Blessings in Disguise

Throughout our marriage, Adam and I have found so many blessings in times of anxiety and fear or directly coming from unfortunate times. I wanted to compile a list for my memory and for posterity as well as share about our most current blessing. These examples show how our Heavenly Father finds unlikely ways to bless us and how times of trial can turn around.

- After we got married in December 2011, Adam immediately found a TA job in January 2012
- In April 2012, I was prompted and followed through with quitting my job at Subway without another job opportunity. A week or so later, I got a job as a secretary in the Office of Digital Humanities.
- At that same time, Adam got his position as a TA for the new BYU Online pilot program which paid nearly double what he was making before.
- Skip ahead to fall of 2013, Adam applies to the Instructional Psychology and Technology graduate program at BYU directly because of his positive experience with BYU Online.
- February 2014, I get in a car accident.
- Adam gets into the IPT program.
- I get a full-time job in a group home that turned out to be a complete failure.
- Because of the secretary job I had, I had the idea that Adam could teach a new intro course in the Digital Humanities minor while a graduate student. After both Adam and I talking to the coordinator, Adam gets offered a position as an instructor.
- After graduation in April 2014, not knowing what to do after the previous experience, I get a part time job as a secretary at a mental health clinic.
- Because of the identity crisis from the above, I go to the temple to seek help. We get prompted to have a baby.
- December 2014, we get a substantial financial settlement from the car accident in February which was more than enough to pay for starting our family.
- A couple weeks after the above, I find out I'm pregnant.
- The part-time secretary job turned out wonderfully, allowing me to self-care while pregnant as well as make priceless friendships.
- August 2015, we have Eli right before a new semester for Adam.
- Adam's BYU Online position (which he continued through graduate school) allows him ample time to work from home while I struggled with postpartum depression.
- Skip ahead to fall of 2016, we decide that since Adam was finished with his coursework, he would try applying to full-time jobs.
- He gets zero interviews or job offers after already giving notice of leave for his current jobs.
- November 2016, we get prompted to stay here for another semester even without jobs.
- December 2016, Adam finds out they need him to teach DigHT 215 again.
- Also in December, Adam gets offered a position from a professor he worked with previously in BYU Online. This position would be to manage over a bunch of TAs as well as redesign a major GE course to incorporate blended aspects (mix of online and traditional class) using a learning management system most jobs are asking for experience in.
- Winter 2017, Adam applies to jobs again
- Last week, Adam had 4 job interviews.
- Yesterday, Adam gets offered a fantastic full-time position as an Online Curriculum Designer with BYU-Idaho for after graduation in April 2017. This position works with BYU-Idaho's program as well as the worldwide BYU Pathway online degree program. It also offers an amazing salary and stellar benefits.
- Today, he accepted the offer!!!!

So in conclusion, we will be moving to Idaho Falls, Idaho in about six weeks!! We feel so incredibly blessed and grateful for the guidance of Heavenly Father that led us to where we are today. It was a rough road at times but we have definitely felt His hand in our life.

February Update

Here is how our month has gone!

Rare park time with Daddy

Adam: finished his thesis project!!!! Well the write up at least. He still has his oral presentation and defense on the 10th but the 55 page long paper he needed to write is done!!! *insert hallelujah chorus* He has been killing himself this month working on it which meant a lot of late nights and not too much of a Valentine's day celebration. And with all of that, he still found time to apply to jobs! I'm so proud of him. At the end of the month, he got a preliminary phone interview with a job and then a few days later, they asked him to come for a final in person interview next week! They're even taking care of travel expenses which really shows this is a big boy job ;) We are super excited and really hope that he gets it. We have felt very good about this prospect so we think this is where God is leading us. Can you guess where in the world the Lloyds will go? ;)

Fun with snapchat

Ashley: I have spent most of the month trying to support Adam so he could finish his paper. So lots of taking care of the house (including some of the things he usually does) and of course taking care of Eli. I have also been helping by being the job searcher for him. I created a handy spreadsheet with info on postings I think he's qualified for and when the applications are due. I also undertook a big task to help with his project. He had an audio recording of an interview with the professor of the course he designed and he needed it transcribed. So that was my job and it was tedious. But I finished it and it felt really good to be able to help relieve some of his stress besides taking care of the home stuff. And honestly, I don't know how he would've found time to do it without me. He paid me handsomely for the assistance by letting me get a new wrap which I was very happy about ;)

Eli: is 18 months old! And boy is this kid growing!!! He is now a little over 22 pounds and is 32 inches tall, so still kind of small for his age but he seems huge to us. Adam declares he is hobbit sized haha. He broke yet another molar which gets us to 12 teeth! He still doesn't say a ton but he is starting to add words. He won't say anything when prompted but we have caught him saying "baby", banana or "nana", and cracker or "cack cack". Then there is this odd babbling thing he's been doing lately which we refer to as him speaking Alien. We're not quite sure what he means by it but he does it a lot when he wants us to give him something. He understands a lot more than he can say and we can definitely see him trying to copy words we say even if they don't come out quite right. We have also enjoyed a lot of nice weather this month so we frequented the park. Eli is super fearless (perhaps a little too much) and enjoys climbing up to the top and going down the slide by himself. He had a rough time with Adam being so busy because he loves his daddy so much. There were many days where Adam had to go straight back in our bedroom to the computer after being on campus and then after dinner as well. Eli would get so excited when he came home and would grab his hand and wanted up. Then, he would cry and bang at the door after Adam had to go back to work. I know Eli will be so happy when Daddy is done with school.

Those little lips <3; playing with Daddy at the park; eating a "cack cack"

Well hopefully next month we will have some big news to share of where we will be heading after graduation in April!