that Ben really does need to find a job in the design field soon so that we can move on with our lives and actually put down some roots.  The thing is that we really love Auburn, Ben is a great teacher, and everything is wonderful here - but we feel like there's somewhere we need to be.  Is this a case of me just wanting to get on with things and move to the next stage?  Are we missing opportunities because we're not looking hard enough or is Heavenly Father still orchestrating things for our next stage and we're here until it's ready?  I don't know if our still being here is our lack of initiative on our part or our need to learn how to wait on the Lord.

Update:  Ben has just been offered a contract to teach for the next year at Auburn and it will include benefits.    It would allow our kids to finish up the school year and give us a little more time to hopefully pay off some school debt.  The University was going to hire someone, but that person didn't accept the job so they offered Ben a temp position.  (06/14/2012)

3rd Dilemma:  Paying for New Baby

This one's kind of interesting.  We are technically on Medicaid because it's renewed every April, however, I haven't been using it since Ben's been working at the University because I didn't think our income qualified us.  I tried to find out how to alert Medicaid of our new income, but I couldn't find any instructions on what to do so I just stopped using it.  Anyway, last week I tried to get our kids signed up for a state supplemented insurance that would allow them to be insured for a smaller fee (than private insurance).  They rejected us because they said we were already on Medicaid.  I called them and told them we no longer qualified and they told us to contact Medicaid.  When I contacted Medicaid they said it didn't matter that our income changed, we were still covered until the end of May.

Here's the deal though - I've already paid for the doctor's office/delivery, but now I may be eligible for Medicaid so I may be reimbursed for what I paid.  I've been calling ALL over the place trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do.  It would be so wonderful if Medicaid would do this, but I have to jump through so many hoops.  Also, if I still do qualify, doesn't it totally bite that I'm due to have this child 2 weeks after it expires?  As it is, if we pay for everything with the baby, it will cost us a minimum of $5,500.  If Medicaid will cover my prenatal visits then it could potentially only be $4,500.  However, if the baby had been due before May 31st it would cost us nothing!  That's $5,500 that could have gone towards student loans.

We were perfectly content to pay for this baby, but now it's like a carrot is being dangled in front of us showing us what we could have had.  So frustrating!  However, I have to trust in God.  If it was this important for us to have this money to go towards student loans, then he would have made it so that I wouldn't have had the miscarriage.  If that had been the case, the whole pregnancy and birth would have been covered because I would have been due in March.  I have to believe Heavenly Father has some miracle up His sleeve.  It will be fascinating to see what the purpose of all of this is.

Update:  So, it turned out that I wasn't eligible for Medicaid at all because of when I got pregnant.  But that's okay because at least we had the financial ability to pay for the birth and I feel incredibly blessed for that.  Also, we were able to get the kids on some insurance that is very inexpensive through the state and it started on June 1st. (06/14/2012)

It all comes back to Ether 12:6.  I have faith that Heavenly Father has a purpose for all of this and I'll be happy to look back on this and see what kind of miracles He's got just beyond our vision.

Spring has been good to us!

The weather has been amazing this spring - so warm!  Here are some pictures that I took a few weeks ago when the weather was really nice.  

Stina and Dayne helping Daddy to sand the headlights so they would look nicer.

Alexis and Sam having fun on the new swing set.  I love this thing!!

Random Journal Entry: God's Tender Mercies - April 23, 2012

I've been having a hard time recently.  Nothing too serious, but annoying nonetheless.  I have about 2 months to go in this pregnancy and I don't know how I'm going to make it without going crazy.  I feel like a beached whale and my back has been killing me.  It makes it hard to walk and get up and down.  I even ended up going to see an acupuncturist to help with the pain.  It was awesome!  My back isn't 100 percent, but it does feel better and has taken the edge off of the pain.

The kids had the day off last Friday.  I really wasn't looking forward to it because my nerves have been a bit frazzled and the weather has been rainy, so I knew that the kids wouldn't be able to play outside much.  What does that equal?  Everybody getting on everybody's nerves - and I wasn't looking forward to an entire day of that with all of the kids.  That being said, Friday was a pleasant surprise.

On Friday, I had a long list of chores for the kids because the house has been a bit out of sorts.  Like most kids their age (or any age) - they HATE doing chores and it usually turns them into whining creatures.  However, the day started out with me gathering the kids together and doing a run down of what was expected for the day.  Instead of hearing whining, my kids said, "OK" and got to work.  They spent about 2-3 hours cleaning up the house.  By the time they were done, their laundry was taken care of (and there was TONS of it), and the house was clean, vacuumed and well organized.  What was greatest about this was that they maintained their good attitudes throughout the cleaning.  Alexis even went through her room and purged and organized most of it.  It looks so wonderful!

Because I was so impressed with their great attitude and work ethic, I told them I would take them out to lunch at Chik-fil-A (their favorite).  About 10 minutes before we were about to leave, Ben called us up and asked if we wanted to meet him for lunch - and he hadn't even known about our plans.  After we had arrived at the restaurant and ordered our meal I went to sit down with the kids.  As I was getting the kids situated, a young woman came up to me and said, "I'm celebrating my birthday by doing 21 random acts of kindness and I'd like to give you this," then handed me a $10 gift certificate to Chik-fil-A.  Where else would something like this happen except in the South?  They're so friendly - I love living here!  Ben also decided that the kids could use a treat so he got them some mini chocolate sundaes.

Later that day Alexis had horseback riding lessons.  Because Ben has been so busy with the end of the semester and his studio class, he wasn't able to be home to watch the kids.  I was a little wary of how this was going to turn out because I would be stuck with Sam, Dayne, and Stina in the van for an hour while Alexis had her lessons.  This turned out better than I thought it would as well.  Raydeen Ryden (her riding teacher) said that because of what they were learning that day, the kids could come and have a ride at the end of the lesson.  It was perfect.  The kids waited patiently (playing games on my Touchpad) and then they all got to go for a quick ride while Alexis led the horse for them.  Even Stina went on all by herself.  She was a little scared when we put her on at first, but then when it was time to get off she cried because she didn't want to get off.  The only problem was that I forgot my camera.  It's too bad because they all looked so cute up in the saddle!

As soon as we got home the Browning kids came over for us to babysit while their parents went on a date (we trade off with them for date nights).  I didn't have to make dinner because we had tons of leftovers from the night before.  The kids played so well with the Brownings and had a treat of cookies and milk. I had so much energy all day - more than I've had since becoming pregnant.

It was one of the best days ever and a testament to me that the Lord knew I needed a break.  That day has really carried over for me.  It was such a positive day for me that I've been having positive thoughts ever since.  I've been trying to change my thought process for a while because I'd definitely fallen into the martyr syndrome and been feeling sorry for myself.  That day was just what I needed to change my perspective and it was such a tender mercy!  This whole weekend has had me counting all of the blessings that I have and they far outweigh any negative.  God is amazing and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family and a baby on the way.  Thank you Heavenly Father!

Swing Set

We've always wanted to have a swing set for the kids, but it just didn't seem economical to buy one when we haven't really known how long we'd be here.  Well, Heavenly Father loves our kids and sent us a free one.  Our neighbors, Jeff and Angie, came over at the beginning of March (actually on our anniversary) and told us that they saw one down the street that was going to be thrown away.  They told us to check it out and that if we wanted it, we could use their trailer to go and pick it up.  Forty five minutes later we were the owners of a swing set.  Ben just had to make a few fixes to it and it's been as good as new.  It's been such a blessing - especially with the early spring that we've had.  The kids play together outside on it ALL of the time!

 Look at those gorgeous chickens!!

The Hirts came over to play the day that we picked up the swing set.  It kept everyone entertained all evening. 

Stina loved this little sitting swing and wouldn't budge from her seat all evening.

Alexis' 10th Birthday

It was a crazy birthday for Alexis this year.  It was a busy night (because it was Sam's first scout meeting), but we were able to celebrate Alexis' birthday without it being too crazy!  Earlier in the week, Alexis and I went out to her favorite frozen yogurt place (Chill) with a gift certificate that Alexis had.  On her birthday she got to open her presents (which were quite a few!).  She said she really loved it.

Grandma Puffer got her some pajamas and she loves them. 

She loves having her back scratched so what would be more appropriate than a back scratcher?  After Grandpa Puffer heard about how much she liked them, he later sent her a wooden back scratcher as well. 

Sam's 8th Birthday

The day after Sam's birthday we celebrated his birthday and baptism at our house with family and friends.  As usual it was chaos, but that's what we like best!

Sam Hirt showing us his muscles. 

Stina knows where to go to get her ice cream fix! 

Sam with his new set of scriptures that Grandma and Grandpa Godbold gave him. 

Steve, Ben and Spencer Hubbard - I'm sure they were discussing some sporting event.

Sam's Baptism

Sam was baptized on his birthday this year.  It was so awesome and we got to have a lot of family come out.  Both sets of Grandparents came as well as Uncle Steve.  Everything went pretty smoothly and we were so grateful to have everyone out to celebrate with us.

Everyone helped out.  Of course Grandma Puffer played the piano, Grandma Godbold lead the music, Grandpa Godbold gave a talk on Baptism, Grandpa Puffer gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and Uncle Steve gave the closing prayer. 

These guys are such handsome boys!! 

Taking a little time to relax after the baptism. 

 Grandpa Puffer took us all out to the Creole Shack.  We wanted to make sure that Grandma Puffer had an authentic southern meal.

Uncle Steve was feeding Sam's addiction for wanting an iTouch.  We told Sam even if we had all the money in the world we wouldn't get him one.  He'll just have to console himself with playing Angry Birds on someone else's. 

Eating out at Beef O'Brady's.  It wasn't too bad, but the company was awesome!!