Dance Recital #1

I have a profound respect for anyone who can take

 a group of 3-4 year olds

and produce a 30 minute dance recital.

This just does not sound like A bowl full of laughs to me. 

It sounds down right stressful!

So even though it was right at Mr. T's nap time 

we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of 

The Wizard of Oz.  

These cuties did such a good job and 

we are excited to have the video in the fall.

We will never forget the awesome friends we made at dance.  

Banana and her mommy Jodi were some of our favorite people.

HOLY Back Blogging!

Ok so I HATE doing this but. . . . 

I feel like some of the things I have missed blogging are SOoo important 

to understanding where we are now as a family.

So here we go!! 

The journey from living in Guelph by myself and managing 

the end of school and dance and moving - 

to living in a new rental back in a familiar city and 

being together as a family certainly had its moments.  

In some ways back blogging is the best.  

The turmoil we were in before the move and the sacrifices we made 

in order for things to happen the way they did 

seems so far off and so behind us now.

We are far from relaxed and comfortable as yet 

but we are beginning to find some peace.

But we can focus on all that was good and right about our situation.
Blogging will help keep our focus on the happy fun things,

So the Adventure Continues!!

Pride we didn't even know we carried around. (aka learning not to go it alone!!)

Ok So I know you're intrigued.  

Most people think of pride as looking down 

on others in an uncaring way, 

being judgmental, excluding others and 

other outwardly hurtful attitudes.

One major lesson that we began learning through 

our unemployment is that we are carrying around 

some prideful attitudes, 

not anything hurting those around us.  

Pride that hurt us.

We reflected time and again on what had brought us to Guelph.

How we had been living while we had been employed, 

where our focus was, 

how we spent our time, 

and how those things had changed.

Money had brought us to Guelph.  

Pure and simple, a good paying job for Shane.  

That money was not all bad.

Money meant paying off debt 

(which we have a ton from three university degrees). 

Money meant knowing we could provide the basic 

needs of our family.  Home, Groceries, Gas, Clothing.  

We could even afford some extra's like Dance Lessons.

Money also meant our dreams were getting grander.

Trucks, Fifth Wheels, Exotic Travel, New Homes,

 Cabin's, Family Vacations.

We reflected back to before our move to Guelph. 

Inspecting some of our assumptions was hard 

but important to deal with.

Expectations are a hot topic in our house.

Money fulfilled some of our most dangerous expectations.

Suddenly there were places we would Never live,

 people we would Never be like, 

things we would never do to survive, 

and lowly entrance positions 

we would never take, 

and salaries we would never accept. 

Wow sounding dangerous yet?

Here was our dangerous prideful assumption.

"Get a degree = Get the IT job"

That's right - you finish your degree and you are guaranteed a job.  

Your education qualifies you for $60,000/year

 without work, sacrifice, humility, and determination.

WRONG!

Wow, well we could lay blame on certain people or 

institutions that promote this thinking.

How on earth will that help???

Truth is that even for a trades person

 (this includes Dr., Nurse, Lawyer, Dentist)

getting a degree means nothing. . . .
without vision, determination and
some degree of sacrifice.

I believe it is important to take advantage of
all the education you can. 

Soak it up, research, read, think,
problem solve, learn new skills.

Please finish High School and if it is fitting attend 

a College, University or Tech School.  

Here's what I mean by a degree means nothing.

It doesn't mean anything without the rest of the package.

You work hard for your credentials and you
should be proud of them. 

But credentials do not guarantee dollar signs.  

This is the pride we were carrying around with us -
both of us were neck deep in it.

Letting go of some of this pride was awfully hard,
we're still going through the process.

But being aware of it made things a lot easier to face.

As we moved forward it became easier to make decisions
  because our perspective and our goals had shifted dramatically.

Instead of looking for dollar signs Shane started looking
for a job with different requirements.
Things like steady working hours, benefits packages,
commute times, and low stress accumulation.

The dream job may come along and someday
we may be earning that six figure income. 
(MAYBE)
But chances are we'll muddle through for a while on a base salary,
and be grateful for more family time and lower stress.

Because instead of expecting Money from our University Degrees.
We started Expecting knowledge, decision making,
problem solving, and networking skills.

The Easter Bunny has arrived with Easter Dresses!

We have had so much fun this Easter.  

With a total awesome outpouring of love from our ward family 

our little kiddies have been out late every night this weekend 

and having an amazing time with some of their favorite people!!  

We have been hot tubbing and playing hide and seek, 

rope swinging, wheelbarrow riding, egg hunting fun.  

Shane sure missed a gooder this year!!

It all started with a fantastic box from Grandma Cathy, 

Stickers, new clothes/boots, chalk and chocolate 

always make an awesome holiday!

We turned the jelly beans into a fun jumping game.

First we filled the eggs with beans

 

Then we got crafty and made some paper cones to put their treasure in.

 

Then they had to hide under the table and close their eyes 

while I hid the eggs.

When they found an egg they counted the beans and 

had to jump that many times before they could eat any!!  

Haha they were jumping fools!

 

 We also got even more crafty and made some Easter paper crafts, 

oh what a fun mess we made!!

Easter Sunday Also bring Dresses.

The girls adored their dresses this year and I was very happy 

I already had the fabric in my magic box of fabric.

So with a little ingenuity and repurposing we now 

have two new Easter dresses. 

Little boys could care less about Easter Dresses,

But they are still cute!!

I hope that you all got to spend some time at Easter with your family

and enjoy this time remembering and enjoying your blessings.  

Possibly reviling in some spring weather and being grateful for all you have.

Provident Living aka food storage and education (help wanted)

Ok so more than a year before we left for Ontario 

I became seriously obsessed with provident living and food storage.

Remember these posts???

resolutions 

grab and go bags

Car Kit

Well along with these I was neck deep in meal planning, food storage, 

crock pots and a myriad of other projects regarding food storage. 

Including becoming involved in THRIVE a yummy line of freeze dried foods.

I had no idea how much this knowledge 

would bless our family so much later.

Soon after Shane dropped the news he was now unemployed 

I started thinking about things that I could do 

to soften our expenses and stretch our pennies.  

As a mom of course the first thing that came 

to my mind was kids and kitchen.  

Suddenly I had the opportunity to apply some of 

the knowledge that I had acquired. 

There were two things that I immediately 

thought of in regards to the kids.  

#1 I suddenly needed to make sure Ms. E was Potty trained 

(pull ups are convenient but expensive).  

#2 I also decided we could go ahead and move 

Mr. T from formula to whole milk. 

(Again formula being convenient but expensive).

Mr. T was a trooper and took the transition with ease.  

Ms. E on the other hand lingered and lingered and lingered 

(we are still lingering some days).

In the kitchen there were a number of things that were helpful.

I made a list of groceries that I was currently purchasing 

that were simply not essential. 

Of course I discussed the list with my husband, 

which turned into more than one discussion. 

Particularly Pickles - our kids love pickles, 

they would eat a jar of pickles a week!! 

HOLY PICKLED CHILDREN!!

I was certain Pickles were definitely not essential. 

Shane however was not.

Another was Kraft Dinner,

Shane would happily receive this for his birthday.  

He had NO idea that it cost almost 2 dollars for 

a box of noodles when it was not on sale.  

He enjoyed it so much we would cook 3 boxes 

at a time to feed our family.  

This quickly became a non essential. 

Shane did not pout for long.

Next I made a list of the dinners I could cook with food already in the house.  

I had moved 1000's of pounds of food across the country as our food storage. 

While Shane was working I was adding to that storage by purchasing extras of foods 

I regularly used while they were a good price.  

Cans of soup, flats of Asian noodles,  extra bottles of BBQ sauce and ketchup, 

cooking oil, cake mix and a myriad of other items that I regularly used in cooking.  

This store was building up and now the time was upon us to use it. 

There was some transition - not all of it easy.  

Freeze dried foods that I had purchased came with a bit of a learning curve, 

the kids had become used to having a discussion about what supper should be

(I love cooking - just hate deciding).  

Suddenly THIS is what is for supper, if you do not want to eat it 

you may have bread and peanut butter. 

Good thing that Shane and I both agreed that Peanut Butter was 

DEFINITELY a staple we should not do without!!

I readily admit that I was in denial about how much food 

we had in our house while Shane was working.  

I did not realize how much food we actually had until it began disappearing, 

and the shelves in the kitchen became more and more bare.

Shane had a similar experience, he eventually confided in me that  

the empty fridge at the end of the week depressed him very much.  

I was glad I had a simple answer for him.  

That empty fridge meant that we were doing things right.  

We were using every item we had on hand.  

An empty fridge at the end 

of the grocery week was not a sign we were failing, 

because we had resources to fill it every week.

I definietly do not pretend that we did this alone.

We were incredibly blessed during harvest by friends who would gladly 

share potatoes, squash and even fresh eggs.  

At Thanksgiving Shanes family brought us dinner 

and we had leftovers for weeks!!

I do believe that I was inspired along the way 

as to how I could conserve food, 

stretch food, and be more grateful for what we had.  

It was not just a coincidence to me when I would find diapers on sale 

for $19.99 instead of $26.99 and pullups for $7.99 instead of $14.99.  

I know that the Lord was looking out for this little family,

helping me find those things our family needed.  

When things were really tight I would stick to only essentials at the grocery store.  

Bread, milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, fresh fruit like apples, pears, and bananas 

and some fresh veggies like broccoli and carrots.  

For more than a month I fed my family on less than $80/week. 

I realize now that some of this is phrased in the past, 

I want it plainly known that we are still in the thick of things.  

In April we started receiving assistance from the church 

as even $80/week was looking scary.  

We truly reached the bottom of our barrel, Shane heading off to Alberta 

for training and work stretches us in different ways than just monetarily, 

it stretches us emotionally, mentally, and for me even physically. 

Next I'll be sharing our discovery of hidden pride 

that we did not even realize we carried with us.

The Post I Have Been Avoiding

Well if you got past my title I can imagine that you

 are still reading because you either 

a) love our fantastic little family and want to hear 

all the lows as well as the highs, or 

b) have so much time on your hands you really need to read

 my post hoping for a rosy end 

(warning: there's not a rosy end here)

The Beginning.

When we moved our fantastic family all the way across the country 

we had a grand plan with all kinds of things 

we were looking forward to.  

We were blessed in many ways in order for us to move 

we needed A LOT of help.  

We had so much help sometimes we didn't know what to do with it!!  

Two months after arriving in Guelph Shanes contract 

was unexpectedly terminated.  

As of that day, pack your things, 

and please leave your keys with the front desk.

Que Shock! 

Shane had been not just let go, phased out, or had reduced hours, 

he was terminated. 

 (ok seriously not quite that bad.)

His first job in his field lasted two months.  

Let me tell you at this point the last thing on my mind was money.  

I was instantly worried about depression, anxiety, guilt and a host of 

other emotions I was sure were washing over Shane. 

Besides one of the reasons I married him was because 

he knew how to keep a job, 

and always to this point had at least one if not two. 

(sometimes two and then school as well)

Between October and April we have had some ups and downs,

somehow we weathered through 6 months of joblessness.

Those ups and downs are what I'm going to be writing about next.

I had some cute and catchy titles thought up,

"10 extremely awkward things to 

say to an unemployed person." 

(believe me we heard a lot of them)

"5 fast ways to help your kids learn 

to eat what's for supper."

(this was a hot topic at our house)

"1000 reasons why I stay home with 

my children even when my husband 

is unemployed."

(about once a month we evaluated this one)

"No! Any job is not better than none at all."

(this sentence may still sneak in somewhere)

Instead I have decided to frame things differently.

I want to share some things that we have been 

learning and are still learning along the way.

I'll be writing about Provident Living and Food Storage.

Pride we didn't even know we were carrying around with us.

Expectations and the dangerous misconceptions we had as a couple.

Stress release and support styles (introverts and extroverts).

Mental maturity, forgiveness, and patients with yourself and others.

I'll probably have a lot more linked to this post 

especially as this is a raw subject for me.

We are still in the thick of things.  

Shane is currently back across the country 

in Alberta looking for work, 

with no return date in sight.  

He is there till he finds a job . . . 

locates housing for us . . . 

works to save up to move . . . 

and can get time off work to help me drive 

the kiddo's across the country. 

Needless to say I will have some nights to cuddle up 

with the computer while he is gone.

 Anything that I post connected to this beginning 

will be labeled Help Wanted.

 (But not always in red)

Hold on to your seats because I'm about to get real.