on promptings, blessings, and our new home.

Source: inspirationblog.nl via GROEN on Pinterest

i've been meaning to write this post for some time, 
to remember all of my thoughts & feelings, 
and decided what better time than the week where we reflect on all of our blessings that i finally sit down and write it out. :) 

when we first found out Adam got accepted to Midwestern we tried not to get our hopes up too much. it is always our luck that once we start making plans, something always seems to fall through.

we were very wary of everything.
we looked forever trying to find a good apartment that fit our needs.

we finally found an apartment complex that we liked but we still had a lot of doubts,
mainly that they seemed to raise their prices every week.

we were getting so frustrated and didn't know what to do.
we had/have a strict budget and felt like we just couldn't afford most of the apartments that were close to the school.

i remember telling my friend,
"you know all those stories where crazy stuff happens to people right at the last minute and everything works out perfectly? why can't that happen to me??"
and my very wise friend replied,
"because you aren't in the eleventh hour yet."

and she was right.
we weren't at the total point of desperation yet.
and our faith was still needing to be tried & tested a little more. 

a few weeks,
phone calls,
tears,
frustrations,
and two big long pros/cons lists later,
Adam and i sat down together to make a final decision.

nothing felt "right" to us yet but this time we were getting desperate.
we needed an apartment fast & we were willing to pay anything at this point.

as we sat and talked and prayed about our decision, the first apartment kept nudging at us.
we both admitted that all logic pointed at picking another apartment complex.
but for some reason we could not deny the fact that we had some pull to it.

we decided that we could not ignore those feelings and that's where we needed to be.
so we sat down, gritted our teeth, and prepared to sign the foreboding contract.

and our blessings came almost immediately. 

with some smart maneuvering, Adam was able to secure the original price of the apartment that we had been quoted before it kept increasing each week.
making our apartment almost $200 cheaper than we thought we were going to have to pay.
blessing. 

after signing the papers i started to get really nervous & anxious about leaving the comfort of our little Provo area.
i was scared of change.
after i made the announcement on the blog, i found out there were a couple other blogger friends who lived really close and have given us lots of help with the transition.
blessing. 
{thank you all!!}

the day we moved in, less than an hour after we had arrived, we met our new neighbors who: were in our ward,
had a little girl Eli's age,
were going to Midwestern,
immediately offered to help us unpack,
AND watched Elijah while we moved in so we didn't have to chase him.
from day on we have become best friends. 
blessing. 

a week after we moved in our car broke down on the way home from church.
we were stranded in the hot heat, in a new town, and with a grumpy, sweaty toddler.
in any other place there would be absolutely no one we could've called or been able to rely on.
but because we chose this school and this apartment, we were neighbors with my best friends growing up. the only people we knew. and our oldest friends.
they were able to come get us right away and help us take the car to the shop the next day.
during such a HUGE stressful time, they were the biggest comforts to us!
blessing.

without question & without ever meeting us before, our new ward members showed up in the 115 degree heat to help us unload our big truck.
they also welcomed us with open arms, reaching out to us and especially our little boy from the very first day at church.
blessing. 

i could go on to list more great things that have happened since we chose our current home.
and it is all so amazing to me looking back on it.
how we had no idea what was in store for us.
how we felt like it was going against all logic & intuition and yet something still prompted us forward.
how following that prompting has brought us more blessings than we could imagine.
how the Lord knows our circumstances and hears our prayers.
and how He always knows what is best for us! 

we definitely learned that lesson first-hand & are so grateful for that knowledge.
we are grateful for our little home & all the people here who have helped us so much.
and we are grateful for the Lord's guidance & His love that has brought us to where we need to be.

Source: society6.com via Mary on Pinterest