My Box of Chocolates

Yes, the past week or so has definitely been a box of chocolates--good, bad, terrible, delightful, up, down, and all over the place. No matter how bad it got, at times, and how sorry I began to feel for myself, I was regularly reminded how blessed I truly am because many people reached out to serve me in large and small ways so often.


Last week I was feeling discouraged and depressed as it was, and then I broke out into a painful rash all over my head, scalp, neck, ears, and face for 3 days. I had to go to the doctor to get some kind of shot, because benadryl was not working. It was so annoying and frustrating. I was really feeling sorry for myself! Feeling yucky and wallowing in my own misery only made time go by more slowly and made my load seem heavier to bear.

But then there was a bright spot. My brother-in-law got some free tickets to Heber Valley Railroad's "Day Out With Thomas" and gave them to us. Despite feeling crappy, I decided to venture out on my own and take all 3 kids to see Thomas. It was actually a lot of fun. It went unbelievably well. . .all 3 kids cooperated so well! We had a great time! It was so great to go do something fun and free. I am so grateful to my brother-in-law for thinking of us. Sometimes a little thoughtfulness goes a long way. It was so good for all of us!

I wish I could say the rest of the week went great after that, but it didn't. Sunday was awful! My kids were awful--Ruby is still screaming through all 2 hours of nursery. My lesson was definitely not one of my best, I just wanted to get it over with. It was a rough day. I nearly melted down into tears to one of my friends, Amber, who is the Nursery leader. Later on Sunday, she called me and said that she wanted to help because she could tell I was struggling. She offered to come to my house this week, feed my kids dinner, and babysit them for a few hours so I could run errands and go to yoga. WOW! She has 3 kids of her own. She left them with her husband and came to help me. I am so amazed by her charity. She acted like it was no big deal. . .but it was to me!!!

Besides a wonderful friend making my week, I also had a great experience styling another photo shoot this past Monday. The model was one of my good friends and we had a lot of fun. Photo shoots are no small thing, so I'm really grateful that my parents were willing to take my kids for so long so I could be a part of it. It was amazing! Again, I feel humble and blessed to have so many friends and family who are willing to help me. I don't particularly like being always in need of help, but the truth is, I do need help a lot these days. But, the kindnesses shown me this past week really helped get me out of my abyss of self-pity. I am also so impressed by their examples of selfless service, I want to be more like them!

Here is just one cute shot of my friends Amber (model) and Camilla (photographer) from our fun photo shoot. I feel so lucky that I got to work with both of these beautiful, talented girls!