Hidden Blessing

I recently came across a post by Al Fox Carraway titled “Wait For Your ‘Manger.’” She talks about how Mary and Joseph had to do some traveling before Jesus was born and how opportunities, like the inn, may have come up that did not work out for them. She points out that the inn may have seemed like such an amazing thing and they must have been heartbroken when it didn’t work out. “But Heavenly Father had something else in mind.” --Al Fox Carraway, Wait For Your ‘Manger,’ Al Fox’s Head

Lately, I have been thinking about how God’s hand may have been playing a role in the situation that Ricky and I are in right now. After moving out of our apartment in Wyview to go to Ricky’s internship in California, we had this perfect little plan that we would easily find another Wyview apartment and move back in time for this semester of school to start. That definitely did not end up being the case. All summer in California, I looked everyday at 4:00 pm when new BYU housing apartments became available. I had no luck because my internet was never fast enough, I guess. We also began looking for off-campus housing in Provo. The first day of school came and went and we were still hanging out in my parent’s basement. Ricky had to commute to school and deal with the horrible BYU parking problem (another story for another day).

We were getting frustrated that absolutely nothing seemed to be working out. We had done ALL that we could possibly do to find housing. We got on the facebook page for housing and checked the BYU website everyday for new postings. We checked Rentler, KSL, and Craigslist. We toured many places and filled out many applications. But nothing worked out. I was very confident about at least two basement apartments we looked at and filled out applications for. I had contacted the landlords as soon as I saw the postings and asked for the earliest time to come tour the place and get an application. The landlords at both of the places did not choose us, although we did everything right. They both told us we were second choice. How could we have been so close!?

We were feeling like everything was going wrong and feeling sorry for ourselves. We hated commuting to school and work in Provo. Traffic was bad and unpredictable, and our schedules did not match up perfectly so there was waiting around on campus or in the library on both our parts.

When Shadow’s health suddenly went downhill and I realized he would be gone soon, my perspective about all of this “homelessness” changed. I was SO grateful that we were able to live in my parent’s house and spend time with Shadow for the last few weeks of his life. I was grateful that we could be here to comfort him in his last days and when he had to be put down.

Ricky and I enjoyed playing Pokemon Go, and would take Shadow with us when we went to find Pokestops and Pokemon. Shadow absolutely loved the walks with us, and I’m so happy that we could spend that time with him. I’m also grateful that I could be living with my family during this hard time. My family is all living under one roof at the moment and I’m grateful that we could all be together.

“I know it can be hard and full of discomfort, just like Mary, but when you see opportunities pass, keep going with faith knowing there is something else to come. That you are not being punished”

-Al Fox Carraway, Wait For Your ‘Manger,’ Al Fox’s Head

When all of these opportunities came and went, it was hard not to feel frustrated. I remember, before we went to see some of the places we really liked, praying that the spirit would guide us and the owners of the places we were seeing. After meeting the owners and touring the places, I would pray that the owners would be guided by the spirit, whether they chose us or not. I was disappointed whenever we found out we were not the ones chosen, but I trusted that God had guided the owners in their decisions and maybe those places were just not for us. Maybe God had something else in mind.

It was hard not to feel sorry for ourselves and like we were being “punished” like Al Fox Carraway said, but now I can see that maybe God wanted us here with my family. I sure am glad that we were here with my family and Shadow.

So, we did finally find a place in Provo! It is BYU housing. We got online because there was going to be a perfect Wyview apartment that we wanted to get! Of course, it went SO fast and we did not get it, but Ricky called me and said he had gotten the other one that had become available. It was a 3 bedroom Wymount apartment, available October 14th. First of all, October 14th was so far away! Second, we do not need three bedrooms, and can hardly afford the three bedrooms that we do not need. So at first, I was like “no way, just drop it.” We had 30 minutes to pay the deposit for the place or let it go to someone else. Ricky and I were asking ourselves, “do we keep this one since we’re desperate or drop it because better ones will probably come along that we can keep trying for?” I called my mom to help us decide and she told us “GET IT!” She pointed out that we have had no luck for months and are desperate, so just get it!! So, we did. We are so excited to finally move to Provo and not have to commute anymore! It will be nice to finally have our own place again. We are actually still looking for other opportunities that might be a better fit and where we can move in sooner. I guess we will have to keep trusting Heavenly Father about this for a bit longer.

A Tribute to Shadow

After we had to put my dog down, I wanted to make a little video to commemorate him. I gathered up all the pictures we had of him and made this slideshow (We had a lot more pictures than I realized!) Hope you like it! He was the best dog and we miss him so much!

The rest of our home

Homeless

As you may have seen from our latest video, Ricky and I have been homeless since coming back to Utah from San Jose. Fortunately, my parents always welcome us in to stay in their basement (my old bedroom) which is filled to the brim with our stuff. It is so cluttered with my parents’ random stuff and all of our belongings, that I might go crazy. 

Ricky started school this week and has been commuting to Provo. My job doesn’t start until next week. I have been reaching out to people for housing all week, and we have been looking all summer. The demand for married housing in Provo is absolutely ridiculous!!! Throughout the summer, I checked the BYU housing page each day to try to get back into Wyview, or even Wymount. We REALLY wanted Wyview again, but I only saw two Wyview posts all summer! Every day at 4:00 pm, when new apartments would become available, I would try to snag one but they always went way too fast! The page was so slow and I imagined hundreds of other couples were doing just the same thing as me. I even recruited my parents to log-in to our account and try too. I guess others always clicked faster or had faster internet. 

With more disappointment each day we tried and failed to get BYU housing, Ricky and I soon decided we needed to look into off-campus housing as well. This proved just as difficult. There is a whole Facebook group dedicated to connecting married families to available housing. Every sale post got dozens of comments with people exclaiming they’re interested and inquiring about how to get an application. Somehow, I always called too late and the apartments were always sold. I spent hours looking at KSL, Craigslist, and Rentler trying to find decent places in Provo for us to live. Once we were back in Utah, we spent our Saturdays going to Provo to tour places and get in touch with landlords. 

I am still searching for apartments and looking into any leads we come across, giving Ricky addresses of places he should go check out before coming home from school each day. This whole experience has been so stressful and frustrating! Oh, and since Ricky commutes, he said it took him FORTY minutes to find parking at BYU on the first day of class. That is crazy! Especially since he is a grad student and can park in G lots. 

I am kind of extremely frustrated with BYU. I imagine they are at least somewhat aware of how bad this housing problem is. I was curious and looked to see if BYU single-student housing was just as bad as married housing. Even now, with school already started, there are still spots available for single students in Heritage, Helaman, AND Wyview! That makes me so mad, because Wyview was built to be all family housing, and I don’t know why they changed it to be half single-student housing.