The Scoop...Take 2

I call this post "Take 2" because when I wrote it the first time, Brandt said it was too personal to post on a public blog. So Take 1 is going in my journal, and here is Take 2 for your reading pleasure :).

This past year since graduation has been crazy for both of us. Brandt struggled with what he wanted to do with his business degree. He felt good about choosing it as his major, but never knew why because a career in business (other than starting his own business) never interested him. On the other hand, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my career, but have struggled with finding a permanent job (blasted economy!). Things never turn out quite the way you expect them to, but nevertheless we have had a good year. Brandt has a good (though slightly mundane) job and I've always been lucky enough to find temporary work; we really have been blessed. Life is good! After much prayer and pondering, Brandt has decided that he wants to pursue a career with either the BLM, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, etc. This semester, he is taking classes online through Oregon State (go Beavers!) to fulfill the prereqs. for the Master's program he hopes to get in to at the University of Idaho (go Vandals!) this fall. Kind of confusing, I know, but at least Brandt has it all figured out. This is finals week for him, so wish him luck!

So what's next for us? Well...drumroll please...

We're moving to Idaho Falls!

I got offered a full-time job with Harris Dental, which is the same office I worked in last fall while one of their hygienists was on maternity leave. I've been able to fill in for a few different offices in the past year, and so far Harris has been my favorite, so I'm very excited. It took us a couple of weeks to make our decision about moving. I didn't want to commute, and I didn't want to accept the job and then have to quit a couple of months down the road if Brandt got a job somewhere else. We were pretty stressed for a couple of weeks while we were trying to make the best decision. We prayed about it all the time, but didn't feel like we were getting any answers, which was very frustrating. But after I got over the initial frustrations I was feeling, I remembered a talk given by Richard G. Scott in April 2007 General Conference entitled "Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer". At that time, this talk really struck me; I was struggling with receiving an answer as to whether or not I should do dental hygiene or not (this was before I knew I had been accepted to the program). Since that time, even three years later, parts of the talk still come to me when I am struggling with the same thing. Here are some of my favorite things Elder Scott had to say:

"A key to improved prayer is to ask the right questions."

"Seldom will you receive a complete response all at once. It will come a piece at at time...so that you will grow in capacity...He will prompt you in quiet moments when the Spirit can most effectively touch your mind and heart. Hence, you should find periods of quiet time to recognize when you are being instructed and strengthened."

"Your life will be easier when you accept that what God does in your life is for your eternal good."

And concerning those times when you pray and feel like you get no response, Elder Scott said that we should thank God when this occurs because it is evidence of his trust. He went on to say:

"When you are living righteously and are acting with trust, God will not let you proceed too far without a warning impression if you have made the wrong decision."

I have thought of this last quote often since I first heard his talk, and it has comforted me many times when I have felt that I was getting no response to my prayers. I am so grateful for inspired leaders of the church!

So Brandt and I decided that we would weigh out all of our options, decide what WE wanted to do, and then pray about that. So...we're moving to I.F.!

We hate the cold, so next winter will be interesting, but other than that we're excited! (especially Brandt, as fishing opportunities are abundant up there :) Brandt is going to transfer to the Lowe's up there (he just can't seem to break away from that place!) and keep looking for jobs that will help him get some experience with the agencies he wants to work for, maybe a summer job or something like that. So now the focus of our prayers is for Heavenly Father to just let us know if this is an all right plan. And so far, we haven't necessarily felt "good" about this decision, but we definitely haven't felt bad about it either. So I am following Elder Scott's counsel and trusting that God will not let us move too far in the wrong direction without warning us - as long as we are living righteously.

We went apartment shopping on Friday, which, by the way, is crappy! Brandt was so grumpy after the first hour, which made me grumpy. Needless to say it was a LONG day! But we perked up after we found a townhouse that we both like. We hope to move around the first of next month. So this is our plan for now... we'll see how it goes!