Spring 2013

Sheesh! The past several weeks have been a bit....crazy, to say the least. Life throws curve balls at you that you don't see coming at all. And the best thing you can do swing your hardest to hit them and hope you at least get a tip off.

 

Kody was laid off from his job at Cost Less Carpet on March 21st.  He left for work that morning like he always does and was back home 2 hours later.  I can't really describe how I felt. Emotions ranged from fury, sadness, worry, frustration, anxiety, confusion, etc. But Kody, bless his heart, kept it together and took it with understanding and grace. He was calm and assured me that all would work out. Bottom line was they let him go because he didn't have quite enough retail management experience that they were looking for.  Which is true, he's never managed in the retail world, but he gave it his best and made a few great improvements, but it just wasn't quite enough. Several of the other employees called/texted him to let him know he would be missed and some even offered other job leads.  They were kind.  It was a good experience for Kody and all of us to have him work there for a year. He got a crash course in retail management and learned "A TON." And we both feel he came out better on the other side and has a bit more under his belt.

 

So although it was a bit of trying time, we kept our heads up. Cause really what else is there to do?

 

Those first few days were a good reflection process for us. We felt like this was a good time to really focus on what we wanted our future to be. Neither on of us wanted Kody to take just any job.  With the way the world is headed, we felt like we needed to head in a direction that would be as sustainable for our family as possible. We turned down a few jobs that came up right away, because we could see that they really had no future other then just bringing home a paycheck.  So we kept searching and praying for what the Lord wanted us to do. We felt the need to get back to basics and simplify our lives and living, so we looked mainly for farming jobs. There's one that came up in Lynden, WA on a potato farm. We went up there, checked it out, and were planning the move that way when life threw another curve ball. Two days before Kody was going up there to start we got another call back for an interview near Spokane. We felt we needed to check that one out, so we did. It was a lot better set-up. We could live on site of the farm and basically build the farm from the ground up. We were excited for this chance and to have the whole farming experience. Long story short, Kody was offered the job, we said yes, and we're moving in a couple of weeks!

 

It's not super glamorous, because farming isn't glamorous. But it's simple, sustainable, life saving, skill building, and memorable.  And we're excited!  

 

On another note, Easter was beautiful! We enjoyed an Spring Egg Hunt with some other families in our neighborhood at the park. All the kids had a great time! 

 

 

 

We got a little festive on Easter morning and made some colorful pancakes. Green, blue, yellow, purple and pink. The kids thought that was the best!

 

We did some quick Easter pictures after church.

 

And being a Collier Family we can't do Easter without a scavenger hunt! So....the kids had to go clear across the yard and back without touching the grass!

Making their way across the swing set

Running on the rugs

 

They had to make a basket from the trampoline before they could move on

 

Kamille used her muscles to haul Kayda and Jameson in the wheelchair down to the bring wall

 

Walking across the brick wall

 

They had to make their way across the wood fence and then walk on the latter to the back porch...

 

...where they got to open a box goodies! (Thankfully we had all the yummies in our 72 hour kits that needed updated!)

And of course the kids wanted us to do the course, so we did. Here is how Kody go across the swing set!

 

Mr. Muscles!

 

And Spring wouldn't be complete without rotating tires on the car! I can't take lots of credit for the 1 tire I did. Kody did the other 7...(2 cars) along with a bunch of other car maintenance! 

 

We also enjoyed General Conference.  I loved listening and learning.  One thing that stick out in my mind is Elder Jeffery R. Holland's talk about faithfulness.  One of his points was "Hold fast to what you already know to be true." I've repeated that in my mind lots of times this week. When life happens and you don't know how, when, where, or why things will work out, just hold fast to the fact that you know it will work out. All the details in between may not be as important as we think they are.

 

 Well, that about sums up the last moth or so! I don't know when I'll post again with all the busyness happening, but stay tuned!