Feeling Blessed...

Today is my 25th birthday, and I really didn't want to write a post about me because I like to write about the other people in my life, not myself . Plus, I don't want my blog to be "braggy" (is that even a word?)! But after the past couple of days, I've realized just how blessed I am to have what I do, so I thought I would write a "brag blog" since I feel like a pretty lucky girl right now! I will try to not make it too cheesy or annoying! :)

First, I have to brag about my fabulous family! Honestly, I really think I have the best family in the world (and I do include my husband in that, even though he's not in the picture to the left!). They are so supportive, no matter what, and I feel so incredibly blessed to have them. When Greg and I first started going through this whole job fiasco a few months ago, I remember calling my mom one day to vent and she was telling me that earlier that day, she was so sick to her stomach over the whole situation that she had called the Provo temple and the Timpanogas temple and put our names on both prayer rolls. I started bawling. It was just one of those experiences where even though you have always known your parents love you a lot, you now realize that they love you more than you can comprehend. And it's not just my mom. My dad and my sisters are both so great too! I really am lucky to have a family that is so close and great.

Also, I have always known I have great friends, but today it became that much clearer when my neighborhood friends gave me a little surprise. Yesterday, my friend Dana asked me if I could watch her little boy around 12:30 today while she registered him for preschool. I watch him all the time, so I thought nothing of it. Plus, Greg has been at work all day and I had nothing special planned, so I figured I might as well help her out. Well, instead of just bringing him over for me to babysit, she showed up with all my close friends from the neighborhood, and cake and ice cream! We let the kids terrorize my family room downstairs while we sat and talked upstairs. It was seriously so fun, and it made me realize how lucky I am to have good friends. Since I don't live really close to my family, my friends have become my "pseudo-family," and I feel fortunate to have them! :)

Last, I feel so fortunate to have the Lord in my life. I have really felt His hand in my life lately, and I feel so blessed. This was very apparent to me yesterday as our job saga continued... When I wrote the blog about Greg's new job two Fridays ago, he had only been given a verbal offer by Qwest at that point. While we took that as good news, we didn't realize that he wouldn't get a written offer from them until he went through another drawn-out interview process with HR in Denver. We knew from day 1 that he wouldn't start until May 19th, so initially when things were taking so long with HR, we weren't worried. But after a week of not hearing from them, we starting panicking. Fortunately, yesterday we heard back from them and everything is finalized now, so we are feeling really relieved. The interesting part is that when Greg called his boss to put in his notice, his boss's response was, "I thought you'd be calling to say that, so I already hired somebody to take your spot." He flew in last week, unannounced, and apparently hired somebody then to replace Greg! So if Greg hadn't gotten this job at Qwest, I'm sure his boss would have just brought in this new manager one day and fired Greg. It just makes me sick to think about. But that's where I really feel the love of the Lord, because I know this was in His hands. He knew exactly what was going to happen, and helped us out before we became jobless.

Well, sorry if that was a long post and if it was boring, but I really feel like I have a lot to be grateful for. I complained for the longest time about the whole job situation and I think I really needed a post like this to look at and remind me just how lucky I am. -Ash