Grateful for all I have

Thank you all for all you have done! I have to say, that after this weekend, I have never felt so blessed. This weekend was filled with chaos and lots and lots of money spent on things that mostly got tossed at the end. It was stressful and crazy. But at the end, I have never felt so blessed. I originally told Nic that I had no interest in a reception. I am from Spokane and only know so many people in Portland. I knew I wouldn’t get a very large turn out for the amount of work that would go into it. While he agreed, his family did not. They pushed and pushed and finally we caved and said we’d do it. After all, after Nic’s last wedding, people were very upset he never had a reception in Portland.

After sending out about 200 invitations, mostly to Nic side, we began planning. Everyone sounded so excited. Then the day of the reception came. Nic’s mom, younger sister and five friends were all that came on his side. After all that he had been told, even the people that begged us to do it didn’t show. The majority of the gifts came from my two receptions, doctors who had gifts mailed to us, and my co-workers who not only gave us gifts at the reception, but gifts the day we got married.

After the reception, we hung out and played a very spirited game of keep away. While I walked away with more bruises then I can count and am so sore that every movement seems to be strained, it was a lot of fun. Then we all stayed up far too late laughing and joking.

After everyone left, I got a text message from Josh thanking me for letting him stay and hang out with the family. He doesn’t have a close or typical family situation and he said he doesn’t get to do that very often. I told him we didn’t mind at all and we would be more then happy to drag him to Spokane with us on our next visit. He told me I was very lucky to have such a family (which just shows you how bad his family must be).

I also had a long talk with a very sad Nic on Sunday. He was bummed his family never showed and that most of his friends bailed. Especially since no one had an even good excuse or even an excuse at all. I told him not to worry, that he now has a whole new family and we will obnoxiously be there whether he wants us or not.

But I look back on the weekend and I can’t help but be grateful. With people like Nic and Josh around, they help keep things in perspective. As dysfunctional as we are, we have always been there for each other. And together we have fun and stick together. That’s something I take for granted. It’s something that is rare in life these days.

I am grateful for you all.

The Wedding

Well, as you can guess, I’m married. Just to up date you all on the last few weeks, here is the whole story:

As many of you know, I have been very concerned over the fact that Nic was sealed to his ex-wife in the temple. While I know that men can be sealed to more than one woman, I wasn’t sure if we needed to take steps to make sure he could be sealed to me as well. We asked around and received conflicting opinions. We finally asked our bishop who called the stake president and we were assured that it only needed to state on his records that he was divorced. We then went to meet with the stake president two weeks before the scheduled wedding in Spokane when I made Nic ask again, just to be sure. Apparently there was a misunderstanding. Yes, it needed to state on his records that he was divorced. But we also needed a letter of “sealing clearance” from the first presidency. This involves a formal letter written by Nic to the first presidency, a formal request from the stake president, and a letter written from our bishop to Nic’s ex and her in turn writing a letter to the first presidency. All of these letters need to be received by Salt Lake and reviewed by the first presidency. Our stake president said he had seen these done in 7 days expedited. So we kept our date. Nine days before the wedding we got the bad news. Even if Annie was cooperative and did as we asked (which we anticipate she won’t), it’ll take a minimum of 4-6 weeks after Salt Lake receives the paperwork, and with the added stress of General Conference, we had no chance to get the letter in time. We were in quite a pickle. Either we could wait until we received the letter and be sealed then, or get married civilly and be sealed in a year. If we waited, we could not set a date until we had the letter in hand. Both of our jobs would require two weeks notice to reschedule our honeymoon and arrangements would have to be redone. Nic would have to continue searching for couches to sleep on as he was basically homeless. We’d most likely celebrate the reception before the wedding and last but not least, we could NOT receive clearance at all and have to wait anyway. So we chose to be wed civilly and rearranged everything to be married in Portland. Sadly our bishop and stake president were out of town so they transferred my records to the home ward so that bishop could perform the ceremony. He will be our new bishop.

We met with the new bishop and he told us he understood. He had been active his whole life, as had his wife. They tried to use their wedding to reactivate their inactive parents, but they didn’t go for it. After a discussion with their bishop, they chose to be married civilly in Portland and then drive to Salt Lake and be sealed the next day. After making all the arrangements, announcement out and everything, the bishop talked to the stake president and discovered they were not allowed to do this. In a difficult situation, they chose as we did and were married and then sealed a year later. I was comforted to know that we were not alone. I know it will be difficult, as we will be judged for the choices me made and assumptions will be made by many. But our bishop explained, the world is not perfect, the gospel is. Heavenly Father knows what is in our hearts and he has arranged back ups in case something should happen before we are sealed.

Anyhow, Nic and were married in a very small intimate ceremony on Saturday, March 27^th. We then went to lunch and headed to the coast. We were blessed with a beach house to stay in for free and we were there until Tuesday. Although the weather was awful, the coast is filled with plenty to keep us occupied including the wonderful Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was here that Nic first introduced me as his wife.

I almost forgot...

I forgot to mention something that I find funny. The Colonel that Meric works with is getting ready to PCS to Korea. He sold his car and has been driving his daughter's car. At one point he said that he makes sure he has his cell phone with him because the car is so old and he is afraid it will break down. The car he is driving... a 2002 Honda Civic. The cars we drive are both 1997. I just had to laugh.

So here are some new things since I last blogged: Meric and I went to dinner on Saturday with a group of people he kind of works with. He knows them a little and I don't know them at all. We went to a BBQ place about an hour away. They actually did a little story on the place in the news and this is the link http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/6056117/ Anyway, we get there and find out it is a cash only place and we usually don't carry cash. We only had $10 and therefore could only order one entree. So pretty much I sat in the corner bored, texting and starving as we split our entree. After we left there we headed to another restaurant and ordered another entree to split and dessert. So that is how Meric and I ate out at two restaurants for one meal.

Also on Sunday I received another calling. I am still in the nursery but now I am also the assistant Activity day girl person. There are two other people in front of me but they both apparently aren't there a lot so we will see how much I have to do. I think this is the first time I have had two callings.

The End and the Beginning

Last Thursday Meric and I finished our foster care classes. YAY! I was getting a little tired of having every Thursday night blocked, doing the potluck (you can only eat so much fried chicken) and having homework. The homework wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't the same questions over and over and having to come up with new answers every time. We got our certificate for finishing the class but the end is only the beginning. We have a ton of paperwork to be filled out, we need to be approved by the board before our paperwork is sent to the main office for us to be licensed. We also have to have a fire safety inspection and physicals. We still have a long way to go and it will never be easy.

Meric just got back from Philly. He went to a conference there for 5 days. Our friend from San Antonio, Carrie (Lissy and Kelli met her at Thanksgiving), was there too. Carrie and Meric were good friends so he was excited to see her again. Carrie is a few months pregnant and I like to refer to her as Meric's pregnant girlfriend. I wanted to post my status on facebook as "my husband left me to be with his pregnant girlfriend in Philly" but I was afraid some people might not know I was joking and think badly of Meric so I didn't. Still it would have been funny. Anyways (the "s" is just for you Dad) Meric had a lot of fun and learned a lot. I also am starting an online course in Personal Training.

Anywho I will keep you updated with our foster care situation. Miss you all and can't wait to see you next month. Love you!

NEED SUGGESTIONS!!!

Nic and I would like to go out to eat with the family and friends after the wedding March 27th for lunch before we take off. Nic would like to eat somewhere unique. I'm thinking cheaper is best for all and also finding something everyone can enjoy at least a little bit.

Any suggestions????

Speak now or forever hold your peace!

The Clutters

It's been a while since someone blogged, especially me, so I thought I would throw out some updates for everyone.

Let's start with Ella. She is loving being a Sunbeam. She brings her Book of Mormon in her scripture tote every Sunday so she can be counted among the Primary kids that brought their scriptures. She's very proud. Also, Ella's latest obsession is a movie called "Aliens in the Attic." It's a cute live action movie with a lot of slap stick/physical comedy. Ella can pretty much quote you the whole movie and if you're anywhere near her, she'll tell you all her favorite parts and the plot of the movie. She's also getting pretty good at the "who sings this song" game. She impressed me the other day by getting 3 songs in a row right, the last one she named before they had even started singing. Yes, my baby's brilliant!

And then there's Dora. She has been busy being back at school. She won an award for the character attribute of the month, for the month of February, which was Honesty. It was a nice little deal with a slide show of the kids and a goody bag from Yoke's. Dora's also been learning to cook and make some of the recipes from the Steen Sty Cookbook, with the help of grandma. She has made us a casserole for dinner, some orange jello salad, and the George Washington pudding (yummy). She is also perfecting her brownie making abilities. I think we're all going to be gaining more weight! She's been doing a lot of the usual, reading, writing, you know Dora.

At the beginning of the month, both girls took an art class at the Corbin Art Center (which Dora finds a little creepy, and I have to admit at her age I did too). It was a Valentine class so they made all sorts of Valentine's. They were in separate classes since it was divided by age. It was Ella's first class. In her class she was the youngest, while Dora was the oldest in her class. Ella was so funny because she wouldn't let me leave. I could understand that, since it was something new and she wasn't quite sure of it. the other mom's stayed with their little ones too. Of course those moms got to help their little people with their little arts and crafts. Ella said I could watch, but I wasn't allowed to raise a finger to help her. I just had to laugh because she wanted me there, but she wanted her independence. That's Ella!

I have been pretty busy myself. I have been busy and active with my book group. It's nice to have a resource of so many women with the same values who read so many different books! Every book club, we select a book for the next month, but then also discuss so many other good books, my wish list is a mountain right now. I love it! We just read the Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, if anyone is interested. She's an LDS author and writes adaptations of lesser known Grimm fairytales. They are considered youth books, but it's a good read for adults too.

Anyway, I am also now teaching one of the two Sunbeam classes, Ella's of course. it was a little rocky at first being her teacher, but I think we're both getting used to it. I really love that age group! They are cute and funny and it's great to see how they will respond to things. I was just talking last night that I think the only Primary class I have ever taught is Sunbeams. The first time being with little Kelli Brianne in my Sunbeam class! Memories! :-)

Some other excitement this last month. We got our cats spayed, which was nice. Sammy had a hernia which they fixed too. They both healed really nicely, so now we don't have to worry about them going into heat anymore. Thank goodness!!!

Jason has been perfecting his ability to make Dad's spinach balls and the girls and I are not complaining. He makes them very well and they are so yummy. The nice thing is, since you have to freeze them, you can cook a few here and there and it makes a quick and yummy snack. Have I mentioned how fat we are getting? :-)

The weather in Spokane has been pretty darn nice this winter. The girls and I have been able to take lots of walks around the neighborhood. The nice thing about our neighborhood is that there are so many options about where you can walk and walk to. It's been a lot of fun! With all the yummy food we've been eating, it's a good thing we've been able to keep ourselves somewhat active! :-)

Well, I think you are all now caught up on our household. I would love to see more blogs from everyone else! Hint hint!

From mom- mom asked me to post