Tender Mercy

Today something happened that helped me remember how the Lord loves and blesses us. Here is the story:

When Jared graduated from BYU with his bachelor's degree, he accepted a job in Idaho Falls, so we began planning our move to an area that I had never been before. I remember the few months before this move as a difficult time in my life where I was dealing with many hard things and the idea of moving somewhere that took me farther from the support of family and where I didn't know a single soul was daunting, to say the least. As soon as the decision was made, I began praying fervently for a friend in our new town. I knew I would need one. A really good one.

Jared and I planned to rent an apartment for a few months while we scoped out the area and then buy a home, but when we went to find a place we struggled finding a rental that we wanted and felt strongly impressed to buy a new home that was scheduled to be finished about the time we would need to move there. We felt like that was where we needed to be. So we signed the paperwork on Saturday and went to church at the ward we would attend the next day. As I sat down in Relief Society, a beautiful sister, Jen Rollins, came up and introduced herself to me. As we talked, we found that we had A LOT in common with each other and we had a wonderful conversation. We were still talking as we left Relief Society, only to find our husbands talking to each other in the hall. Her husband, Tim, and introduced himself to Jared in priesthood and they discovered that they would be working together at Jared's new job...the only two men working on the Nicole Miller make-up line. They were both relieved to have another male on the team. :)

The rest is history. Jen became like a sister to me during the next 2 years. She supported, shared, and cared. When I was pregnant with Brielle, she was the one who would answer all my questions and she helped me with the transition to motherhood. Next to my mother, she has mentored me in this motherhood role more than anyone else and I am grateful to have such a tremendous mentor.

They decided to return to BYU for an MBA 2 years before we did and since coming here, in their footsteps, I have found that she and her husband touched the lives of many people here in a similar fashion. They now live in Pheonix where her husband works for American Express and we keep in touch through phone calls every couple of months...mostly when one of us needs a boost. :) We were lucky enough to have them visit this morning as they are in the area for a family wedding. It was wonderful to see them again and hard to see them drive away at the end of the visit, knowing that it would be way too long until we would see them again. Thank you, Tim and Jen, for your friendship, love, and examples. We are eternally grateful to you for being that answer to prayer 5 years ago and that we still have that friendship today.Back row: Tim, Jen, me, Jared

Middle Row: Kaylie, Madeline, Brielle

Front Row: Elise, Jacob, NathanJen and IThe kids totally hit it off. They loved playing together!

I remember holding Jacob when he was first born and when I was longing to have a baby of my own, to get that "newborn fix" that we, as women, need. My has he grown!Miss Elise. She has always been the CUTEST girl!

We got to meet Kaylie for the first time today. She is a darling child, just like her siblings.