Blessings

I find it is important to recognize the blessings in any situation. It gives perspective to what life has dealt you and makes the challenges easier to bear. While Trent has been unemployed we have been given many blessings with our trials.
First, Trent was able to be with our children while I took a very intense summer course for a month. The class was very valuable to my education and I learned so much. I was able to dedicate the time I needed to the class and not only did I learn so much, I also completed this class with an A. I also learned that Trent and I, working together make a great edit team. We would read through my long papers for class and edit them together, discussing and learning. It was awesome to work with Trent in this capacity.
The next blessing was a few weeks later, after my class ended, when I was caught off guard by a a very bad headache followed a few days latter by body pains and then a rash. Having seen Shingles before I knew what the rash was and called the doctor to see if there was anything she could give me so I did not have to come in to the office (no insurance). Of course once I described where my rash was and how much rash, the pain and headaches... I was told to go to our quick care clinic and be seen. Needless to say, several drugs later (one being a great pain med) and 10 days of sleeping and not much else, the rash had stopped spreading and scabbed over. I am gaining the vision back to normal in my left eye just in time for my classes to begin and the pains have mostly subsided. Through all this Trent was home and able to take care of me, the children and the house. Having Trent here to take care of everything so I could do what I needed to recover was a HUGE blessing.
The last blessing came from Trent and my faith growing. It is hard to have interview after interview and nothing come from them. Not knowing what we will do if.... SO, Trent and I started to pray as a family with our children. We also started to serve others in our ward and community. We had free time so we used it to help others. We knew that the Lord would guide us and the right job was coming. surprisingly enough, we were never worried that he would not find a job after we started these two simple things.
In the end, Trent started a new job this week. We were both very excited when Trent received a call offering him a job at Washington State University in Pullman, about 8 minutes away from Moscow. It is with an Enterprise group doing computer programing for their student systems. In the group are several great men from our ward and Trent is excited to work with them and the other members of the team. Although he has only worked two days, he is loving the job and we are both happy it worked out so well. Oddly enough, we both started back to work the same day, How cool is that?
It was a bummer to stay home all summer and not take any real vacations but it was also cool to spend time together as a small family, doing local activities and not getting lost in the hassle of vacations.
Now we return to our busy lives of school, work and various other extra activities.. but we had a great summer together.  :) Thanks for all the prayers and support!!
I will post some fun family photos later...