Ringing in the New Year

As one of my resolutions for the 2010 year, I am resolving to be a better blogger. I use to do so well, and then the third pregnancy and third child came along, and the blogging thing dissipated quite a bit. But, I am vowing to change that. I need to do a better job of recording the happenings of our family and also I really want to jot some of the thoughts and ideas that float around in my head. So here's to a better blogging year....

I know that 2009 was a very difficult year for many people and families. The economy affected many people on many different levels, and every night as we knelt down together as a family and had family prayer, the thought didn't escape my mind that when so many were suffering with the loss of jobs and other trials, our family was very blessed.

Here are a few things that I was so grateful for in 2009:

Bryan's job was going well - we were employed when so many were not
We were settled in a beautiful home with a beautiful yard that we loved and worked hard in
We were blessed financially
Bryan was put into the bishopric which has brought added blessings
We had a beautiful, healthy, and happy baby girl
We were all healthy - and...no broken bones!!

These blessings were reiterated in my mind that first Sunday of the month when many people stood to bear their testimonies of the hardships and trials they faced this past year and how it shaped their faith. Man, 2009 was a good year to our family.

And then the looming thought of: "If 2009 was such a good year for us, what will 2010 bring? Something's got to be coming."

We found out pretty quickly what 2010 was going to bring to our family. It brought to us what it brought to so many other people in 2009: unemployment.

On January 7, Bryan was quite surprisingly laid off. He knew that there were going to be changes in the company; sales territories and quota changes were coming but he wasn't too worried. Things were being shaken up a bit, but this? This was quite a shock. Neither one of us anticipated it.

Bryan has been home all day for only a couple of days, and it's been nice to have some lazy days with him and the boys. (Today is one of those days!) But for the most part he has been out of the house working at the real estate office updating his resume and job hunting. He needs to stay busy to keep his sanity and so far he's been doing a great job of keeping it together.

With this change, amazingly both of us have that calm peaceful reassurance that things will work out for the best. We don't know why this happened or for how long this will last, but we know that we're going to be just fine.

Faith is a comforting thing.