Our Family: Week of 6/23-6/29

On Monday, my awesome sister and I took the kids to the dentist.

Grace and Adam were due for check-ups, and I needed help watching Josh + Sam.

They both did great and neither had cavities.

Wahoo!

Even better, she has a way to fix Adam's teeth until he is an adult and can get crowns/implants.

Unfortunately, our insurance is all done helping with those two chipped teeth of his, so we're going to have to cover all $900 of it.

Ouch!

So, yeah, we're going to have to figure that out... BUT his teeth will be worth it.

Afterward, we grabbed some lunch and headed home.

***

On Tuesday, Kayty left early.

We are sooooo glad she came, but we love that girl and miss her!

I brought Adam to swim, and while he was there, we ran a few errands.

***

On Wednesday, we went to the splash pad/awesome park out in Henderson.

We had a wonderful afternoon there, and then rushed home to have some friends over, while their mom was at Young Women's.

***

On Thursday we tie-dyed patriotic t-shirts to wear for the 4th of July with the kiddos + Activity Day girls.

They turned out super-cute.

That evening at 11-year-old Scouts, Adam volunteered to "call" in the flag ceremony for the East Stake Patriotic Breakfast on Saturday.

Which I had no intention of going to... because who wants to get up THAT early to fill their kids full of sugar?

Not this Mama.

But, he's pretty psyched, so I tried to get on board.

;)

***

By Friday, I was dead.

Taking care of a still sick Josh + newly sick Adam, who started displaying symptoms of "the plague" Thursday night, keeping house, driving everyone to activities, taking care of a baby, nursing said baby, cooking, cleaning, Activity Days AND trying to help the kids have fun so they didn't miss Dad so much... I didn't get more than 3 hours of sleep each night.

Honestly, it probably wasn't too much different from any other week.  Mike works so much that he isn't able to help much anyways.  BUT, I had no one to complain to about it.

;)

Josh asked if we could go to Cafe Rio for dinner.

And, yeah, I felt I totally deserved that.

So we did.

That night, we all cuddled while we read book after book, and I felt like the luckiest Mama in the whole world.

***

On Saturday, we got up bright and early and went to the Stake Center for the patriotic breakfast.

They kids ate yummy pancakes and sausage with orange juice and chocolate milk, Adam did an awesome job "calling" the flag ceremony, and then all of the Primary kids in the Stake sang songs they had been working on for the breakfast: "My Flag" and "You're a Grand Ole' Flag."  They all did a great job!

We came home and had the l-o-n-g-e-s-t day ever while we waited for Mike.

At about 4:30, he came home!

He hadn't showered in a week, was sunburned head-to-toe, smelled horribly, and was STILL the best looking guy I have ever met.

He pretty much crashed when he got home.

But, our house felt complete.

***

Sunday was pretty typical.

Church, where Mike and the boys gave beautiful reports of Scout camp.

Mike napping.

Us trying to be quiet + eating dinner.

Putting the kids to bed.

Nursing Sam and getting him to bed.

Waking up Mike at 11:00 for him to get ready for his hotel job.

Him leaving at 11:45.

Me going back to shower/read scriptures.

Me walking out at 1:00am to Mike sitting at the computer.

He had been fired.

No explanation, no warning.

Just a co-worker saying, "The boss told me to ask you to give me your keys because she is letting you go.  If you want more of an explanation, call her."

Shocked + worried (we need that job to pay the bills + hospital payments).

But, when I went to bed a little while later and prayed, I had the sweetest experience.

A scripture came to my mind: D&C 132:50.  It's not a scripture I had thought much of, and I certainly had never memorized it, but the words came to my mind.  I couldn't remember it word-for-word, but the part that came to my mind was, "Behold I have seen your sacrifices... and make way for your escape."  Tears rolled down my face as I thought of how hard this job has been (and how many times I asked Heavenly Father to help me, because it was so hard).  But, we had to do it.  Sam prenatal care was about $4000 and his birth was $5000, and we owed another $1000 to the children's hospital for Josh's croup (because, though they are in-network, they don't have a discount agreement... what!).

So, yeah, we really needed the job.

But, the thing is, when Mike started working this job 2 years ago, we "lost" him.

His days off were spent sleeping.  The days after that he was a zombie who slept any chance he had.  His D.I. job, with a boss that requires at least 55 hours a week and a busy calling in the Bishopric and then Young Men's president, took up the time he wasn't sleeping.

Family time and family dinner just slowly slipped away, until I realized one day how little time we actually spent with Mike.

So, even though I knew it was going to be ridiculously hard to pay these bills, I have never felt more at peace.

Because escaping from this and getting Mike back would be the best gift we could ever receive.