New Adventures for the Hannibal Family.

Following graduation I thought life would consist of Paul getting a new job, moving, buying a house and being a stay-at-home mom. Well, I was wrong on almost all accounts.

Once I finished school Paul started applying for jobs across the entire country. He had a few interviews but the fit wasn't right. We decided to stick around in Provo so Paul could get more experience at his current job. I was feeling antsy about not leaving P-town and was stubbornly determined to have some sort of change in life... thus began the house hunting. My time was quickly devoured by scouring the internet for details on just about every single house on the Provo/Orem market. A number of houses later, we found one the we really liked. We prayed about it, went to the Temple and both got the same answer: Paul should go back to school.

What?! Back up. Are you serious? This wasn't even on our radar. Nevertheless, the fact that we both had the same feeling and came to the same conclusion was hard to ignore-- School it was!

Paul moved at pedal-to-the-metal speeds to study, take the GRE and apply to BYU-- all in about one month. You could safely say that I was impressed with his dedication and commitment to the Lord's instruction for our little family. Though I was skeptical that he would get accepted for Fall 2013 on such short notice, we were happily surprised to receive an acceptance letter in the mail a few weeks later.

It was obvious for us to see the hand of the Lord as each piece fell into place. For us this experience has shown us that blessings come from heeding the Lord's guidance without question.

However, the story doesn't stop here. More pieces fell into place a few weeks later when my good friend Joslyn told me about an open PRN nursing position at Stonehenge of Orem. At the time I was certain that I would never, ever work as a nurse. My heart was set on being a completely full-time momma. I had considered working PRN [as needed/pick your shifts] but Utah is highly saturated with nurses, making sweet jobs like that almost impossible to find. I was so confident I would never work that I won an "award" from my nursing class stating I'd never use my degree:

 It was just as big of shock for me as it was for all of my close friends to hear that I was applying for a job and started working one short week later. Although it was unexpected, it has been a blessing to be able to use my nursing degree. I view my college education as a sort of life insurance, should anything happen to Paul. Acquiring experience makes me marketable, especially because most positions require prior experience. It gives me peace of mind that I would be more capable of getting a full-time job should the need ever arise.

And wait til you hear the kicker-- they have a six hour shift from 6pm til midnight. That is unheard of. I get to spend all day at home with Vincent, eat dinner with my boys, take off for work and STILL have a good night full of sleep so I'm not exhausted the next day. Talk about a dream come true. I don't have to sacrifice an entire day of family time to get experience.

Not to mention the fact that I get to work with two of my college mommy classmates. It's like therapy... and don't we all need a little bit of that?