Goodbye 2012

  2012 has been quite the year for us. We started out the year unemployed and desperately searching for a new job. We we're scrambling to finish our basement with the little bit of money we had. I had just had a baby, and I was still recovering from my c-section. Things
looked really bleak and unpromising. Shawn had searched all over the Utah Valley area so we could stay in our house, but there was not much out there and nothing was promising.
I had hoped that somehow, someway, we would get to stay in Payson. We were slightly upside down on our house so selling would hurt us also. The more we looked into the prospect of moving, the more we realized renting would be our best option.  We secured a job in Albany, Oregon and moved there in February. We soon learned that the schools were a lot worse than originally thought. It took more time to get them in school than it should have and the schools were very lowly funded. For the first time as a mother, I felt like I was making the worse decision I've ever made. I looked into other options, but nothing else was better. I prayed things would work out, but I was so unhappy.  Shawn wasn't enjoying his job either and the negative energy there played off at home also. We we're not happy and we kept asking why the answer to our prayers were to move to Oregon.
  This year we have experienced miracles. Because we moved to Oregon we broadened our area of search for purchasing a clinic. In June, Shawn saw a listing in Wyoming and thought about it for a while. I didn't even know he had requested information, or was even looking at a practice. When we looked at the listing together, it became clear the the biggest down side was location, or so we thought. We wanted to be closer to family, but this wasn't going to make that happen. After visiting, we knew what we needed to do. There were so many miracles in the process of purchasing the clinic in Laramie, WY and so many times  right before the miracle, we thought things wouldn't work out. Time after time we experienced the Lord's hand making a way for it to happen.
  The school here is awesome. The teachers truly care, and put in the time to show how they care. Our ward has been welcoming and encouraging. Shawn's staff is amazing and so helpful. As we get to know them more we feel so blessed to have such wonderful people working for us. We know that with out Shawn being laid off in Utah, disliking Oregon, and everything in between, we would not be here. The Lord opened our hearts and helped us achieve our dream and he placed us in a place that we can raise our children and feel safe. With gratitude we say goodbye to 2012 and all the trials, struggles and hardships that really were miracles and pray 2013 is just as good to us.