Stressed and Blessed

Back in March I remember thinking how easy life was at the time. Things were great. I was having a great first pregnancy, Matt and I were really happy, work was going pretty good for both of us, we were getting ready to do our yard for the summer which I was SO excited about, and I just remember thinking "life is so easy right now" and as soon as I would think that I would think "don't say that, because when life is easy it means your not progressing and Heavenly Father doesn't like it when you're not progressing". Well sure enough, He noticed and He must have decided that it was time for me to start progressing again because now things are anything but easy!
It all started when I got called to be a Primary Teacher. Not that that was the cause it was the just what happened first. I hadn't had a calling since we moved last year and kept asking for one because I wanted to serve. Well they waited until I was 6 months pregnant to call me to co-teach the CTR 7 Class. I was surprised about the call but the 7 year olds aren't too bad and I have a co-teacher so I wasn't too worried about it. That lasted one week and then our ward split, which I was NOT excited about. It takes me a long time to make friends and I was just starting to get to know people and then they were splitting the ward?!? Great. In the new ward I got called to teach 9 rowdy four year olds, by myself, and now I am seven months pregnant. I cried after church every sunday for a month! It's gotten better and today I was grateful to be distracted from all of the other stresses in my life and go play games with them during church! I think this calling also might help me get out of my shell and make more friends in the ward too.
Around the end of March we were talking about our budget and I had the thought that we should put in a basement apartment and rent it out to have a little extra income. So we started working on that in April and were hoping to have it done by the middle of May, not knowing at the time that WE would actually be the ones to end up living in it. "Why is that?" you ask. Well....
Sometime around the end of April or beginning of May, Matt came home with some not very good news about his company. They weren't doing well in Utah and wanted to shut down their office here and move to Vegas to work out of the office there because it was the only profitable area. So the other two owners put their homes up for rent, found apartments, and were all set to move! Well, what about us?!?! We are not in the position to just pick up and move our life to Vegas. I have a full time job (the other wives stay at home with young children) that has been our only steady source of income because Matt's company has been so up and down, I am pregnant and wouldn't want to move until after the baby comes anyways, and we have Nick here so if we move how are we going to be able to see him? So what the heck are we going to do?
Luckily, or I really should say blessedly, we were able to figure out a semi-decent plan. We got an apartment in Vegas for Matt to stay in when he is down there for work. We are still working on finishing the basement and should hopefully be done with it within the next week. That has been probably the most stressful part for sure. Nothing wants to go right with it. All of the people we have hired to do the work have either done a bad job or have taken at least three times longer to do the work than they should have. The basement was originally supposed to be done three weeks ago (and on a much smaller budget than it is turning out to). It is in the drywall stage still! Which means in the next week we are supposed to paint, install flooring, do trim, doors, etc., install cabinets and countertops, finish electrical and plumbing, much less all the packing, moving, and cleaning that needs to be done! Oh, and that's all to be done after a full day of work too! Yay. So, when (if) the basement ever gets done, I will move down there. Another bitter sweet thing is...we are going to rent out the top two floors of our home. This is great because we were able to quickly find a great family to rent to, but not so great because it's my brand new house that I worked so hard for and liked so much! I am going to miss it terribly and am very worried about what might happen to it while I am not living here. Also, the renters are all set to move in next week and the basement isn't very close to being done. And I am eight months pregnant. After a full day of work I am exhausted. How am I supposed to pack and move and clean and clean and unpack and move (even if it is just down a flight of stairs)?
Heavenly Father doesn't give us more than we can handle right? Well there is more! Two people were fired from my office within the last two weeks so we are short handed there. And Matt officially started work in Vegas this past week so he will be gone a lot more than I would like him to be at this time with all the basement projects, moving, and being so far along in my pregnancy. And PLEASE, whatever you do, don't ask me what we are going to do when the baby comes. I don't know and I don't want to think about it. Am I going to move to Vegas and live with Matt and maybe even be a stay at home mom? That would be cool but probably not. I would love to but like I said right now my job pays the bills. Or I could go through all the paperwork and application fees to get a hygiene license in Nevada and work a few days a week. But what about Nick? We can't just move to Vegas, when would we get to see him? We would have to come up here at least every other weekend from Thursday to Monday. So does that mean I get to live by myself in the basement and work full time and have to pretty much be a single parent with a new born that will have to spend 9-10 hours a day in daycare 5 days a week? Possibly. Will Matt have to leave the company he has worked so hard to build? Maybe. And then what will he do? Is this what I thought my life was going to be like last year when we decided we wanted to have a baby? NO! I am a planner, I had everything all planned out. But alas, I am not THE planner so it doesn't really matter does it? Right now I wish for nothing more than to have that easy life back. I just want to work and come home and shop online for baby paraphernalia and watch TV and plan summer fun for when I am on maternity leave.
I think about all of this and my head just wants to EXPLODE. Then I think a little more deeply and realize that yes this is all very stressful and not how I want my life to be right now BUT it really could be worse and we REALLY are very blessed. We both still have our jobs. We are all healthy and the pregnancy is going along as smoothly as could be expected. We have a place (actually places) to live and they are both much better than a lot of people have. We were able to find great renters. And maybe by some miracle the basement will be done on time and all of that will go well too. As expensive as this has all been it has worked out okay. We have wonderful family, friends, and neighbors that are there to help us when we need it. My faith has been tested for sure and I can feel it growing more and more each day (something that wasn't happening when my life was easy) as has my gratitude, and patience. Which is good, because I don't think this is going to be over soon.
Thanks for listening to me complain. I feel so much better getting all of this out. And if I seem a bit edgy, grumpy, or just down right mean the next time you see me please forgive me. I am trying!