We are home

So.... interesting things have happened. Where to start? hmmmm... how much to share? hmmmm... Houston was the most terrifying, frustrating, and yet incredible experience ever. There were so many times that Aaron and I were going to throw in the towel and come home but we knew that Heavenly Father sent us to Houston for a reason. We did everything we could to make things work out there. We sold our home here, we had three different jobs. We weren't sure of what to do. Finally Aaron received a calling to be the ward executive secretary a couple weeks ago. We thought "finally maybe this is why we came here" because  his jobs didn't work out, LDS Family Services didn't get up and going, and we hadn't had a calling up until that point. Unfortunately we weren't making enough money to make ends meet. We went to the temple and prayed and fasted. We were so worried about coming home before we accomplished what the Lord wanted us to do in Houston. I kept thinking of the Nephi primary song "I know the Lord provides a way he wants me to obey" so we were waiting for him to make some kind of miracle happen. Instead we just kept hitting walls. After Aaron got set apart in his new calling (he was told in his blessing to do what was best for his family over the responsibilities of his calling) Aaron talked with our Bishop. Through his counsel and prayer and fasting we discovered that we had no unfinished business in Houston. We had accomplished what the Lord had sent us there to accomplish. We were blown away because we thought for sure that God had sent us there to live. Also we were blown away because we couldn't think of a single thing that we did that could have possibly accomplished the will of the Lord.

It wasn't until we were leaving that we started to see some reasons why Heavenly Father had sent us to Houston. 3 specific people came to us and expressed their feelings that we had come to Houston for them. They told us why and it felt so good to know that we had touched lives in Houston. More than that though, we discovered that Aaron and I had learned so much from the people in Houston. We learned how to love at a greater level than we ever loved before. We learned how to forgive. There were so many people that we had malice towards through our whole adoption escapade (before we went to Houston)... I can honestly say that I could give every single person (that I had anger towards) a hug right now. For that experience alone... priceless... I would do Houston all over again.

We may never know to the full extent, the reasons why we went to Houston. But we do know that we were obedient and followed Heavenly Father's plan for us.  A piece of us is still there.

The journey to our promised land =)

Before you read--Note that this post was a piece of my personal journal. I did keep out some things that I felt were too personal but this experience was too incredible not to share.


About a year ago we had a family reunion campout. Aaron and I were completely broke. We didn’t think that we could even afford gas to get there (it was in Payson). The Sunday before the campout we were promised in sacrament meeting by the bishopric that if we would increase our fast offerings that we would be blessed. Aaron and I had very little money but we knew that blessings were certainly something that we needed at that time. We paid $10 extra and it hurt. We bit the bullet and went on the campout trip. On our way to the campsite Aaron and I picked up a $100 flat tire. I just cried. Then I shouted out loud, “I thought paying extra fast offerings was supposed to give us blessings!” Then Aaron and I just laugh/cried out of stress fatigue. 
A week after our family reunion on a Sunday I still had not bled. The thought had crossed my mind “could I be pregnant?” I kept pushing it away because there have been SO MANY times that I have thought that and it turned out to be wrong. I would be heartbroken and depressed for days after taking a pregnancy test and failing it. Still I couldn’t stop thinking of the possibility.... Who would have guessed...I was pregnant!!!!!!!

I recalled the moment about 6 months before when I had to take a pregnancy test before going in to an invitro appointment. It said negative. I knew that it would before I took it but I couldn’t help but wonder if that time maybe it actually would surprise me. I had said a silent prayer asking Heavenly Father if maybe just maybe one day when I took a pregnancy test without doctors etc if it could actually say yes! Just so that I could know what that felt like. I told him that it didn’t have to be for the next baby or even the next but just someday… I explained how I would have loved to be a witness to such a miracle.

Like a brick it hit me that Heavenly Father had to test my obedience in order for me to receive such a miracle. The red flags that Bridgette was going to back out of the adoption were all around me but Heavenly Father told me to keep going so I did. I was obedient and he blessed me for it. I wrapped up the positive test (I know that is probably gross) and set it out for Aaron who shortly came home from his meeting to pick us up to go to church. I told him that it was a late Father’s Day gift. He opened it and his knees hit the floor. Tears streamed from his eyes as he praised God. We cried and held each other thanking our Heavenly Father for the incredible miracle. Then at church our bishop (not knowing beforehand what had happened) asked Aaron to bare his testimony in church. Everyone was so happy for us. 

Aaron’s job at the time took some interesting turns. They told him that they could not offer him the 2 years of supervision that he needed in order to get his independent license. We were so frustrated because they made so many promises that they would. Aaron discovered that he really really really enjoyed neuropsychology. He had announced to me that he wanted to become a neuropsychologist. This was 7 more years of school and training. He would have to quit the PhD program he was in and begin a PhD that is APA certified. He would have to quit work and go to school full time. This meant TONS of debt and he probably wouldn’t make enough to pay it back in a timely manner. I was frustrated because I didn’t want to spend 7 more years getting into debt but I wanted Aaron to be happy. Our lives had no direction so we felt like this decision would be a good change. Aaron applied to Argossy which had a program in Neuropsychology and it was the only certified one in Arizona (others had programs in regular psychology). Long story short Aaron didn’t get into the program. We were so frustrated that everywhere we turned nothing was working out for us. We had so many bills to pay and we didn’t know what to do. Aaron had already dropped out of his old PhD program. We felt stuck.

We still owed student loans and aaron’s dad. We had also bought a car that was slightly used so that we could fit 2 kids in the back seat (at the time we were driving a truck that only fit 1. We had bills up to our ears. We decided to up our fast offerings $10 since the last time we did that we got a baby! We didn’t know what to do as far as Aaron’s career was concerned so we went back to plan A ( for him to get his independent substance abuse counseling license) we found another company that promised him the supervision he needed and offered him higher pay. He decided to take that job and we were without insurance for 3 months. When insurance finally kicked in they were going to charge  Aaron over half his paychecks just for insurance and our baby was due 4 months later. We knew that I was going to have to do a c-section and we couldn’t afford to pay cash and we certainly couldn’t afford for more than half our money to go toward insurance.

We prayed hard. We thanked Heavenly Father for Jax but expressed our concern that we didn’t know how to pay for him and that we still owed money on the failed adoption. We upped our fast offerings $10 more. Shortly after we applied for a state insurance that we knew we didn’t qualify for and we were accepted! We saved over 10k!

Aaron was really struggling with not understanding why he loved neuropsychology so much but couldn’t practice it. I did some research and discovered neurofeedback/neurotherapy! It is a brain training therapy that helps optimize your brain function and is extremely beneficial in helping with substance abuse issues. It us a therapy that Aaron could use in his practice. Aaron fell in love with it!

There was a downfall to Aaron’s new company that he was working for. Even though they too had promised supervision, it turned out that they couldn’t provide it either. Aaron had wasted 6 months working for them before discovering that none of it counted. We were so distraught. I kept trying to figure out ways to make money but NOTHING worked. Every time I prayed for help, Heavenly Father urged me to be patient. I’m totally not patient but I knew that Heavenly Father wouldn’t leave us hanging with the adoption debt. We upped our fast offerings $10 more and we shortly found out that the adoption tax credit now refunds failed adoptions too! We couldn’t believe it! Heavenly Father just constantly blessed us.

We continued to look for another company that would offer Aaron supervision but didn’t lower his pay. We tried everywhere in Arizona and even agreed that we would move if we had to. There wasn’t a single company available. We came across a company in Texas that paid over 10k more a year. Aaron and I joked that that would be nice… but then something told us to look into Texas’s licensing. We did and found out that Aaron was fully qualified to own his own practice in Texas right away without supervision! We couldn’t believe it. We prayed and fasted about the possibility to move there and it felt right. So we started to make preparations to go. We wanted to be near a temple and in a city that had a decent amount a members. Aaron applied to positions in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. We wanted to go to San Antonio the most because it just seemed like the most fun city to live in. It has a Sea World, a six flags and it is a younger city. The institute is quite a bit larger than the rest of Texas. The one job that replied to Aaron’s resume was in Houston. Aaron quickly put together everything needed to receive his independent license for Texas. The job that Aaron had contacted seemed to have lost interest but we had found another counseling agency that was close to the temple in Houston who offered to let Aaron work for her on the side while building up his own business. Aaron received a similar offer for San Antonio. We of course wanted to go to San Antonio. The weather was supposed to be so much better there. Houston is right on the Gulf of Mexico and was said to be VERY HUMID! I didn’t want to go anywhere humid because of Calvin’s disease. He is supposed to keep his skin cool and dry and Houston was the opposite of that.

Well about a month later we had our baby Jax! (Still in Arizona) He was 8lbs 21 inches long (same as Briggs). He had slightly red hair just like Calvin did (before it fell out) He was so so sweet from day one and he sleeps SO WELL! I can’t believe how different from Calvin he is. Calvin had the disease so he was always itchy and had trouble sleeping.

We made plans to sell our house. We decided to rent it to Heather and Elliot until it sold. We had very little money and weren’t sure how to make it to San Antonio so we decided to sell or give away everything we owned and we hopped in our car and drove to San Antonio. We pulled in and it was BEAUTIFUL! Nice and green and the weather was perfect. We planned to stay in a cheap motel until we found an apartment. We completely fell in love with San Antonio. We thanked Heavenly Father for helping us make it safely. Along the way Aaron felt impressed to buy a can of fix-a-flat. Sure enough we got a flat tire about 100 miles from San Antonio. We had also gotten pulled over by a cop who let us go with a warning. We were so lucky =).

When Aaron was getting the tire fixed he was watching a squirrel run across the road. He thought how lovely it was there. Then Heavenly Father spoke loud and clear to Aaron that he wasn’t supposed to be there and that we were supposed to go to Houston. He came back and told me what happened and I started to cry. I didn’t want to go to Houston. I was so stressed. We had given up everything we owned to be there and we had driven 13 hours with a 2 year old and a new born. I did not want to get back in the car! Plus I LOVED San Antonio! We knelt down and prayed for assurance. The voice that came to me said “so you are about 3 hours away from Zion and you want to quit now?” I cried/laughed and said “yes??” but I knew that wasn’t the right answer. I pictured the pioneers 3 hours away from Salt Lake and saying “I’m good here.” Aaron’s feelings were confirmed to him as he read the scriptures after his prayer. I sighed and yielded my will to the Lord. We packed up the kids and continued to Houston.

On our way here the rain poured. LARGE cracks of lightening shot across the sky. Hail poured upon our car. We couldn’t see 500 feet in front of us. It took us 7 hours to get here when it should have taken 3 and a half. On our way to the motel only our side of the street was packed. We could have walked faster than our car was going. We truly felt the adversary trying to fill us with doubt. It was 3pm and it looked closer to 8pm.

We discovered that Aaron’s office was 1 mile away from the church and only a few miles from the temple. (When I said his office I meant that deal with a lady named Melonie where he could work for her part time while building his own business.) We have been here for 2 weeks and Aaron already has his business up and running. He has been working part-time for Melonie but does not have his own clients yet. Aaron has been busy trying to secure contracts with the courts and CPS etc.

Aaron talked with LDS family services a few days ago and was told that they were looking for someone to start the addiction recovery program in Spanish for Houston. This was another answer to our prayers  because we were becoming discouraged wondering why we were here. We are continuing to see miracles unfold. We found a buyer for our house which was a huge blessing. My sister Hayley is in remission from her Wegeners Disease which is an even bigger blessing. We just can't express the experiences that we have had since we have been here.