2008: A year of trials, miracles and blessings!

This past year has been one of the hardest years of my life! 2008 brought many trials but also many miracles and blessings. I spent many a day on my knees this past year asking for direction and comfort from my Heavenly Father in all that our little family has been through.

As I have visited with my wonderful husband about the many things we have been through this year we cannot deny the hand that the Lord has had in our lives this past year. We have truly been blessed this past year!

One of our biggest blessings is our children: Kaleb and Karmindy.
It is amazing how you can take having them in your lives for granted. I know I never will again.

In May our second baby was born, a little girl, whom we named Karmindy Rose. She was 6 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 inches long. Just shortly after her birth we found out she would need open heart surgery to repair two holes in her heart(VSD, ASD) as well as a constricted aorta. It was devastating to find out our daughter would have to endure something so serious in her new life here on earth. Mark and I spent three weeks up at Primary Children's Hospital with her, which is truly such a short time considering how long many families do stay there with their sick children. It felt like years though while we were living up there. (We stayed at the Ronald MCDonald House which was so nice because it was just several minutes away from the hospital.)Karmindy had open heart surgery 4 days after she was born. We look back and realize all the little blessings that we were blessed with so that she could stay here on earth with us. Karmindy had an Excellent Pediatrician and Baby Nurse at Dixie Regional Medical Center that were on the Ball and helped catch the signs of her condition before it was too late. We know that if we had been discharged the day after having her like we were planning, that she would have died shortly after taking her home. We are so grateful to the skilled Surgeons that operated on Karmindy at Primary Children's. They are truly gifted men and women who bless so many families with their amazing knowledge and skills. We were able to take Karmindy home after 3 1/2 weeks. We took her home the first weekend in June. It was two days after my 27th birthday. It was a wonderful birthday gift to take her home! Karmindy came home with a feeding tube and then about a month later she was able to have the strength to eat on her own with out the tube. Karmindys surgery was a success and she should lead a normal life. We will have to take her in for routine check ups every six months to monitor her heart. We are so blessed to have her here with us still and so fortunate to have her in our family. We feel she has some amazing things to do here on earth in her life time!

Here are a few pictures of Karmindy at Primary Children's:

Karmindy several days after her birth. She is in the NICU at Primary Children's preparing for open hear surgery.

This is Karmindy several days after having open heart surgery.

Karmindy in her hospital bed in the PICU.

Karmindy two weeks after having open heart surgery. I think she looks like an angel.

This is our going home picture! Karmindy is soo tiny!

Our little girl today! This is Karmindy at 6 1/2 months!

After about a month from returning home to Southern Utah (In July) we found out the company that Mark was working for was laying off people because of financial problems. We looked and looked in Southern Utah for jobs but we couldn't find any jobs in the Computer Programming field that were hiring. Just days after sending out resumes. Mark received several calls from several companies (located in Northern Utah) that were interested in him and his skills. He found a job the first part of August and started commuting to Southern Utah on the weekends to be with us. In the meantime, we put our home up for sale and were able to sell it to some friends of ours. We feel that we were extremely blessed to find a job and sell our home with in a month of finding out we wouldn't have any employment. Looking back, we have felt that we were being led up to Northern Utah.

It has been extremely hard to leave St. George and our familiar surroundings, our family and dear friends. We miss our very first home, neighborhood and ward.

Our very first home.

(I took this picture one winter because it never snows! I had to document that it actually snows in Ivins Utah. Even though it was just a little bit!)

Since our move to Northern Utah, we have been truly blessed. We found a twin home to rent while we searched for a home to buy.

This is the twin home which we rented while looked for a home to buy.

At the end of November we found a home to buy.

We actually came across the very home we bought on the MLS when we first moved up here but when we asked our agent about it she said it was under contract. Just last month, our agent came to us again and said that the home that we kept coming back to was available again on the market!! It has been humbling to see how things have fallen into place for us this past year and we are so grateful for everything and know that we have been lead to where we need to be at this time in our lives.

Since moving up here, we have met some very nice people and have made some good friends. We are excited to meet and make more friends.

Throughout our experiences this year, our testimonies of the gospel have strengthened so much. We believe more than ever that the Lord leads you to were you are needed and if you will follow his teachings and guidance you will be blessed. Even though at times you have to sacrifice so much.

We have learned more than ever this year how fortunate we have been to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives. We couldn't have gotten through any of this with out everyones help and support. We love you all. May 2009 be a wonderful year for everyone!