Not quite a year later...

Many things have happened since my last posting - just goes to show I'm terrible at journaling whether on paper or via electronics.  Rather than fill you in on all the details, I'll note the major events and pick up with what is going on currently.  Since March of 2012, Dustin and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary in May just after finding out we'd be adding another member to our family.  In July, we headed to Georgia for a family reunion and Dustin ended up staying with my family to continue a promising job search. After six weeks of being apart, I rejoined Dustin and the rest of my family at the beginning of September.  Dustin began his job at Emory University Hospital-Midtown as a Registered Nurse on the Cardiology unit the second week of September and finished his training around the middle of December.  The next big event should happen any day, with our little man coming into the world.  I'm due on January 28th, and so far, so good.  The doctors say everything is looking just fine and on track.  Hopefully with the adventures of a new baby, I'll have something to blog about and keep this page updated.  For now, it's just a waiting game!

Stability - fact or fiction?

Resistance to change, especially sudden change or deterioration; firmness in position.  Does stability actually exist?  I am currently of the opinion that stability is a myth, a legend, a fiction fabricated from the sadistic minds of pessimistic individuals simply to make sport of their counterparts, the optimists who would chase after the proverbial wild goose.  Then again, maybe stability exists in a more insubstantial plane.  Perhaps it is a state of mind?  Or maybe we are stable in instability?  I wonder if stability is subject to physics such as gravity - it always seems to get more stable when we are at the bottom trying to get up.  For instance, I feel as if I've been stuck in this rut for a good long while resistant to any kind of change I try to make - I feel very firm in this position.  I feel I cannot deteriorate much more, so I must be stable.  I don't know!  All I do know is that I've been learning the vast difference between stability and peace.  In such uncertain times, I've been yearning for some sense of stability, knowing where my future is headed, wondering when life will get easier.  I've been praying for so many things - a home of my own, a car that works, a suitable career for Dustin, a degree with my name on it, etc.  Even though I've had no fairy godmother sparkle out of oblivion and into my bedroom to grant my wishes, I have had an answer to my prayers.  I've been learning how even in the midst of trials, I can have, not necessarily a sense of stability, but a sense of peace - which is a lot more stable than stability.  I can have peace whenever I yoke myself with my Savior.  He can lighten my load, ease my burden, and soothe my weariness.  He can be a balm to my troubled soul, and I can find happiness even in uncertainty.  Who knows whether stability exists in this plane or not, but this I know - God is stable! so I'll just stick with Him, and all will be well :)

Frailty thy name is Humanity

As I sit here drinking a vitamin C boost with a cough drop in my mouth and keeping a roll of tissues nearby, I ruminate over the many weaknesses of the human body.  I cogitate about the many diseases of the mind, body, and soul that mortality makes us prone to.  Then I remind myself that this is exactly what I signed up for, and I ask myself why?  Could I have known then or even have imagined the misery of a bad cold?  Surely my pre-mortal list of "things to do during my mortal probation" did not include something so frustrating as having to blow my nose so hard I wonder if I'll either break it or end up passing out from the sheer force of it.  Could I have fathomed the emotion of an unfortunate situation?  I am certain being the bread-winner for my family at a paltry eleven dollars an hour, whilst living in the same room my husband spent more than fifteen years growing up in was not on my list either.  Could I have agreed to come into this rapidly destabilizing society bereft of virtue or morality or integrity?  I suppose I did - because here I am.  "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god - the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me..."  We were made to be such magnificent creations! I often forget that it was GOD who created us and of all the things that He could make, we - mere humans - were the ones He deemed His greatest.  But too often we do not live up to our potential.  We make poor choices, we hurt each other, we forget our own maker.  We ignore wise counsel, we hold on to the past, we take the easy way out.  Even with all these faults and flaws, we are still made after the likeness of our Father - God - and because of the natural side of us, our human side, we have the ability to choose whether or not we live up to that potential.  I suppose I signed up for this because I knew that the frailty of humanity was what I needed to progress.  The weaknesses of the mortal body allows me to see the things I need to work on spiritually.  I can't remember what I was like in the pre-existence, but we are told we will still be the same person once we are resurrected, so I'm guessing I was the same me before I came here.  That means that I wasn't perfect there either.  I still had things to work on, and it just so happened that this was the perfect place and the perfect plan complete with a perfect example.  So I guess that even though I'm sure things like infirmity, age, misfortune, and misdeeds were nowhere on my list of "things to do during my mortal probation," in a way they were all part of the plan, and I am glad that I have the chance to experience it all - the good and the bad - so I can appreciate the beauty of choosing with my own free will to become a better person and live with my Father again.

Birthday fun!

I would just like to make note that I had an AMAZING birthday today. After a good night's sleep, I spent the morning listening to such things as Jekyll & Hyde, Josh Groban, and The Prince of Egypt whilst coloring in my Disney Princess Wedding book :) Following my amazing morning activities I enjoyed a nice back rub from Dustin and he finally got me to open the long awaited (on his part) birthday present. It was perfect! A soft cuddly hoodie complete with nerdy logo for a game I love. Next up was a fun filled evening at work (hip hip hooray) Anyway, I had a great day and I'd like to especially thank my family for being so wonderful and supportive. Love you guys!

August Rush

Yeah, yeah, forgive the pun. This month is insane! So, Dustin graduated in May, and I'm pretty sure that was one of the proudest moments of our marriage :D He took the test and passed with flying colors therefore earning his RN license. The summer was going great until we hit August. Dustin has applied for probably five jobs a day, both in and out of Utah, and he still hasn't had any luck finding a job. Everybody wants experience - but how does he get experience if no one will give him a job? Anyway, we're coming to the end of August and we have to move out of our student housing by the 31st since Dustin is no longer a student. We have several ideas where we might go, but everything hinges on where and if Dustin finds a job. He had a couple of interviews last week and they said they would let us know by this weekend. Pray for us! Thanks :)

Slacker

Yup, that's me - a slacker. Here I promised I'd be better about keeping this blog up to date and I haven't posted anything for three months plus. Can I plead insanity? I know as a Hall and as a Nielsen, I'm prone to insanity anyway, but seriously, the last few months I have felt more crazy than usual.
My life feels like a roller coaster, but not your typical Disneyland ride. Strangely, it feels a lot like we're going up a very steep slope waiting for life to get going, or something to come along that gives us a boost. Dustin had night shift capstone hours for his nursing program this semester. I think this is what made it the hardest three months of my life. He's been done for two weeks, and he still has trouble coming to bed before 4 or 5 in the morning. I suppose it's better than 8 in the morning from the shift. But we're anticipating his graduation this May! Hip hip hooray! But this also means that he has to find a job, we have to find a new apartment (we're in student housing so when he isn't a student anymore, we'll be kicked out) and depending on where the job is (we're looking at a few places out of state) I have to figure out how to transfer my credits somewhere and I'll have to find a new job. So, there's a lot of uncertainty going on right now - hence the upward slope of the roller coaster.
On a lighter note, life is good! Dustin is pretty much done with school. He only has one class on Wednesday and an online class he has to take a test for on Tuesday nights, but other than that - he's got tons of free time! He is really looking forward to getting a job in the medical field. He's looking at five different Critical Care internships he wants to apply to. Two are here in Utah, one is in Vancouver, Washington, one is in San Diego, California, and one is in Dallas, Texas. We're rooting for either the ones in Utah or the one in Dallas. Texas has a lot of great hospitals and they pay the best for the profession Dustin is looking at. He is hoping he can get in to TCU for their graduate program in nursing anesthesia.
My life is still VERY busy. Especially for these next couple weeks. I still have school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, but on top of that, General Conference is coming up, which means a lot of hours at work. I normally wouldn't mind hours at work - I like getting paid. But on the other hand, I've kinda gotten used to this 20-25 hours of work per week thing and how it allows me some time to breathe and get some school work done. Oh well. I'm looking at 35 hours of work this week and probably more next week. To top that all of, I just came down with a nasty cold. We all know how long colds last, especially when there is no time to rest and recover. I'm looking at a miserable next two weeks. Beyond two weeks out lies the unknown. I've been trying to find a way to transfer my credits to a college that offers an associates degree, but I'm finding that anywhere I go, I lose a lot of credits. I can't really stay at BYU, though, because if we move out of state, I lose all those credits anyway. Even if we stay in state and find a place here in Salt Lake, the BYU Salt Lake Center doesn't offer courses for a Bachelors degree - I have to be at the Provo institution to get my Bachelors. Any way I look, I feel like I'm stuck.

It's beginning to look a lot like...CHRISTMAS!!!

AH! So excited :D Nothing beats running through snow in flip flops, blowing your nose every five minutes, checking out of school before finals, and setting up your first Christmas tree! Work has gotten ten times busier in the last week or two which makes my day go by so much faster. We have hot chocolate and cookies every Monday, Friday and Saturday night as well as authors and singers and artists galore. People go to see the lights on Temple Square and pop over to have some fun and do a little Christmas shopping. Good times.
We got a new dress code at work, so I get to wear color now! Unfortunately that didn't include the allowing of flip flops, but that's okay, I get to wear them to class on Thursdays like today. I've decided that flip flops are the best to wear all year round. Summer naturally, but little do people know that winter finds flip flops quite useful as well. Sure your toes get a little chilly, but when considered, during the summer your toes get a little toasty. Just like during summer when you wear your flip flops so that sand can get out easily, during winter you wear flip flops so the snow gets out easily. Not to mention, during the winter when you wear your boots, they get wet and take hours to dry. Put on a pair of flip flops and take them off when they're wet, they dry in minutes. Flip flops were the best invention ever!
Anyway, I had a Biology test I crammed for this morning because I decided to be a slacker and try to get everything done today (and guess what... here I am blogging lol) Needless to say I'm so done with this semester. Dustin is too. We've both gone trunky and just want to go to Georgia. Well, I probably ought to do the piles of homework I have. (Hooray for 8-12 page papers!!)