Merry Christmas from the Clarks!

Tomorrow is Christmas and we wanted to take a minute to express gratitude for a multitude of blessings that have been poured out upon us this year.  In the midst of many trials, we have felt an over abundance of love, support and blessings, almost like a cushion surrounding us and protecting us.  We thank our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ for these blessings and we know that all of the good things in our lives are because of them. 
We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and we hope that the new year ahead finds you all happy and well. 

                                                                  Love to you all,

                                                                    The Clarks

Confession

Here's my confession (which is probably stating the obvious):

I do not miss the Utah cold winters.  At all.  Not even a little bit.  

I love, love, love the weather we've had in California.  It's my kind of climate!  A week or so ago it was a little colder, but it didn't seem to get below 50 during the day and the nights were just below freezing.  But yesterday it was in the 80s and today is in the 70s and I love it!  The slight fluctuation is great.  

People often tell me that they like the whole boots and sweaters thing or how they love 4 seasons, but I'm perfectly content in this weather!  

These pictures are from our walk yesterday morning.  It was a beautiful day.  

I really couldn't be happier with our current climate and I am so grateful for it - no matter how short or long we get it.

Avila Beach

We've made it to the beach a few times since we've been here.  It's best if either one of us goes with the 3 older kids, or both of us go with all of the kids.  A few weeks ago I went with just the 3 olders and it was pretty fun.  It was actually nice to be somewhere without the stress of the younger kiddos.  I quite enjoyed my time there. 

I thought this was a cute house on our walk from the car to the beach.  I love the siding style and color.

Cute little beach walk.

Gracie, Henry and Ella.

The kids absolutely love it - they love all of it.  The water, the waves, the sand. 
The weather has been perfect for the beach.  Hopefully we can get a few more trips in before school starts.

Oh Budget!

We moved to San Luis Obispo 2 months ago.  The move was a crazy time, let me tell you.  It took us 3 days and we had an interesting run with the budget truck.  But we made it.  Moving is a beast, I tell you! 

Here we are as we were leaving South Jordan.  We had to pull over even before we go to the freeway because the DVD player in the car wasn't working... (major problem, I know!)

Here we are driving through Las Vegas.

Here we are in San Luis Obispo, parked in front of my parent's house.  We made it!

We made a decision!

Well, we finally made a decision.  We're moving to San Luis Obispo (my home town).  It's super unexpected, actually.  I never would have guessed we'd end up there.
We have felt along this whole process that the place we went was important - almost more important than the job.  And for us with this experience, the place came first - then the job quickly fell into place.  The inspiration came from prayers offered in the temple.  And as soon as we decided we would go there, the idea of what job to do came to Adam and it's all worked out since. 
We're nervous and excited and sad all at the same time. 
We leave June 5th, which is less than 2 weeks away.  So much to do! 
Hooray that we can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. 
And who would have ever guessed - I'm still surprised at what the answer was. 

Planning for...something...

When we first left our home, we first went to my parents house and spent 3 weeks there.  Then we were at the hotel for 4 weeks.  From there we went to Chelsey and Brent's house for 7 weeks.  Now we are at my friend, Sarah's, house and we have 3 weeks left.  The deal was we could stay until school gets out and school will be out in 3 weeks.  SO...where do we go?
We have a few options, but we're not sure about any of them.  We are kind of in denile, I guess.  We have hope that a miracle will happen in the next few weeks and then we don't have to choose our next place because we will be on our way to our final destination.  That's our hope, at least.  We are trying to have faith that it will work out that way.  "But if not, " we will still believe and we will continue to wait for the right opportunity to come our way.
But regardless of where we are going, we have a lot of preparation to do.  Most likely we will be leaving the area (and the state) and so we have a normal list of deeds that must be done, PLUS, we have a little list of things we want to do before leaving.  This is what is on that list so far:

-Hike Y Mountain
-Walk around BYU campus and eat BYU creamery ice cream
-Visit temple square in SLC
-Walk around the grounds of the temples in the area (Draper, Jordan River, Oquirrh Mountain, Mount Timpanogos, Provo)

We did have visit the copper mine on the list, but it is closed for the season due to a landslide.  It's all kind of exciting, plus sad at the same time.  We've both lived here since 1995 and so it's a sad to plan to leave.  And we have so much to do and 3 weeks really isn't a lot of time!  
So we are definitely planning and preparing to go somewhere in 3 weeks.  Where we are actually going to is the question that will be answered soon...

Look Mom - no hands!

I think my mom will appreciate this.  I am learning how to buy clothes at 2nd hand stores and I kind of like it!  I've mostly had an issue with buying things second hand (clothes, couches, etc) if I didn't know where it was coming from.  Kind of grossed me out.  But recently I've bought some things for my kids at Kid to Kid (local 2nd hand kids store) and I bought a few shirts for myself at Plato's Closet (local adult 2nd hand store).  It's not bad.  I especially like the prices!  You have to be patient to dig around, but in some ways it's even better than buying at a regular store.  For instance, I needed some boy vests in specific colors and so I shopped at 2 different Kid to Kid's and I was able to find just what I was looking for.  You can find most colors at any time of the year - you don't have to wait for a certain season like you would at a regular retail store.
Anyways - this probably isn't a big deal to most people, but it kind of is for me.  I think I'm finally starting to grow up.

For Sale

We had a huge sale yesterday at Chelsey and Brent's barn.  What did we sell, you ask?  Most of our belongings.  We have wanted to do it for some time now, but we've dragged our feet a bit.  But yesterday we finally did it and we found much success.  There were a lot of people there and we sold a lot of our stuff.  Whatever is left we will sell next week at our next and final sale. 
We did this for 2 reasons.  1.  We have felt promptings to do this for some time now.  2.  We just don't have the storage room to continue to store everything.  We have to fit our belongings into 2 storage units (instead of the 4 that we've currently been using) and there is just no way everything will fit in just 2. 
Yesterday was an emotional day.  Adam was much braver than I.  He sold all of his tools, and if you know Adam you know that he loved his tools.  That part breaks my heart a little.  And at the end of the day as we spoke about our experience he told me that through it all he wasn't sad but he was filled with gratitude. I didn't feel like that during the day, but as I pondered on his words I, too, was filled with gratitude.  Not because it was fun to sell all of our belongings, but because we have been so richly blessed.  We have witnessed so many miracles and so many tender mercies.  And I know that the Lord's hand is in our lives and for that I am so grateful. 

P.S. Thanks to Chelsey and Brent for being so patient with us and for allowing us to use their barn for so long. 

Finding my center

By nature, I am a very high stress, anxiety laden individual.  I do not do well under stress.  It takes over my body and I crumple - my mind stops working and I don't function very well.  Kind of an unfortunate feature of being me!
Since the beginning of this whole situation, we've been under a tremendous amount of stress.  The event that started us down this path was our decision to try to buy the house across the street.  And that in itself was SO stressful, as anyone who has ever bought a house knows.  Then when we didn't get that house and we already had new renters moving into our current house, that was crazy stressful!  And it all kind of snowballed from there. 
The good news is that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  And when I was baptized a member of this church, I also received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  If I am living in accordance to the laws of the gospel, I have a right to the help of the Holy Ghost/Spirit of God in times of need.  And that is how I have found my center throughout this experience. There is no other way to explain the times of calm and faith and hope (given my nature).   I often lose that center, but I can find it again and again and without that I would not be able to survive.  
I know that it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that I am able to have the help I need.  The Atonement can help to lift our burdens through the Spirit, if we choose to allow it.   In Mosiah 24, verse 14 (in the Book of Mormon) it reads, "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions."   The first time I truly experienced this lifting of burdens was the week we moved out of the house.  I had gone to the temple the weekend before and I had a strong feeling that everything would be fine and that we would end up in the place where we were supposed to be.  That assurance gave me SO much strength.  I was able to make it through a really tough week, without feeling the burden that was being placed on me.  I know for certain that I was receiving strength that week.  There is no other explanation.
So throughout this experience we have had a lot of ups and downs.  But I know that the ups are because we are willing to come unto Christ and we can find hope and strength through him.  How grateful I am for that.
These last few weeks have been particularly hard for both Adam and I.  But last night we spent some time at the temple and we were both strengthened and renewed in our faith.  We have been so very blessed in this journey and I bare you my witness that it has been through the Grace of God.
So grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the help that I can receive because of it.      

I need an oulet

I have so much in my head that just goes around in circles and festers.  There are many frustrations and stresses and just plain stuff to deal with right now.  So I thought that maybe I could blog about it to at least give it somewhere to go.
There is a lot of history here that explains our current situation, but I think I'll talk about different parts of the story as I go.
Today I have 2 sick babies - Sam and George.  They both have bad colds.  Poor little Georgie can barely breath from such a stuffed up nose.  And Sam.  Oh, Sam.  He is not a good sick patient.  He gets SO fussy when he's sick.   He already has fussiness issues and so it's REALLY hard when he gets sick.  This morning he screamed and screamed at 6:30 in the morning and woke Sarah up (we live with Sarah and her family) after she had planned to sleep in today (sorry, Sarah!!).
Sam tends to get ear infections easily and so I am taking him into the doc at noon to see if he has one this time.  MUST GET HIM BETTER!
I also decided to make him an appointment with Dr. Jerry Duggar - a holistic chiropractor in Bountiful.  I am getting desperate to figure out how to help him to be a happier child.  He has eczema all over his body and he is ALWAYS fussy.  I've listened to similar experiences with friend's kids and I am starting to believe that he has something going on inside of him that we can help with.  We just need to find what it is.  Dr. Duggar says that eczema is almost always associated with gut issues.  I think that he might be able to help us figure this out.  But I will make the appointment Monday since they are out of the office today.  
And George is having neck issues.  He needs a little bit of help from a physical therapist, but the first available appointment is June 3rd, so I made the appointment and then we'll be on a cancellation list until then.  Hopefully we can get in sooner.
These are just a few medical issues, I guess.  But there is so much more to talk about and so I will plan to do other posts.  What could I have to talk about, you ask?  So much, I tell you!  Here is a brief overview: We are completely exhausted in every way, we have a new baby and we're trying to adjust to 5 children, we are looking for a job, we're living in someone else's home, we haven't been in a home of our own in 5 months, and all of our belongings are in storage.  So you see - I'm just getting started.

Update - Sam does have an ear infection.  Mommy senses, I tell you.