6. Nick got a new job!

This is our miracle story. (besides all of the other wonderful blessings we've had this year)

I'll start from the beginning. During Stake Conference back in November, President Donahue gave a wonderful talk about prayer. I was the only one who attended conference this year because everyone else in the house was sick (most likely with swine flu-doctors don't want to see you if they suspect you have it) I came home and gave my report of conference to everyone in the house, and went on my merry way. Nothing in particular stood out to me during conference, and I didn't think much of it.

A couple weeks later Nick and I were at the Harvest ball. Where we were able to speak to a lot of our friends from Somersworth. While there we spoke with Brother Della-Piana. He came up to us and told us of his little miracle.

Him and Kristie were so moved by President Donahue's story about prayer, and a story that he told from his mission that they decided to take that same concept and apply it to their lives.

Let me start by paraphrasing the story.

While President Donahue was on his mission, they were in desperate need to find a new mission apartment. The one they had wasn't in a very good neighborhood. The mission president had asked Brother Donahue to go with him to look at apartments. President Donahue, like anyone looking for a new apartment, looked in the newspaper, and cut out different ads for different places that they might look at. When the mission president picked him up that day to go look at apartments the mission president took him to the closest apartment complex to the mission president's office. They went in and the mission president asked if there were any apartments available. The landlord said, "No, we just recently rented out the last one." The mission president then began to ask various questions about the new tenant and found out that he was a new doctor, and was completing his residency at the nearby hospital. President Donahue the whole time kept thinking, "If there's none available here, let's move on to the next one." The mission president asked the landlord if he could put a deposit on the apartment that the doctor had rented, and that if the apartment wasn't available in a week the landlord could rip up the check, after much reluctance (this was a doctor of course, they're usually well off) the landlord agreed to the terms. President Donahue was confused, he thought that they were supposed to find a new apartment, but after only looking at one, and that one didn't have any available he wasn't too sure that they should stop their search so soon. Upon questioning the mission president, he stated, "We're going to pray for that doctor to leave." and that's what they did. They said a prayer together, and prayed that the doctor would find a better opportunity elsewhere so that they could move into that apartment. A week later, the mission president got a call from the landlord saying that the doctor had been offered a new job at a much more prestigious hospital to finish out his residency, and that the apartment was available if he still wanted it.

When speaking to the Della-Piana's they told us about how they had been trying to sell their house for quite some time. After hearing this story, they prayed that if the time was right, that they would sell their house. The next day, they got a phone call for someone to view the house. By the end of the week, those exact people, put in an offer.

After hearing these two stories, Nick and I decided to put the Lord to the test. Nick wasn't getting enough hours at the YMCA, and the split shift wan't working out so great. He had been looking for a new job for a few weeks, and was having a tough time finding anything. The previous week he didn't find a single job to apply to that he hadn't already applied to. After talking to the Della-Piana's we prayed that a good job would open up, and that the person who was previously in that position would find a better opportunity elsewhere. We prayed that if this is what we were supposed to be doing right now that the Lord would show us some sign to confirm it. The next week, Nick had 2 call backs from jobs, and 2 interviews set up. At one of the interviews he learned that the person who was in the job previous to it opening up, had moved up in the company. A week later, and after a second interview, this was the job that he was offered. He starts work on Monday December 14th. He will be working for a company called One Sky Communties which also helps adults with developmental disabilities, but he will be working in their office as a receptionist. It is the best job that he has had since we have been married. We are SO very thankful and grateful to our Father in Heaven for reminding us that miracles do happen, and reminding us just how mindful he is of our needs.

5. We got a second vehicle!

With Nick's job at the YMCA it has been tough figuring out who gets the car. The YMCA job is a split shift, and with my job, I need the car to drive my clients around. Thankfully Nick's parents have been very kind with driving Nick to and from work to get him home in the middle of the day. (of course we cover the gas money) We decided that we needed a second vehicle, just something cheap that will get him to and from work and school. After searching craigslist we went out and looked at a few cars and settled on a '95 Chrysler Cirrus. We were able to talk the previous owner down to $350 (yes, that's the correct number) We test drove it, and everything seemed to be in decent working order. The only issue which we knew about, which the previous owner told us, was that the power steering didn't work. Not too big of a deal we figured, especially at that price.

We drove the car home that day, with no problems at all. Things were looking good. That is until Nick's dad went to move the car so that he could get his car out of the driveway. When he moved it, he came into the house and said, "I see your ABS brake light is on." Nick and I were both like...um...it wasn't a few minutes ago! :)

Since then, the transmission has started dying, on occasion it decides that it doesn't want to shift out of first gear, and it has trouble idling when you first start it up. *sigh* I guess it was too good to be true! Thankfully we've still been able to drive it, once you get it going, and as long as you don't go over 40MPH you're good. Things have been easier with our commutes to work, but unfortunately, we're going to have to purchase another vehicle, one that is a bit more reliable.

4. We left our jobs in AZ, and moved back to NH

So, if you read our last post, you basically know why we moved back. Soon after we felt that we needed to move back, Nick and I both gave our 2 weeks notices, packed up our belongings, (which wasn't too difficult because we hadn't fully unpacked everything yet) and drove back to good ole New Hampshire. We were so sick of driving across country at this point that we wanted to get back ASAP so we tried to drive as long as we could. We left on Saturday, August 1st and arrived in NH on (I believe) August 3rd, or early on the 4th.

Nick's parents were very kind to let us be able to live with them. We told them that we would even sleep on our air mattress in the living room. We didn't want to inconvenience anyone more than what we knew we already would. To our surprise, when we arrived we got our own Extreme Home Makeover moment when they stated,

"WELCOME HOME PETRIE FAMILY! WELCOME HOME!"

They then proceeded to cover our eyes, and move us across the house. When we were allowed to open our eyes, to our amazement, they had redecorated their old office into a beautiful bedroom, just for us, complete with new furniture and everything we could possibly need. (Even a bag of skittles! -YUM) We were in shock. This was way more than either of us could even have dreamed of. We were (and continue to be) extremely thankful that they have been so kind and generous to us.

So, Nick and I for the last few months have been living with his parents in Chester, NH and attending the Derry ward. Nick is currently the 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum presidency, and I work in the Nursery (which I absolutely love)

A few weeks after we arrived, after much searching, we both were blessed with new jobs. I got a job working for a company called Lifeshare as a Life Coach working with adults with developmental disabilities and helping them to be more independent and help to integrate them into the community. Nick got a job with the YMCA working with elementary aged children at a before and after school program.

Since then it's basically just been us trying to get everything in order so that we can save up for our own place again. We're hoping to purchase some type of home of our own. (we're not too sure exactly what yet) It's now December and we're starting to feel like we'll never make it, so many things keep coming up, that it's been making it hard to save as much as we would like (which will be another post) but we're trying to stay optimistic.

3. Amanda's new calling! and Other Church Issues

About a month after we moved to Arizona. This is where the story gets interesting. Nick and I were having some difficulties adjusting to life in our new ward. It was very large, and we didn't feel too welcome. Whenever we met someone the conversation went something like this,
"Hi! How are you? I'm________, are you new to the ward?"
"Yes, we just moved here from NH."
"Wow! NH! That's quite a ways. Where are you staying now?"
"In the Orange Grove Apartments."
"Oh...Well it was nice to meet you." Followed by a quick exit.

Our ward boundaries were a little weird. There was about a 1mile square block around the chapel (which was also a stake center) which were the ward boundaries. Our apartment didn't fit into this boundary, but was part of the ward. Our apartment was actually about 3 miles from the building. The reason for this was that there were so many apartment complexes in the area that instead of having them all go to one ward, they decided to split them up, each apartment complex would have a different ward. The majority of our ward was very affluent, except the people who lived in our apartment complex. There appeared to us, to be a separation of the two classes, where one would look down upon another, regardless of anything else. It only mattered where you lived, and that was all you were judged upon.

Not to say that the people weren't nice. There were a lot of great people and great families within the ward, from both aspects of the spectrum. Coming from small ward, NH this was very difficult for us. We would get so upset because we felt like, "LDS people are supposed to accept and love everyone, regardless of their circumstance." We had a lot to learn of the different trials that different wards faced. It definitely opened our eyes to a broader picture.

My visiting teacher came over one day and actually brought up a conversation about it without me bringing it up, and told me that the ward used to be a lot worse about 20 years ago when her husband grew up in it. When she was married to him, and they moved back into his childhood ward, she was really afraid about belonging to this ward because of how judgemental they were. When her husband was growing up, the ward boundaries were the same, (minus the apartment complex) but that even in that 1 square mile there was a huge difference in income. On one half of the street, you had some really rich members, and on the other half, you had some really poor members. Things didn't get better until one woman who was in the "poor" bracket, became Relief Society President, and said something similar to, "We're all different, and we have no right to judge another's circumstance. We can have no idea what another family is going through financial or otherwise." From what my Visiting teacher described, things are 1000x better now than they were then. I was very grateful to have a visiting teacher so in tune with the spirit to be able to send this message along to me, so that I didn't fall into the same trap of judging others. Thanks to her I am able to have a much better understanding and love for this ward, rather than resentment, to know how far they have come.

What does this have to do with me getting a new calling? You'll see. :)

So, one Sunday, I was pulled into the Bishop's office to receive a new calling. I was called to be a Laurel Advisor. I was thus sustained during sacrament as such. That afternoon,(Church went from 11am-2pm) after sacrament, I attended Young Women's for the first time, in which the YW president came up to me and said, "Oh! You must be the new Mia Maid advisor." I informed her that as far as I knew I was the Laurel Advisor, to which she replied, "Oh. Well the Bishop must have made a mistake, we don't need a Laurel Advisor."

Well, what a way to get under my skin. The whole day I kept repeating in my head, "Smile, be nice, be nice." I was very upset needless to say. Thus began my trial #2 with the church. I had a really difficult time with the fact that if the Bishop is supposed to be calling people, based upon spiritual impressions, how could he have given me the wrong calling?

I hadn't been set apart yet, so I decided to wait it out and talk to the Bishop later.

That Wednesday after mutual, the group drove down the street to visit the previous Mia Maid Advisor, who had recently been married, and moved out of ward boundaries to give her a going away present. To which the YW president she thus introduced me as the new Mia Maid advisor in front of everyone. I took her aside after the activity and politely said to her, "As far as I know, the Bishop has called me as the Laurel Advisor, and I feel uncomfortable with you introducing me as something that the Lord hasn't called me as." She politely nodded, and we went our separate ways for the night.

The next Sunday, the Bishop's called me into his office, and explained that he was mistaken, and that he needed me as a Mia Maid Advisor. I asked if I could have some time to pray about it so that I could receive the same answer, at this point I was still quite upset over the issue, and needed some more spiritual guidance.

While we were praying about this issue, and a lot of other things, we got the impression that we needed to move back to New Hampshire.

The Sunday after that, the Bishop wasn't there, so his counselor took me into his office to set me apart. We informed him, that we had decided to move back to NH, and that we would be moving in 2 weeks. He decided to still set me apart because that's what he was told to do, which was fine by me.

So what does all this have to do together? It was a big trial for us to learn to understand the church as a whole, and to learn to love and not judge our fellow ward members despite their shortcomings. It was a huge trial for us to even go to church on Sunday because we really just didn't want to be in that environment. I suppose what we really had to learn was that old famous saying, "It's the church that's true, not the members." Through all this though, I think the most important thing it did was that it brought Nick and I closer to our prayers and our scriptures, as we sought them for guidance and comfort.

BTW has anyone ever heard that you're not keeping the sabbath day holy if you go swimming on a Sunday?

::SMILE!::

2. We got new jobs!

Once we got to Arizona, we hit the pavement, and started looking for new jobs. What we saw from here in NH, painted a lot different picture than when we were out there. Since there are so many people who live in Mesa, what would look like a lot of open job opportunities here, really wasn't when you realized that you were competing with a much larger job pool. The really great thing about Mesa, Az was the high LDS population. There were so many more opportunities for networking, and the various wards had a lot of workshops to help people to improve their job search. After a lot of prayer, and fasting, we were both blessed to be able to find new jobs. Everyone in our new ward was shocked. They weren't the best jobs, but they were just enough to get us through. I got a part time job doing home care for the elderly, and Nick was able to get a job as a telemarketer. The best part about this was the Nick's job was literally right across the street from our apartment, so he was able to walk to and from work, so that I could take the car to be able to drive my clients around as needed. (THANK GOODNESS FOR A GPS!) The worst part about our new jobs was the fact that I worked in the morning, and Nick worked in the evening, so we weren't able to see much of each other.

To supplement our income a bit more I applied to the local Deseret Industries. Again, everyone was shocked that I was able to get in so quickly, as many people had to wait for months to even get a call back from them due to the fact that so many people were out of work in the area. The best part about this, was that the DI pays for you to get extra education so that you can get a better job. I wasn't able to get a job in a facility like I was in NH because the regulations were so different, even if I had the experience. In Az I would have needed a caregiver's license, and then a medication certification, and then a manager's license, to be able to do all the same things that I was doing in NH. Of course, all those things cost a decent amount of money, which we didn't have at the moment.

I really wish that there were more DI's around. It really is such a wonderful program, and a wonderful place to work for. It teaches people how to be good workers, and gives them the tools they need to be able to best look for a new job. Part of the requirements for working there are that, during your working hours, you participate in the Career workshop that the church sponsors, and that monthly you participate in other various workshops which are taught by your supervisors. I don't have enough good things to say about this part of the Lord's works.

Us getting these jobs in the middle of one of the hardest hit places during this recession, and my being able to further my education, was something that really testified to us that we were supposed to be in Arizona, which was something that we struggled with. We felt strongly going out that this is what the Lord wanted us to do, but there was still that tiny part that was afraid, "Well what if this ISN'T what we're supposed to do?" We're not saying that everything went perfectly smooth, but we were definitely blessed by going out there.

So, just to put this out there...contrary to what some people think, we didn't move back because we couldn't find jobs. :)

1. We Moved to Arizona

So, as previously stated, on May 15th, 2009 we packed up everything that we could fit into our new car and drove across country. Anything that didn't fit into our car we basically got rid of in one way or another. We had a few boxes of things which we planned to have shipped out to us once we got settled, but for the most part, if it didn't fit, it wasn't really that necessary. It's amazing what you realize you can do without when you need to fit your entire life's possessions into 32 cu. ft. (Yes, I actually looked it up!)

Here are a couple of pictures of just how crammed our car was.

There was so much weight we were afraid that the tires were going to rub on the wheel well!

-Thankfully that didn't happen!






Did I mention that we planned to SLEEP somewhere in there? Here's how that looked.






























I didn't have too much of an issue with finding a comfortable position, but Nick on the other hand-especially where he's so tall, definitely didn't get the best sleep. He's a trooper though! Even though he didn't sleep all that well, he still drove the majority of the trip. Nick gets car sick really easily, and gets terrible headaches unless he is driving, not only that but I had also come down with a terrible sore throat. We almost thought I was going to have to stop by a hospital to check to see if it was strep or not, but with ibuprofen, chloraseptic sore throat spray, and lots of fluids, I was able to make it through. It finally started to get better once we were in Arizona.

I can't say we slept in our cars the whole trip, we did rent a hotel room one night in the middle of the trip to try to catch up on some much needed sleep. It probably was the best sleep we had gotten in a LONG time. At least it felt that way after sleeping in the car for the past few days. Plus, we were able to SHOWER! I don't think I ever realized how good it feels to feel clean!

A little slice of Heaven on Earth!
























With any good road trip, we had some good laughs, listened to lots of great music, talked a whole bunch and took some funny pictures. I'll post some of the best ones here.

One of the most exciting things about a road trip across country is the time changes!

We didn't go through too many major sight seeing places, but we did see the The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

We did take a little detour and visit the Kirtland Temple. But we forgot our camera! So here's a googled image :)

And this one is for Mike and Ariane, We thought we needed our own Sonic photo. :)

There were some hilarious billboard signs on the
way. This one is pretty simple and straight forward.

Other memorable ones, which we were unable to get a photo of were, "Hitchhikers may be escaped convicts." and "Do not drive into smoke." Both of which were in Oklahoma.




A famous moment from our trip out there was THE WORST rest area EVER.

At first you see the tepees over the picnic tables and you think, "what a great idea, it will protect you from the sun while you're eating" or "Aww how cute!"

You decide pull in. Then, like any normal person who's been on the road for a few hours, the first place you head to is the bathroom. That's where the real horror begins. (We just had to take pictures, it was too ugly not to)

Never mind the 80's pink and black decor. You step into the ladie's room and you're met with cold, hard, stainless steel, The toilets look like they came straight from an airplane. To top it off- Yep! You got it, CURTAINS instead of doors for privacy.

The Men's room, also suited with the lovely pink and black decor, was equipped with a urinal that looked like a cereal box. When they flushed there was blue water that looked like a waterfall rushing down the back of it.

All this AND MORE can be found in the lovely state of:
(This is Nick's "unhappy" face)

Onward with our journey! We went through Texas, (Who's rest area was in stark contrast to Oklahoma-It was the BEST rest area we had seen the entire trip!) and then onto the long haul through New Mexico- This is what we saw for HOURS...NOTHING!
















We made it to Arizona that night, and decided to spend one more night at a rest area in the car. (We had another 3 hours to drive from the New Mexico/Arizona border to Mesa) This is the sign that greeted us.

We never saw any, but that's when we knew "We're not in Kansas anymore."

We were finally in Arizona! We were so excited to be on this great adventure, and to Finally be done with all that driving!












We drove for a total of: [To be updated once I find where I put my notebook of the trip]

LIFE IS CRAZY!!!

Well after being chastised during Sunday school (Thanks Brother Perkes! :) ) for not updating my blog, I decided to get to it! So much has happened in the past 6 months that it's seemed like such a daunting task to write it all down. In brief:

We moved to Arizona
We got new jobs
I got a calling
We left our jobs
We moved back to New Hampshire
We're currently living with Nick's parents
We're currently a part of the Derry ward
We both have new callings
We got new jobs
Nick is back in college for Accounting
We got a second vehicle
Nick is currently looking for a different job
We're trying to save up to get a place of our own

WHEW!

I'll try to keep posting and expand on each of the above items, add photos and all that good stuff,plus add anything new that I can think of. but for now, let's just say... LIFE IS CRAZY!!!