One NO at a time.

We're moving.  We think.  Yes, we're moving.  But, six hours ago we weren't.  And, less than 48 hours before that we were.  And, before that we weren't, and were, and weren't, and were.  I can't even explain how this isn't weird or uncommon for us.  But as of this day and time, we are moving.  In two weeks.

Before this house, we loved another one further north.  And, one here locally.  We really loved five acres in a really small town.  Before that, there was another house we made an offer on.  All of those went through the same back and forth.

This may make Jake and I sound like wafflers.  Yes, that's a word, I think.  But we aren't.  Once we decide something we're all in.  Until the universe remembers some vendetta it holds against as gets us.  Over and over and over again.

The same thing has happened with the medical advice I've gotten over the years about my ability to have a child.

The same thing happened when we sold the townhouse.

We can recognize it in our efforts while we prepared for me to be a stay at home mom.

The same thing happened when we were engaged, hoping to get our letter in time to be sealed in the temple, and then for the following two years of follow up on that.

It happened again, although not nearly as many backs and forths {but with some ups and downs} with our dating relationship and the beginning of our engagement.

Even deciding to go on the first date with Jake {and his decision to go on a first post-divorce date} was similar to our waffle pattern.

If we've learned anything, it is this:

As long as we take our one NO at a time, and don't compound them {emotionally} with all of our other NO's, we'll get over it.  We'll move past it.  We'll learn from it.  And best of all, we'll find ourselves in a better place than we could have finagled on our own.  NO's are discouraging, disappointing, frustrating, and confusing.  But, wherever and Whoever is sending the No's obviously knows us better than we know ourselves.

So, if you are feeling like the shocks have gone out, the road is too bumpy, and you can't even see where you're going.... keep going.  I bet it's worth it.

New Year Resolutions

There are a few things on the internet that I like.  It's a short list...

1. Funny animal pictures/videos
2. Posts on the Facebook pages of the First Presidency and 12 Apostles
3. Mike Rowe's Facebook page

If you'll recall, in October I made a goal to have no goals for a while.  I was just going to work on watering my own garden rather than compare myself to others.  So this post is not going to be a specific list of how I am going to disappoint myself in 2014.  Rather, I wanted to share a blog post by a professional stunt woman who reached her new year resolutions by nearly losing her life.  I liked her style of writing and I really loved her post.  Check it out.

The State of Me

It's that time of year again, when presidents, governors, and Joey's prepare their annual comments on the state of how things are going.  Unlike past years, I haven't done my research to know what kind of topics I should be covering.  I don't even have any quotes and wording to steal from the president, himself.  2014 The State of Me may read a little more unorganized than past years.  Fortunately, I can still imagine crowds of you standing and applauding after each sentence, as if what I have just said will change the future for millions of people.  Also, in the imaginary crowd, there are those who don't clap, or have ugly scowls on their faces.  The right-wing nut jobs.  Let us proceed.

2013 was a banner year for the Tracy family.  After 23 months of waiting, a letter arrived from the Office of the First Presidency giving Jake and I permission to be sealed in the temple.  On February 13, 2013, we had a wonderful evening at the Brigham City Temple.  It was a beautiful experience and the support we received was incredible.  2013 will hold a special place in our hearts forever.

At the end of March, we sold the Roy townhouse and moved to Riverdale as a stepping stone in our negotiations for our future forever home.  One of the best parts about being in Riverdale (and there are lots) is that Abbi can hoof it to school.  She loves that and frankly, so do I.

As far as scheduling, I over-did the summer.  When Abbi's school let out for summer, the kids were in swimming lessons, Abbi was in volleyball and started Karate, Noah started tumbling, and Abbi played another summer of softball.  The same week of swimming lessons, I started a new job.  Not my best mom work but I just wanted to get it all over with.  The kids loved it and we all lived.

Noah celebrated his 4th birthday while we were in Bear Lake.  The naughty monkey brothers from Diego stole all of his presents and the children had to go on a rescue adventure to find them.  Then, they all worried about these monkey getting back in the cabin.  Luckily, Jack (my five year old nephew) said he would stand guard and kill them as soon as he saw them.

The children and I {with my parents} traveled to California so that I could endure my 30th birthday.  We had a really fun vacation.  Aunt Becky and Uncle Steve are wonderful hosts.  Noah danced with Donald Duck, rejected a kiss from Ariel during the parade, and was an easy going little traveler.  Abbi rode California Screamin' and loved it, found a love in guacamole dip, and was a fun traveling companion.  My mom and dad did pretty good too.  

Abbi turned nine in November and seems like she is going to be taller than me before the next State of the Me Address.  She recently has been a thief of my shoes because it makes her so happy to be able to fit into them.  Little does she know, while she was at school, I wore her shoes the other day.  Fair is fair.

2013 was a big year for us, filled with lots of blessings.  It had a few challenges mixed in but those turned out to be stepping stones toward our future.  We are all looking forward to what we have planned for 2014.  We enjoy health and happiness and can see how blessed our lives are.  Best of luck.

Turns out, this wasn't a very fun State of the Me.  Sorry, maybe next year.  {In the first paragraph, I hope you weren't offended my the "right-wing nut job" bit.  I just had to say it to blend my state of the me in with the state of the union.  Besides, in college I wore a shirt at least once a week with George W's face and the words right-wing nut job.  I loved that shirt.}

I am Mrs. Miscellany

This year, with the help of lots of friends, I have launched a new blogging project called:

Misses Miscellany!

mis·cel·la·ny  (ms-ln)

n. pl. mis·cel·la·nies 

1. A collection of various items, parts, or ingredients, especially one composed of diverse literary works.

2. miscellanies A publication containing various literary works.

This project came about after considering the world of blogging, the world of Pinterest, the world of Instagram, the world of Facebook, etc.  We are the women of an advanced era of communication our mothers and grandmothers have never known.  It's impressive and intimidating to have access to so much information.  It's not only on our desk tops anymore {with the noise of the internet dialing for connection}, but at our fingertips at all hours of the day.

My internet love began when I was introduced to Pinterest.  Sure, I had Facebook and even a blog, but I LOVED Pinterest.  Then, I started hearing about and connecting with popular blogs.  Now, all of those things are apart of my daily {multi-daily} routine.  I enjoy seeing the projects, ideas, lives, and stories of so many others.  Routinely, I attempt to copy a lot of what I see {with little success}.  Also, routinely, I compare my everyday life to the perfect set-up and staged photos and posts of others.

Almost everywhere I searched, online, I never saw the recipe fails, the tips on how to un-super-glue a cat from my husband's hand, the Modge Podge projects that will never make it on the shelf, let alone a feature blog post.  If you're not careful, all of those wonderful and colorful Pins and posts can start to wear on your own self-esteem.  {I have more to say about self-esteem, but another day.}

So, I rallied the troops.  We're aren't a big troop {and there's room for more} but we have an objective to combat the internet world of perfectness.  We are going to write real stories about our real lives.  It's going to be funny.  Or, it's not going to be funny.  It's not staged.  It's not perfected.  It's just "a collection of various items, parts, or ingredients, especially one composed of diverse literary works."

Please come and visit, and check us out every day, at:

www.missesmiscellany.blogspot.com

and LIKE us on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/missesmiscellany

2013 Wrap-Up

2013 was a positive year for our family.  The most exciting part was receiving our letter from the First Presidency after waiting two years for permission to be sealed in the temple.  In February, Jake and I were sealed in the Brigham City Temple.  Lots of other good things happened this year but they are all in the shadow of being able to go to the temple and be sealed for all eternity.

With so many blessings, I hope to always live a grateful life.  Sometimes, I let myself party in the pity and heavy things seem to overwhelm me.  I have been blessed with a wonderful support system filled with people who sympathize with me but help me move past my pity parties by re-focusing on my blessings. 

I hope 2014 will be another banner year for our family but rather than make goals for the year, I'm going to work on a day at a time being more happy, grateful, and closer to my Heavenly Father.