What Makes Trials All Worth It

Kaylee and James



So this posting will be longer. I have been thinking about how to write this one for a while and now I have more that I can add to it. This last year and a half have been a harder one for us, but I would like to share some of the things I have learned throughout it.



Trials and Blessings


Trial: Buying a house. We looked forever. The market was still good. The budget was limited. We even had won the bid on another house, but for some reason, the banks wouldn't finance that particular house. We continued on. We were out house searching, got lost and found our house by accident. We looked up the info from the sign and went from there.

Blessing: We went through a city housing program and got an excellent percentage rate, and a brand new house for the same price as an older fixer up house. We live in a nice neighborhood, wonderful house with room to grow, and a yard for the kids to play in, and a great ward. It's fun for me to mow the lawn, pull the weeds, paint a room, and decorate, because it is our house. We are blessed to own a house in the market and economy everyone is in now.


Trial: My thyroid had been off for a while and even had it tested. But the doctor told me to wait a year and have it tested again. April of last year I got strep throat and went to a nurse practitioner. I asked her to test my thyroid. She said it was swollen, and ran some tests. It ended up not functioning and went in for more tests. After a biopsy, they said I had a cyst, drained it and ran more tests. Then, they couldn't rule out if it was cancerous. So I had surgery and had half of my thyroid removed. This all happened in one week.

Blessing: I didn't have cancer. They ruled it out during my surgery. When I was told I might have cancer, it shocked me. But it changed me for the better. I appreciated life more. Life is fragile. I appreciated everyday I had with my husband and daughter. I am glad that everything was caught early enough before it could have been a different outcome. Life is a blessing.


Trial: Our house got hit by a car in the middle of the night. Jess was in N.J. My sister Jami had just moved in with us. I had just had my surgery the week before. The driver took off. So in the middle of the night we had police here and 4 fire trucks. The guy had hit our gas meter and broke it. He bent the fence, left four holes in the exterior wall, broke our picture window, ruined the new grass, and left mud all over the front of the house.

Blessing: I am glad that we live close to the fire department and questar gas. They were here so fast. We are lucky when he hit the gas meter and knocked it down that the house didn't explode. He left his car running. Because we had just had the lawn hydroseeded the sprinklers watered the lawn 4 times a day. The mud slowed him down just enough to not go through the house. We were watched over and protected. It took some work to get the house and yard cleaned up, but the house was still standing.


Trial: Jess sold security systems in New Jersey for a company. They presented enough money up front to cover the house payment, and insurance for the summer. So we went out, and Jess worked really, really hard. The company went bankrupt right after the summer.

Blessing: When we came back, Jess had an interview with the church the day we drove back into Salt Lake City and was given a job. It had incredible insurance with instant coverage, which was good because I was 4 months pregnant with James by then. Our final hospital bill was only $280 for his and my stay. The church job has given Jess new opportunities like to help during general conferences and President Hinckley's funeral.


Trial: Surgery #2. I had a gall bladder attack a week ago. Completely unexpected. We ended up in the E.R. at 5 a.m. After they ran their tests and did an ultrasound they found a lot of stones in my gall bladder. The surgeon offered to do surgery that day. Bad timing. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law had the kids for 4 hours already at that point and James would not take a bottle and wouldn't quit crying. I knew I would be out for a while and would need help which would take planning. So we scheduled it for last Friday.

Blessing: The surgery went well. My body wasn't happy. They found 30 gall stones, and removed the gall bladder. Everything has gone pretty smoothly. My mother-in-law and niece came up and tag teamed the kids for the weekend. Besides being really sick the first day, I am healing slowly, and feeling better each day. The kids are behaving well. We are having meals delivered by sisters in the ward that I gave meals to a couple of weeks ago when they had babies and surgeries too. The circle of service. I am learning that there is no good timing for surgeries, but I am very blessed with friends and family that are willing to help out without warning. I am aiming for no surgeries next year.


Trial: Jess's car started acting up when we were coming back home last fall. Then it worked great until a month or so ago. We finally were able to take it to a recommended shop a couple of weeks ago and they said we had either cracked or blew a head gasket. I don't know much about cars, but I know that is expensive. $1,500 was the estimate. We called around and that was an average deal. They said it would take a couple of weeks to fix so we waited.

Blessing: Jess has been calling the shop for a few days and they said we needed to talk to one of the head guys. We thought, oh great, something worse is wrong. But it was just the opposite. I couldn't tell you what was wrong with it, but it will now cost just over $300 and it's already fixed. That is our newest blessing for the week. We are very grateful for these small miracles.

This year we have also had puppies stolen from our backyard, car problems, 1 more attempted puppy kidnapping, family problems, and 2nd job problems.

We know that we would not have been able to get through all of this without the Lord. He has tried and blessed us at the same time. We also know financially we would not have made it if we had quit paying tithing. When we pay tithing, and then the bills we always make it through each month. We would like to save more, and we know eventually we will get there, but we stay in the positive only because of tithing. We have gained a greater testimony of the gospel and its principles. Our faith has grown more and more each month. We listen more carefully for the promptings on how to handle our situations, and in return have been blessed more and more.

We have become more frugal. I use coupons. I like to see how much I can save when I go to the grocery store. The extra $10 or so in coupons each time ads up. I now hang most of my laundry on a clothes line and open windows at night to give the A.C. a break. Last summer the electric bill was at $200 a month. My brother liked a really cold house. (We weren't here then) This year so far this summer, the electricity bill runs at about $25 to $30 a month. We are working on building up some food storage. We watch the grocery ads for meat sales, and try to store up on meat then.

When I look back at this last year or so we are blessed with so many things. 3 out of 4 of Jess's siblings were sealed to their spouses and children in the last year. The smiles coming from Jess's parents during the sealings were priceless. I know they were waiting years for these sealings. Both of my sisters got married and are having babies. Jami just had hers last Tuesday. I am now an aunt on my side of the family. We had James this year. He took a long time to get here, but well worth the wait. Families are our greatest treasure in life. It doesn't matter how old the car is, or not the most in fashion clothes, fancy kitchen stuff, or the best furniture. Those are just distractions. Life is meant to be learned from and enjoyed. Many things that happen in life don't have the best timing. My family has learned that lately. My brother was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago for test on his appendix, my Grandma had a heart attack, and was in the hospital for tests when I went into the E.R. Jami went into labor a couple of days later, and my mom flew out to see the new grand baby on the day I had my surgery. We hope that record will stop now for a long time to come.

Jess and I look back and can either think oh poor us or look back and see what we have learned from each experience. I think we would go nuts if we focused on the bad. So as we look forward to the future we are hoping things will run smoother, but we have learned together we can handle anything, and that can only make us stronger. And with our families anything is possible. Our little family makes all of our trials worth it. Thank you to our families for all of the love, support, and prayers. We are truly blessed to have all of you in our lives. Sorry for the super long blog entry. This will be a journal entry :)