I Married a Modern Day Nephi

In November I wrote this on the iPod. I found it soon after we got home from the hospital and it seemed so fitting. Just as Nathan handled being unemployed, he has faced his diagnosis with great optimism. I've also realized how going through that trial together has prepared us for this.

I was just reading about when Nephi's bow broke. I imagined how it would be to be in that situation. I imagined being a mother, setting up camp, tired and hungry, waiting for Nate to come home with food. I'd probably be getting impatient and would be so upset and disappointed when he came home not only empty handed, but having lost the means to provide for for us. I would wonder why we were out in the middle of nowhere and worry about would happen to us. I imagined Nathan and how hard it would be on him. I know he would be disappointed and sad that he couldn't take care of his family, but I know he would act like Nephi. He wouldn't get discouraged, he'd keep trying, and he'd be respectful to his father.

I know this because I witnessed it. Before Nate started working at PNNL I felt like we had been wandering I the wilderness for eight years. By the time Nathan was through school he had two degrees and we had four kids. It took us another two years before he found a job suitable to support our family. During that time, I was discouraged and worried, but Nathan kept going with a positive attitude. He worked hard at a minimum wage job, started his own freelance business and attended graduate school. I wasn't sure how things would work out but he was only hoping for the best, even though it couldn't be easy to be so optimistic. How did I get so lucky to marry him?

Now I feel like we have arrived at the promised land. We are on our way to Seattle to stay in a hotel, see Wicked, go to the Pacific Science Center to see King Tut, and have lots of fun as a family. We bought book shelves this year, I can afford home school supplies and I "couldn't be happier." I feel so blessed, like I am living out my dreams. And now Norah needs the iPod to help her on this long car ride. I can't believe she is not asleep yet!