Happy Birthday Tommy!

Oh my goodness Tommy is one!!

Huzzah!  He had a pretty rough day but after eating a ton of pizza and then being allowed to eat as much cake as he wanted her sure perked up.  I actually think he would have destroyed his cake a lot more if he hadn't just eaten said pizza.  When we tried a cake smash with Elsy I promised myself I would never do it again because she just poke the cake one or two times and then wanted nothing to do with it.  But then I had Tommy. ;)  I told Logan, before we actually gave Tom any cake, if Tommy didn't smash the cake then I really would never do it again  because if Tommy wouldn't eat cake, no baby would!  Tom didn't disappoint but was really excited about picking the sprinkles off most.

He got a bunch of balls and our friend Kurt gave him a real soccer ball which has ended up being the favorite.  We had some friends over to share in the pizza and cupcakes.  Logan has gotten very good at making homemade pizza, I think.  He now wants to get a pizza stone so we will have to think about that for his upcoming birthday. 

Every day I am continually surprised with what Tommy is learning.  He has learned to climb up our mini slide and makes a bee-line every time the gate isn't up for the stairs.  He climbs up on the fire place and into the dish washer and  has perpetual scabs and bruises on his forehead.  He learned how to 'wave' this week which mostly consists of him opening and closing his fist at people if he is feeling shy or reaching in their general direction and yelling if he is in a more friendly mood.

For the Family Home Evening activity this week Logan got out the insulation again and gave the kids rides.

Elsy just layed on it like she was Cleopatra and Tommy discovered if he leaned far enough off the edge he would fall off and decided that was a fun game.

My kids stayed sick throughout the week and both still have nasty coughs.  I ended up taking Elsy in to the doctors office because she had some scary incidents where she couldn't breathe very well.  She also was super bloated from some tummy issues.  She loves the fish tank there because they have Marlin, Nemo, and Dory along with a puffer fish and some others.  She was more energetic than she had been all week while we were there and was so excited to be there in the dark (our apt. wasn't until 6:30pm!)  She is doing a lot better now.

Tommy was also sick and took to just laying on me a lot.  I have been weening him to so I feel like he is extra cuddly.  I love his little nuzzles.  I keep thinking his diarrhea is gone and then I will open his diaper to find another random bout.  At least I know that it has been coming farther and farther apart.

If you have spent a lot of time with kids you may have discovered that for some strange reason children are super happy when they are naked and running around in their diaper/underwear.  I usually avoid this because Tommy starts to pull at his diaper and I don't want him learning to take it off and I also want to teach Elsy modesty from a really young age.  That being said, I have started letting them hang out for a short while every morning in their bare skins when I am getting them dressed... because they are just so cute and hilarious.  And come on, little bare tummies are so fun to zurburt and little chubby knees can be thoroughly missed when it isn't shorts season.

Every morning that I do this they both run directly over to Elsy's bed and start jumping, with Elsy declaring somewhere in there that she is Mowgli from The Jungle Book.  Tommy still cant jump but he bounces his knees and shakes his hands really fast while yelling.  He is always yelling...

The other day, during naked time... haha I need to come up with a different name than that!... he went and grabbed the Totoro that our babysitter Talia gave us for Christmas.  He was so happy I think because he could feel how soft it was on his tummy.

The Totoro is big and it also came with a Cat Bus and those two other little fuzzy guys that follow Totoro... I can't remember their names but one is blue and the other white...  He was trying to carry the two around though and it was to heavy for him and he kept falling and laughing all over the place.  

This week we were pretty cooped up because the kids were sick and it was also really rainy.  Just to get out of the house we went out to the the mailbox to stretch our legs.  Tommy was so excited to not be in the stroller for once and has since begun standing by the front door yelling and whining because he wants to go out.  It rains so much here that I decided one of the things we should get for Tommy for his birthday was a pair of real tennis shoes with soles (before he just had the crib shoes with suede soles).  That day he went to the door to whine and I put on his new shoes and we all went on a real walk where Elsy and Tommy didn't have to sit in the stroller the whole time.  After he fell straight onto his forehead in the driveway (because learning to use real shoes is super hard guys!) he started to get the hang of it and touched everything he saw.  It was so fun to watch him discovering new things.  And he went directly to the wood chips first and popped one in his mouth.  Typical boy...

I still brought the stroller and when we passed the fire house a kind fireman ran accross the street to give the kids fire hats.

Speaking of walking to the mail, Elsy is now our official mail opener.  Sometimes we get old mail from a previous person who lived here at the house and Elsy opened one of the letters and there were a bunch of address stickers in it.  Before I even realized she had opened it she had half the stickers on her body.

Since we are moving in... gasp!... three weeks!! we decided it was time to start doing some of the chores we have been putting off.  Logan went outside and power washed all the moss off the back patio while the kids looked on waiting for the occasional spray to the glass he gave them.  The patio looks awesome now and, like all chores, I wish we had done it sooner!  I have hated knowing we are moving but feeling like I can't really pack or anything because it was too far in advance.  Now that we have three weeks I feel like I can start packing some things and that is one of my to dos for this week.  It is so sad to be closing this chapter of our lives because we have loved Redmond so much.  The only comfort is the hope that some day we will come back.

Tommy is in that limbo at church where he is to rambunctious to sit in class but to young to go to nursery.  Logan is always roaming the halls with him because I teach the 4 year olds.  I loved this picture of Tommy because of his rosey nap cheeks.

We came home from church and were all so tired we all took naps... except Tommy didn't want to because he slept at church.  Logan was a good Samaritan and worked his magic by climbing into the crib with Tommy to help him sleep... and ended up falling asleep as well.  Love these guys!!

So, lately I have been thinking more and more that I need to take more control of my life. (It seems like I have said this before... so it must be a weakness I have I keep having to re-address).  Now that I am almost done nursing Tom I have been trying to lose weight by eating less and more healthy foods as well as working out in the mornings. (When I am nursing I am hungry allllllllll the time! so now I can take advantage of not feeling that way)  I have so far lost a whopping one pound but that is okay because I keep telling myself slow and steady wins the race... but gosh I wish it was faster than that!  Haha.  Excising has proven quite the struggle too.  I want to wake up before the kids do, but they have been sick and not sleeping good so I am NOT waking up before I have to.  But then I have to work out with them around which includes carrying Tommy on the treadmill and then Elsy because its no fair if I just carried Tommy.  And then after that I have to dodge little fingers that are running along the treadmill with me.  And then I have kids sitting on my back during planks or on my face while I do my ab work outs.  Its rough.  But my goal is just 20 min a day and maybe that is why the weight isn't coming off as fast as I would like but I keep telling myself at least I am making an effort and that is worth more than not.

My favorite, however, is when Elsy is next to me with her two dry erase markers while I am lifting my weights.  She is absolutely hilarious and very encouraging.  She always wants me to do jumping jacks.  And the other day Tommy stood next to us while we were doing weights and shook his hands up and down laughing as if he was doing it too.  My kids are the cutest.

Some other things I have been trying to do to take more control of my life are doing little projects to help me feel more productive with my time.  I don't know if it was smart of me to start trying to re-finish a dresser from Value Villiage right before moving time but it has been fun so far.  I am almost done sanding but it is hard because the kids are scared of the sander so I can't do it during wake times and the garage is right below Tommy's room for nap time.  But, again, slow and steady wins the race... or maybe it just makes you feel like giving up and taking the dresser back to Value Villiage...

Because of his cold, Tommy has been taking short naps (at least I am blaming it on the cold... because he better go back to taking long naps again!!).  So while he was awake one day I decided to finally finish his blanket I started before he was born.  I pulled it out, since I haven't worked on it in months!, and discovered it was completely done I just had to tie in all the loose ends.  I did so whilst watching Cupcake Wars and when Elsy came down from her nap she sat in front of the TV trying to grab the cupcakes off the screen with her two little fingers and pop them into her mouth.  I was kind of wishing for the same thing after eating a snack of cucumbers with cheese on them.... Leisha, if you are reading this... you are wrong.  Cucumbers do NOT taste better with cheese on them.

Voila!  I kind of love it and am proud of myself because I kind of meshed a stitch from a book my mom gave me with a picture of a blanket I liked from Pinterest.  It surprisingly ended up having a sort of ribbed look (see left photo) but I think I actually like it.  It is the thickest blanket I have made and is so warm and cozy.  And I am glad I finished it the day before Tom turned one.

Logan showed me this quote this week because it was something that really helped him through a hard week at work.  I loved it because it also helped me realize that it takes more than a desire to want to be better at things.  Dictionary.com says courage "is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear."  Courage is actually facing something rather than thinking or wishing about it.  It is taking action.  It is taking control of our own lives.

This week the above picture has been the screen saver on my phone.  I have been needing the extra reminder to maintain a cheerful attitude when things aren't going my way.  And if  I do that then I know I will be blessed.  I have noticed in my life that I go through an endless cycle of being really productive and happy with my life to feeling like what I do is pointless and I am not accomplishing anything.  I think after spending a week home watching Kung Fu Panda and Little Einsteins with two sick kids and the rain pounding on the skylight in the night while I am up with the sleepless coughers I was at the bottom of that cycle. I stumbled across this scripture about halfway through the week during Logan and my evening scripture reading that we have been doing before we go to bed (we recently decided that was something we needed to start again).   I think 'stumbling upon a scripture' is really God's way of leading you to answers you weren't even looking for or subtle reminders that, well in this instance, "Kayla just because there are rain clouds outside it doesn't mean you have to be one inside."  I am continually glad for the scriptures and have found that as I make an effort to read them, even when I don't want to or think I don't have time, the Lord sends little rays of sunshine to brighten my day.

Logan, Kayla, Tommy, and the Kitty Cat

Well, I skipped last week so sorry about that.  Sometimes I sit down to write and I'm just not in the mood, like last week. :P

My kids are growing to be so big.  Tommy turns one next Saturday and I can hardly believe where the time went.  I know everyone says that about their kids but honestly, it goes so stinkin' fast.

Tommy has begun the mimicking stage of his life.  He was waking around with a shoe up to his ear and talking as if he had a telephone this evening.  He also has been pretending to brush his hair because Elsy likes to do that to me.  He even brought me his shoes the other day when I was getting ready to go out and he will try to put them on by dropping them on his feet... that would be a cool invention... drop on shoes.  He giggles when I brush his four little teeth and Logan pointed out he has a big gap between his top two teeth like I did when I was little.  He never used to talk much but just in the last week he has really been experimenting with new sounds and it is darling. 

This girl is either a kitty cat or a princess always.  And she speaks in third person when she is a kitty cat:  "The titty tat wants a dwink!" "The titty tat is seepy!" "The titty tat needs to go potty" etc.  Logan says "What is it with little girls and them inevitably becoming cats!?"  I said I don't know because I was a cheetah for quite a while.  I guess it is just fun.  I am loving it a little because she used to whine every night when I left her in her room to go to sleep and now all I have to say is "Goodnight little Kitty Cat!" and she smiles and snuggles in her blankets with a little meow and doesn't whine a bit. 

Elsy loves playing the matching game my mom got her for Christmas.

My friend had a birthday so we took her out to lunch and this awesome Thai restaurant called Bai Tong.  If you live around here you HAVE to go and try their crispy garlic chicken.  Elsy really wanted to get in this golden boat but luckily I convinced her a picture would be more appropriate.

As always, my kids were total tornados and put on a real show for everyone there.  I was on the phone with my sister when I left and I forgot to put shoes on Tommy and a coat for Elsy.  I decided I can't judge other moms anymore when their children are only half dressed in public.

Last week my sister and her family came to visit.  Since we are moving to a little apartment I think they wanted to come again while we still had a spare room and extra sleeping space for the kids.  We went to the Kids Quest Children's Museum and had a ball.  

We took Leisha to Panera because she had never been and that place is like my absolute favorite (Sierra turkey sandwich and cheese broccoli soup all the way!!).  When we left I turned around and Elsy and Ezra were giving each other some cousin love.  They are too cute and are such good friends.

Ezra is about to get potty trained so Elsy showed him the ropes.  We just had him watch once but then later I found them sitting like this.  She kept asking if he could watch... weeeeird.

Leisha and I got to go to IKEA without any kids.  It was so awesome.  We got lots of stuff...

Something about cousins brings out a different side of Elsy.  She plays well with her friends in nursery and play group, but you get her around Ezra or Hannah and she is a crazy, laughy, hyper girly.  These two just would not hold still all weekend.

And of course the danger duo Tommy and Asher.

In other news, Logan has been working so hard on his startup with two other co-founders, Scott and Johnny.  He has been up late all week working on design, financing, etc.  I am really proud of him because he has really been pushing himself.  I try my best to support him but I often miss seeing him around.  At the beginning of this year we realized this was going to be a difficult year because the startup is well, starting up!  And that takes time, money, resources, more time, and oh yeah, time. It has been awesome to see how the Lord has pointed us in the directions we should go as we make big and even little decisions.  Logan had a strong prompting to meet with someone from our ward and the meeting went really well.  Logan learned a lot from him and they had some really good discussions.  He has also been meeting with another man from the ward who has been helping mentor Logan and the team.  Each week brings new challenges but it also brings more experiences that say, "Yes!  You are on the right track." :)

There is as giant visiting the castle!!  Elsy got this castle for Christmas.  I got it for her because I used to play with a similar one when I was little.  We always have to put it up on the couch for her to play or Tommy just attacks it.  Instead he stands in front of the castle while its on the couch and peeks in the windows.  

Tommy officially has dropped his second nap and therefore gets quite cranky around lunchtime and after dinner because he is staying up longer than normal.  But it has been so nice to not have my day broken into so many chunks.  Now we just have one official nap time where both kids sleep at the same time.  Its a dream.  And we spent a while, two weeks ago, dropping his first night feeding (he has consistently had two night feedings, one at 11:30 and the other around 3:30 for quite a long time).  He now wakes up for a short feeding anywhere between 4-6am and it is awesome!  I haven't slept so long in, well, almost a year!  Because he is almost a year old after all.

This week I got this dresser for $10 at Value Villiage.  I am going to try my hand at sanding, staining, and painting it.  Wish me luck, because I am totally going to need it.

For activity days we did a fun friendship night.  The girls were a hoot as we played a bunch of partner games like feeding each other candy bars tied to a string on a stick back to back, feeding pudding through a nylon, and trying to pop balloons attached to their bums with safety pins taped to their noses.

We had an odd number of girls so I had to sit in on the nylon pudding suck.  Logan said, "Why!?" when I told him about this activity.  I said I don't really know... I just remember doing the same activity when I was in Young Women's and having a total blast.

I went back and found a picture of back then... haha!  Fun stuff.

I also got to go to my good friend McKenna's baby shower.  It was so cute and she got the best stuff.  And the food was to die for.  I have been weening Tommy and it is so nice to be able to go out before bed time and not have to come back in time to nurse him before bed!

On Friday we had a little play date with my friend Camille's little baby Jaxson.  We also had my friend Alyssa over and a little Columbian girl that she babysits, Isabella.  It was so cute watching Elsy and Isabella lead each other around by the hand because neither spoke the other's language.

On Saturday morning I got up at 5:30am to go do a session at the temple for the first time in... dun dun dun 9 months. :(  When I realized how long it had been I couldn't believe it!  It was so nice to go, and my good friend Alyssa braved the early morning hours to come with me.  I was surprised to see another good friend, Janalee, there with her husband.  Janalee and I are on Activity Days together.  She is such a good example to me.  I found out they go every Saturday.  I thought to myself, well now I know I can always maybe see her on Saturday mornings at the temple - since we are moving and I am going to miss everyone!!

It was so great to sit inside the temple after it being so long.  I love the feeling of peace I get when I sit in the chapel before the session starts.  The only word I can use to best describe it is a feeling of safety.  And all I want is for my whole family to be in there with me.  I imagined Elsy in a little white dress sitting by me, and Logan in his white temple clothes... and then I imagined Tommy in a little white outfit too and I realized why he wasn't allowed because when I imagined him there, in my imagination he was yelling, like he always does, and that would ruin the peace and quiet. ;P  But I realized that someday I would love nothing more than to be in the temple with my husband and all my children.  In that moment I know my joy would be full.

It was a totally rainy week and the kids seemed a little cooped up.  Elsy discovered this weird Jungle Book movie on Netflix and always wants to watch it... I basically hate the show but it is funny what kids catch on to.

Since it poured all day on Saturday we had to get creative.  Logan used some of the insulation we use to block out the windows upstairs (for when we watch movies on the projector in the summer but now it gets dark so early we never use it) and taped it to make a tunnel for the kids.  They loved it... can you see Tommy's bum sticking out the bottom?

Sadly, our children are ill this weekend.  Tommy has been getting fussy and then having nasty poops - so I think he has stomach cramps.  And Elsy has been waking up in the night in coughing fits, wheezing, and having a really hard time breathing.  Of what I have read, the closest it sounds like is she may have croup?  If you don't use the Pediatric Advisor Index you should.  My cousin Michelle, who is a pediatrician first showed it to me and then my current pediatrician has pulled it up during visits so its pretty legit.  Anyway, on there it says to sleep in the same room with them if they have croup to better monitor.  So Logan moved Elsy's bed into our room after a particularly scary fit.  And then she slept fine the rest of the night long. - Forehead slap - Oh well.

But then she puked all her breakfast up at the table the next morning.  I thought maybe she gagged on her flem from coughing but tonight she had some nasty diarrhea so I am wondering if she and Tommy have the same stomach bug and then Elsy just has a cough on top?  Poor kids.  Elsy sat on the couch and watched Meet the Mormons and family home videos all day. 

Except the sun came out.  So we went on a nice walk in downtown Redmond on a bike trail.

Here is Elsy, sick but still smiling.  What a trooper!

Back to "Normal"

I saw a meme this week that said something along the lines of January being the Monday of the months.  I would have to agree.  Its after all the holidays, its cold and dreary (although our January has been surprisingly sunny this year!) and there is a long time until another fun break.  Plus the days are so dark.  Elsy has been pointing out every day that "Its getting dark!  The sun is getting seeeepy."

Logan has been practicing his "Dad Powers" as he calls them and has been getting up at 5 am all week to go into work, exercise, and then work so he can come home by 2 pm.  He has been working on getting the startup going that he is doing with his partners. 

Logan's parents were with us until early Tuesday morning.  Monday we had a big surprise planned for them, we had made an appointment to go to the new Family Discovery Center.  We kept it a secret and drove them to the stake center behind the temple.  It was so fun having them try and guess what we were doing.  When we got there, however, the doors were locked.  How confusing!  I set up an appointment... Above is me confused and looking up my appointment I set up... that just happened to be set up in Salt Lake and not Seattle.  Garrrrrrrrrrr.  No surprise Discovery Center for us.  It happened to be closed all day that day and we couldn't set up a later apt.  We were all so bummed and I felt so bad because it was my fault.

For the last night together we decided to go out to dinner at Claim Jumpers.  But they too locked their doors to us.  Apparently they were moving locations or maybe they went out of business, I don't know.  It was a day of closed doors for us!  But we had fun going to Frankie's Pasta and Pizza instead. :)

We were so sad to see David and Natalie go!  Especially since we won't see them probably until the summer time.  We always have so much fun with them when they come.

Once they left, however, we had to get back into the 'normal' and 'routine' of life.  But is there really such thing?

Elsy has taken an interest in reading.  She asks me all the time what things say and she loves 'reading' to us all the time... which is mostly her having books memorized that she knows word for word or she often paraphrases books in the cutest way.  She often reads to Tommy who has also finally started opening books and looking at the pictures instead of just completely destroying them.  Today he was looking at a book while I was changing his diaper and he started to talk jibberish.  I think he was 'reading' haha.

I can't say enough just how much I love my two kiddies.  This week I was rocking Tommy in one of those moments where he was to tired to fight me so he was just snuggling into my neck.  And while I was rocking him I realized that my children are truly a gift given to me of God.  I know I have felt that before but this time it dawned on me in a different way, maybe because it is just after Christmas.  But I thought about how when I give someone a heartfelt gift, I want them to take care of it.  I give it to them because I love them.  I realized on a different level that gift and that love that comes behind the gift from our Heavenly Father.

If you know Elsy at all you will know she loves to pack a pillow, teddy, and her green blanket (which is carefully rolled into a, well, a roll) and pretend to sleep everywhere.  She always blows out the candle before climbing into her little bed.  My parents gave her a sleeping bag for Christmas and that has been helpful because I don't have to look everywhere for her pillow at nap time now.

We spent the week looking at apartments in Issaquah.  I was adamant that we were not going to leave our Redmond 3rd ward but as the reality set in that that wasn't going to be possible I lost sleep and was super glum.  You may think your ward is cool, but seriously ours is the best.  We looked and looked and looked to stay but our ward boundaries are just to small (only one apartment complex in it) and we just couldn't find any houses to rent within our price range. :(

After a lot of thought we began to feel good about moving to Issaquah.  Here are a few of the reasons why:  First of all, Logan's startup is hopefully going to, well, start up this year.  There is an office they have access to down in Issaquah that when the time comes they will be moving into.  It will be really nice to be that close for commuting purposes.  Also, one of Logan's partners, Johnny, lives down there and being closer will make it easier for meetings and such.  Another huge factor is that in Issaquah we can get a lot more bang for our buck.  We can get a lot more square footage for the price down in Issaquah than in Redmond without having to sacrifice standard of living.  Reason three is we are a half hour closer to my parents house, which we go to a lot on the weekends.  That might not sound like a lot, but it can be with kiddos in the car.  We also have a few friends that live in Issaquah from our college days and it will be fun to live closer to them so we can hang out more.  When I think about moving to Issaquah I get excited... for a few seconds... then I remember I am leaving my ward and I feel oober sad and conflicted.  :(

We looked at several apartments but finally found one we absolutely love.  Its two bedrooms but has lots of storage (a must) and is very spacious with high ceilings, lots of square footage, and (my favorite) huge windows in all the rooms.  It is up on a hill and we will be able to see out pretty far.  Something I have really struggled with since moving to the Bellevue area is feeling a little bit claustrophobic.  I grew up in the dessert where you could literally see for miles and miles and coming here, where you can only see across the street before more trees obstruct the view, has been pretty hard for me.  And add the overcast and rainy weather and I am kinda stir crazy (hence we go visit my home quite often mostly so I can breathe) and I think it effects my mental health sometimes.  So when we found this apartment we couldn't have been more thrilled.  The complex also comes with a pool, which I am so excited to live at in the summer, and it even has a kiddie pool. :)  I also love the fitness center because it has a kids corner your kids can play at while you work out.  That is a gold star right there.

The only negative... besides leaving our ward family, which they really have become our family here,  is having to go to a new ward that starts at, gasp, 1 pm!!  Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

We can move in mid February.  We are now caught in that limbo of knowing we are leaving but not actually leaving.  Its hard because part of me never wants to leave but since I know we are leaving I'm just ready to get it over with.  I hate waiting for change.

We went to Costco on Saturday.  Do not go to Costco on Saturday.  See above picture for details...

While my house still has stockings hanging above the fireplace (seriously, I need to de-decorate!) Logan chopped up our tree and put it all in the yard waste bin.  Tommy was so cute and watched longingly from the window.  That kid just wants to participate in everything.  Whenever Logan and I are trying to get anything done we have to pick him up and move him someplace else so we can accomplish anything, but by the time we get back to said task we only have 30 seconds before he has walked as fast as he can back.  It is quite exhausting.

Logan pulled out the pack 'n play tonight and stuck him in it so we could get some stuff done.  Elsy was jealous so Logan put her in it too.  They both played together and we were finally able to enjoy some peace... but not quiet.

Last Sunday I was released from being primary pianist.  It was a little bit of a relief until they called me to be the primary teacher of the four year olds.  Logan joked that that was our answer, for it to be okay for us to leave the ward.  This Sunday was my first time teaching them.  I thought it was going to be difficult but it actually was a whole lot of fun.  I am sad now that we are leaving in a little over a month and I will only get to teach them for a short while.  I better make it count, I guess!

After church we went to Juanita Bay to walk around the boardwalks.  The sky was so clear and it was so beautiful outside.  Elsy wanted to throw rocks in the water, she takes after her father.

There are so many things I am going to miss about being up here in Redmond.  One of them is being close to Juanita Bay for Sunday walks.  I am also going to miss Farrel McWhirter park and that huge pig, Sunny.

Tommy eating his chin strap.

I have a favorite cousin who has been going through cancer treatments this last year  This week I heard about some of the things she was going through that made me sad. I was crying about it and Elsy kept trying to tell me to stop crying when I just wanted to cry.  Why does God allow these things to happen to the children that He loves?  Sometimes, even though I know the basic answers like "Trials are there to prove us and make us better" I struggle with the deeper meaning, the personal meaning.  And I struggle because I know these are not just one answer fixes, these are real people who are hurting and struggling.  I loved what my cousin said though, she said "Everything will work out just the way it's supposed to work out.  I have faith and I always have prayer so how can I doubt that everything will work out just the way He planned it to."  What an amazing example of faith.  I am so glad I know her.