2015, the year of miracles

2015 is coming to a close and it will go down as one of those really hard years that I am so grateful we went through.  We have had a lot of changes and growing pains in our family this year, and a lot of miracles.  Last Christmas and the beginning of January was an incredible difficult time for our family.  On January 28th, I drove my husband down to a substance abuse treatment program in Payson, UT.  I went to the family processing meetings every week for five months while my husband fought his way back to sobriety and a new sense of spirituality and self that includes fighting for his sobriety every day.  Every day is a new day to be clean and sober.  Every day could be the day he relapses, but not today.  Today he is sober, and it is a gift and a miracle.  Our daughter, Ashley is sober and safe today, and that is a gift and a miracle.  Steve is in school to learn and train to be a substance abuse counselor, Ashley is in school to be a massage therapist, and I am in school to be a nurse.  I find it interesting that all of our paths are taking us in the direction of touching lives and healing.  Our daughter Markelle went through hard challenges in her marriages which ended in a divorce.  She is safe and it is a gift and a miracle.  Kelsey and Covey welcomed Hyrum Covey Cole into their family on May 1st.  He is perfect in every way and he is a gift and a miracle.  Madi and Adam moved in with us a few months back and Adam has been busy preparing for Medical School.  He took the MCAT in April and passed with an incredible score and has been invited to interview with three schools, one of them here in Utah.  That is a gift and a miracle. Madi has been on her on personal journey and finding her way in life.  She is a gift and a miracle to me.  I love my husband, my children, my family...despite, or maybe because of, the hard things we have been through together, we are a gift and a miracle. 

Weber State University Nursing School

In the summer of 2014 I took a big and bold step in my life:  I signed up for university courses at Weber State University.  I always had a plan in the back of my mind to return to school after my kids were grown and finish what I started back in the 1990's.  With my few credits from BYU and an AS degree from LDS Business College, I was ready to jump into a Bachelor's program.  The real question was which one?  My heart has always been with all things literature and so I assumed that when I did return to school, it would be to pursue an English Major.  Nursing was never on the horizon or radar for me.  But when I randomly took a CNA course with my daughter Madi a few years ago and began work at a local assisted living, I  discovered something I never knew about myself, and that is that I love helping and serving older people.  I was not ready, however, to give up on my dream for an English degree, so in the summer of 2014 I signed up for a Biomedical Core class (required for nursing) and an upper division English class.  It was both scary and exhilarating to be back in the classroom and learning new and--for me--deep and complicated concepts.  I look back at those classes now and how far I have come and it is exciting for me to know that I am capable, I am smart, I can do this!  There was a time, especially once I decided on a nursing degree verses an English major, that I doubted and wondered if I was doing the right thing.  Was I cut out for nursing? The day I got my letter in the mail stating that I had earned a spot in the highly competitive School of Nursing (SON) at Weber was a moment of triumph and gratitude.  I have felt that this is something I need to do.  Since then I have added Microbiology, Chemistry, and Pathophysiology as well as a semester of Nursing classes to my record.  What about the English degree?  Well, I figured out a way to earn an English minor along with a nursing degree, so I have also added more English courses to my school transcripts as well! It's truly an exciting time in my life and I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn and stretch my abilities and capabilities. 

Hyrum

On April 30, 2015 at 7:30 MST, Steve and I received a text from Covey that brought reality to my heart and tears to my eyes:  "Contractions have started!  We'll keep you posted."  I said a prayer for my daughter and soon-to-be-born grandson and cried some more.  I made the hour long drive from Payson back to our home in North Salt Lake, and again, more tears and prayers for Kelsey, Covey, and their baby.  I never realized until this moment that my heart would be so tied up in knots, worried for the safety of so many that I loved dearly.  I realized then that I had to turn their safety and well-being over to God.  He is the one in whom I wholly trust.  I went to bed that night with my phone next to my bed, thinking to myself that I will hear from Covey or Kelsey sometime during the following day.  As I got ready for bed, I once again knelt in prayer and my thoughts turned to Kelsey and the sacred work she was doing at that very moment.  I drifted off to sleep, knowing that the wait to meet my new grandchild was almost over.  I awoke from a deep sleep at 11:30 p.m. by the "ding" of my phone, indicating a message had come through.  As I leaned over to the night stand and picked up my phone, there was the most glorious picture greeting me:  My darling, radiant daughter, holding her straight-from-heaven son, and they were both so beautiful that my heart burst.  Hyrum Covey Cole, born at 1:08 EST, safe and chubby at 7 lb 8 oz, 21.5 inches long.  So amazing, this miracle we call life.