Looking back, it's a blessing we had so many mishaps in the month of August versus another month, because with August came lots of fun things too like the Park City Arts Festival and Lagoon (see next post) to help balance it out. We also had the most amazing blessing come our way. Here is a little excerpt of it as shared in our Christmas letter:
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In August, Dan got an amazing job! We were quite
sad when the seminary teacher route didn’t work out, but feel very blessed to
know that Heavenly Father still had us in mind. He is working at the LDS
Bishop’s Central Storehouse as a supervisor over 30+ special needs
missionaries. He is able to use his warehouse skills obtained in the Air Force,
his degree in Special Education, and what he learned in the Seminary Teaching
Program all in just this job. It’s funny how sometimes we don’t understand why
our lives have changed routes so many times, but Heavenly Father always has a
pretty awesome goal in mind if we just trust in Him. We are sure glad we did!
We are so grateful for all our many blessings and the trials that make us stronger, thus becoming blessings themselves. This month brought quite a few!
First- I broke my nose and had to have surgery. I was sitting on the floor downstairs looking through our game cabinet with the drawer open above my head. Dan asked me a question and I looked up, which caused me to scrape my entire nose up the bottom edge of the drawer. It felt awesome. Oh the clumsy things I do. A year later, my nose feels pretty much back to normal, unless something drastic happens like Daphne head-butting me (which when that does, it hurts pretty bad for a few days). The healing was a VERY slow process but I can officially now say I have broken a bone! First bone broken in my life. I would be okay if it's the last, haha!
I was so grateful for all the help I had. Dan had just started a new job so Dan's parents helped me the day of surgery so he didn't have to take off work. Dolores drove me to and from my surgery, and both Jeff and Dolores took turns watching Daphne throughout the whole day. To top the day off, our deadbolt broke while locked, which left me locked out of the house after my surgery. It was interesting to sit out in the hot sun on our porch right after I was released from the surgical center until Dan could get home from work with the garage door opener, haha. Jeff was nice enough to help Dan get it fixed later on that day.
I also had a sweet girl who could tell mommy wasn't quite well, so she helped feed me my dinner.
Poor sweet girl became quite sick herself, so we enjoyed the next day cuddling and having Aunt Nat help us to the doctor for Daphne and fed us yummy food. She was a lifesaver.
Second- Dan's sweet Grandma Crandall passed away. We were blessed enough to be able to attend her funeral in St. George with the rest of the family. Daphne stayed with my mom as she was extremely sick and I had just had surgery a day before and didn't feel up to caring for her very well quite yet. She did great at my parent's house and I was so happy they were willing to help so I we could attend her funeral.
Darlene was such an amazing woman, it was hard to see her go, but we are so happy that she is now in Heaven with her beloved husband. I loved being able to attend her funeral and learn more about the remarkable woman that she was.
Lastly, my childhood dog, Angus, passed away. I knew it was coming for awhile, but the way it happened was very emotional for all of us. Dan and my dad were working on building my parent's deck when my mom and I came out with Daphne and Angus to say hi. The deck didn't have a railing yet and poor Angus walked right off of it (he was pretty blind at this point and couldn't see well enough to realize there was an edge) and fell and hit his head on a rock, which caused enough brain damage that he died almost instantly. My mom and I went immediately down there and were able to have a minute to say goodbye to him. It was really hard to watch. I know it was his time, but I wouldn't wish even my worst enemy watching their childhood best friend pass away like that. I miss him and so does Daphne. He had become her best friend too. I know he wasn't the perfect dog by any means, Dan and him sure had a pretty good rivalry going on, but I am grateful for the great memories he provided for Daphne and I. Most of all, I am so grateful that Daphne was safe through the whole thing. My mom and I were both trying to watch her and Angus very carefully and unfortunately Angus got away too quickly. I am so grateful my sweet little girl wasn't involved in the mishap.