Moving Experience

I wanted to write down our family journey for the past 8 months and I'm a terrible journal writer so it's going on the blog. I don't want to forget this past experience, so here it goes.
Really this story begins 5 1/2 years ago when Steve lost his job at Cream O'Weber. He was in sales for the company in the Cache Valley area and it was a great job. Well then the company went out of business and Steve was able to be hired for Meadow Gold but as a route driver. We were grateful for a job but knew that this would be a temporary job. We moved to Kaysville and continued on with life. We always thought Steve would move up in the company and it would be in Salt Lake (Salt Lake is the biggest branch for the company) or he would be able to find something different for sure in Salt Lake!
Well Steve has been looking for something different ever since we moved. He hasn't been able to find another job and moving within the company hadn't been working out for him until last summer. Steve was offered to be the route supervisor over the drivers in Montana. Montana!!! I hate moving and had no intention of ever moving again. I loved where we lived! We had great neighbors, friends, family close by- I loved it! But this was a great opportunity for Steve. So after discussing with each other about it, a lot and praying we felt like this is what our family was supposed to do.
We put our house up for sell in August and Steve came up to Montana at the end of September to start his new job. I stayed with the kids in Utah until our house sold. It was an uphill battle to sell our house. If I could do it again I would just wait until after Christmas to put our house on the market. It was slow and not the best time to sell. After New Years it really picked up and we got an offer in mid-February and we would close in March. We had found a house in Montana and things were going smooth to have everything come together. But the man wanting to buy our house pulled out 10 days before we were to close! Luckily we got another offer the next day so we were able to extend closing on our house in Montana. We finally moved April 28 and closed on our house in Montana on the 29.
So for 8 months I got a glimpse of how hard being a single parent is. I am amazed at those who are single parents. I still had Steve providing for us financially and luckily we have phones and facetime. He would come home about every 3 weeks but it would only be for the weekend. He'd be home Friday night to Sunday afternoon and then would have to leave again. Single parenting is so hard and I now have a new perspective for those who have to do it alone. I definitely have learned some things from the past 8 months that I wouldn't have otherwise.

I learned the lesson again to not judge others You never know what people are going through and we need to give each other the benefit of the doubt. I know that I needed (and still do!) others compassion, kindness and forgiveness. I couldn't have done it without the help of others. Such good friends, family, neighbors, and our ward family. I hope I can be someone that others can rely on for help. That I can give help when I see someone else in need because we need each other to get through life's adventures! My testimony about trusting in the Lord was strengthened as well. Their were so many days where I was questioning our decision to move. I just figured that since we felt this was the right thing to do that it would all work out easily. That isn't always the case. I learned that just because it is the right thing to do doesn't mean it will be easy! We have to trust Heavenly Father in that things will work out in his own timing- and they do! If we take the time each day to pause we can see how the Lord is blessing us and He is aware of our needs! We were blessed so much! We have such good friends and family who would watch my kids when I needed. Good friends to be with and who helped keep me sane. Steve was blessed too. Work paid for a hotel for him until Christmas and then he would have to find something himself. He looked for apartments but nothing was working out and then he ran into one of his old co-workers who lives here in Montana and had some connections. So Steve was able to stay at an Assisted Living Center that rents out some of their extra rooms. It was cheap, warm, and furnished. We had so many blessings and I'm sure many that I wasn't even aware of.
I wouldn't change this past 8 months if I could. I became a different person (hopefully for the better) and am grateful for this challenge in my life and the things I learned.