The exodus of the Combe Clan ... part deux

The time has come the Walrus said

To talk of many things

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax

Of cabbages and kings 

And if the sea is boiling hot

And whether pigs have wings

                                          -Lewis Carroll

If you are frequent readers of this blog then you know that when I have a secret I have a hard time blogging ... like ... I can't even post a dang recipe ... I think I am afraid it is going to slip out ... but ... the time has come. 

R has accepted a job in San Antonio ... we are moving back to Texas ... in two weeks ... well ... a little less. I mean ... I don't even know if I am excited yet ... it is all happening so fast!

Let me tell you the story ... E and I were in Texas ... it was the second week ... I got a call on Wednesday from R ... yanno ... just a nightly phone call to express love and all that ... ha ... well he hits me with "oh hey, I've applied for about five jobs in San Antonio tonight" ... what ... R and I had decided about two weeks before that we were no longer going to try to find a job ... we had been trying for a year and nothing had come up ... we were just going to be happy with where we were at ... it was obvious that Heavenly Father had a different plan for us. But he did it ... he applied ... Thursday came and R got a call from Frost Bank (one of the places he applied to the night before) ... they just wanted to double check his contact information, make sure everything was correct ... at the end of that conversation they told him they would call him in the next couple of weeks to set up a phone interview ... then came Friday ... they called to set up a phone interview for Monday. After around thirty minutes of a phone interview they closed by saying that there was another lady who needed to interview him but couldn't be there currently ... again they would call in the next couple of weeks to set up another phone interview ... again they called him the next day ... but not to set up another phone interview ... they called saying that they wanted to fly him down for a face to face interview ... it was set up for Tuesday the week later. When Tuesday came it came with a storm ... Rs flight got cancelled ... but for mechanical reasons ... we found out later that day that the canyon that we drive through to get to the airport was getting hit hard with snow and ice ... he might have missed his flight ... or worse ... Frost Bank scheduled a new flight for the very next day. So Wednesday came ... I was sick to my stomach all day ... apparently the interviewer only took five minutes with R then the HR lady came back in with an offer ... he countered ... two hours later they accepted ... and here we are ... six days out from the offer and preparing to move ... in eleven days. 

Overwhelmed? Why yes ... thanks for asking ... ha! Ok ... since R and I don't really have that much stuff (I know ... with previous marriages how could that be? Well ... I gave a lot of my stuff from that situation to the DI and R let his ex have practically all of it too ... we weren't so intelligent after we divorced) ... packing should be easy ... I have the truck ordered and ready for us ... my sister is coming up to help ... everything is just falling into place ... but like I said before ... I don't know if I am excited yet ... it hasn't hit me ... it is all going so fast!

Well ... I will try to post as much as I can before we move ... I should be able to do it ... don't worry ... but if keeping up is a little difficult than I know you will understand!

In other news ... E just had good touch bad touch week at school and can I tell you how amazingly helpful it is ... especially with how much she has been through ... some parents think that programs like that in schools are controversial ... but really ... E has learned so much in only a week long program ... I won't go into details ... but E has had experiences with this already ... and honestly I think that with the way this world has been going it is very beneficial for all children to have this information. With me, I just found out that I have hypothyroid whatever ... so apparently when I said I gained fifteen pounds after getting E it actually wasn't stress ... it was my thyroid ... which is nice I guess ... at least I know that I actually have been eating healthy.

Well ... that's all folks! Have a wonderful night 

In Which I Discuss Happiness

As soon as I turned onto I-10 it started ... it was that highway that would take me to the border of Texas and away from my parents again ... tears began to fall. My beautiful cousin said "no matter how old I get I will always cry whenever say goodbye to my mom" ... I know how she feels ... tears. 

About ten hours into the drive home I began really thinking about it ...  I spent practically the entire two weeks I was in Texas missing my beloved hubby ... and now I was on my way to see him and all I could think about was how much I missed my parents and brother. That's when it hit me ... again ... You need to learn how to be happy with where you are at. 

A couple of months ago I was talking to a couple of my recipe group friends ... we were discussing why Logan was so awful ... multiple reasons were cited ... it is claustrophobic (you don't leave Logan unless you have to leave) ... but the main reason we talked about was because it felt like a waiting place ... you come here for school and then you leave ... people are always coming and leaving ... it's like a revolving door up here ... but with that it is very difficult to feel like Logan is home ... when you are here it is very easy to only imagine the day when you get to leave. I must admit I was caught in this trap ... from the moment I married my first husband I was ready to leave Logan ... it was too small for me ... I knew it wasn't going to be the place I ended up ... and so I wanted to be past that stage in my life ... I dreamed of the day I would get out. 

With that dreaming it became very difficult to be happy with where I was at in life ... I knew I was destined for something better so lets just have that happen already. But thinking like that really does a number on a person ... I mean ... becoming so dissatisfied with where you are at in life could send a person into a depression death spiral ... imagine disliking almost ever situation you are in ... how does life become any better even when you are in a "better" situation? Well ... the answer is you don't ... what I have come to believe is that if you can't be happy with where you are and what you have then you probably will never be happy with life. If you're not waiting for that house on the hill then you could be waiting for retirement ... but from there you could just be waiting for death ... it's a never ending spiral. 

And so to my epiphany ... about three weeks ago I was sitting on the couch feeling like I wasn't capable of doing anything by myself ... chained to the television and the cell phone ... possibly I saw those as an escape ... but that is neither here nor their ... we were searching and searching for jobs but were getting nothing ... We got an amazing deal with an apartment ... but then got told that we couldn't take it because of Rs job ... R and I had hit a rough patch ... not as a couple ... individually ... which affected us as a couple ... example: he was so stressed that a conversation that would normally take three minutes would take us three hours ... it was rough ... we were starting that death spiral I was talking about. So, sitting on the couch, it hit me ... like a ton of bricks ... I needed to be happy with where I was at or else nothing was going to change ... there would be no progression ... so I did what any other red blooded American girl would do ... I called my mom ... not only did she agree with me but she also expanded upon my thoughts ... she said that as a woman who is deciding to stay home and run the family while wishing success for my husbands career that I was to become the CEO of my family ... that hit me like a ton a bricks ... it's not like I didn't cook and clean before ... but now I realized that there was so much more I had to do ... and it all started with being happy. 

If there is anything I have learned throughout my life it is that happiness is a choice ... you can choose whether or not you are going to be happy in a situation or not ... it's called looking at the positives ... glass half full ... which I know I have claimed to be in the past ... and I still believe that I am one ... it just gets a little bit harder when you are in the middle of trials ... I think I didn't notice how negative I was actually becoming ... again ... neither here nor there ... So I decided to make myself happy ... keep myself busy ... get myself healthy ... put the phone and shows down ... immersed myself in the life I am currently living ... learning how to accept Logan as the place I now live. And so I made a schedule ... a routine for my life that has every minute nailed down ... It may have only been a week and a half (I am so not counting those two weeks in Texas) but I think that my life my have altered ... it has been amazing! Not only have I been working on my mindset but staying active has been helping with that. 

Now, before you think that I am just touting how amazing I am you should know that I am not ... not even close ... I struggle daily ... with little things ... this morning it was my shins because I have taken up running again ... but not only that I have a little girl who thinks it is acceptable to throw huge fits every time I say no ... it is not an easy thing to choose happiness ... in fact I think staying angry at the world may be a lot easier ... but it is worth it. If you are looking for a place to start there is something that always helped me when the trial was more than I could bear ... before I went to bed at night I would think of my day and write down five wonderful things that happened, from there I would get down on my knees and thank my Heavenly Father for those moments ... the next day hold onto those five things from the day before, there they would serve as a reminder that wonderful things can happen even on the darkest of days. 

With that I wish you a happy and magnificent day my friends ... remember to keep smiling!

First pants, now this ... hot topic Monday ... brace yourself!

Oh hey bloggers! I hope you all are having a fabulous night ... I know I am!!

So ... I know that I have once again I have dropped off the face of the planet ... but I know that you will understand .... I get to spend such little time with my parents that I like to spend ever waking moment with them when I am in Texas ... yes ... I am a moma and daddy girl!

I know that I probably should start with a summary of E and I's trip ... but while I was gone R sent me this picture and I just had to respond:

Ok ladies ... Holy cow ... You have got to be kidding me.

For those of you who aren't a member of my faith let me explain a couple of things for you ... That way you won't be confused as you read this post. First I should explain what the priesthood is ... It is the power to act in Gods name ... We believe that it was given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery through the laying on of hands from previous prophets Peter, James, and John. It is a special privilege given to the men in our church ... For many reasons women are not given the priesthood ... and I don't have a problem with that.

Recently there has been this group of women who have been in an uproar over not receiving the priesthood ... as shown by this article. This same group of women created a petition to have a woman say the opening prayer in our general conference (a twice a year shindig where we literally get to learn at the feet of a modern day prophet ... tune in next week!) ... oh ... and they decided that a great form of protest is to wear pants to church ... Here is my question ... why?

Now ... It is not like I am anti "equality" (there is a reason I put that in quotations ... I will explain later) ... I am very grateful for the feminists who have passed through this life before I ... I really like the ability to vote (ok ... so I know that that statement may seem ignorance ... its just the biggest example ... and you know me ... go big or go home) ... I know that they have paved the way for me to be able to accomplish what I have accomplished in my life ... I bet you that I wouldn't have been able to initiate divorce if it weren't for feminists ... I respect women who work outside of the home ... which is something I would love to do ... that probably wouldn't have been likely a century ago ...  but ... and there is a but ... my problem is simple ... why ... if you truly believe in our religion would you (a woman) want the priesthood?

Here is what I understand about my religion ... and the reason why I put equality in quotations ... men and women are equal in our religion ... duh ... have you heard of the phrase separate but equal? because that is how our religion sees things ... in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" (found here) it says this:

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

[...]

By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.

See ... equal ... first: we are all created in the image of God ... not just men ... we all are. Second: we are all beloved ... all of us. Third: we are to live our lives and raise our families as equal partners. This does not say that men are cooler and can progress further on this earth because they have the priesthood.

What is really funny is that there are men who believe the exact opposite of these woman ... apparently some men feel as if they are told that they have the priesthood because they need it to help them stay on the straight and narrow ... that women don't need it because they are closer to God ... but without it and the responsibility it creates men would dwindle in unbelief.

Yanno what is just crazy to me ... if people would just read this simple one page document things would all be cleared up ... we are equal ... separate ... but equal. It is not only in the proclamation but it has been talked about but it is in scripture and has been talked about in talks up and down. Go to lds.org and search equality ... you will find a plethora of reading material explaining where our church stands on the subject.

I want to end this with my testimony ... with what I believe about this subject ... I believe that my church knows that men and woman are equal. I know that even though I don't have the priesthood myself I still am able to be blessed by it's power ... by marrying a priesthood holder my life is blessed everyday ... together we build each other up and hold each other accountable for our actions ... we work together and through that togetherness both of our lives can be blessed by the power of the priesthood. I wear a skirt to church because I believe in showing respect to my Heavenly Father ... I believe he deserves the best of me ... just because the best of my outfits just happen to be skirts doesn't make me less of a person. Heavenly Father does not care at all what you wear to church ... just that you go ... you should make an effort to give him your best. I may be seen as slightly old fashioned but I do like having the ability to stay home and rear the children ... maybe it is the perfectionist in me ... but I think that I am the best at raising my E ... I don't want to ship her off to some day care all day. There is nothing wrong with me thinking that the place for a mother is with her kids .... it is a fact that women are more nurturing. I know that everyone in the entire world has their own divine qualities ... we each have something to accomplish on this earth ... it will be different ... we are all different.

All I ask is if you have a question or have something that you are struggling with as far as the church is involved study it out ... I believe that you will find your answer ... I mean ... this church's basis is love ... whether you believe that or not ... it is true ... it may not always feels like it happens ... but it is our foundation.