Count your blessings, Name them one by one.....

The job in the high desert has exploded. Bill is so busy, he is not sure when he can finish Chaffey college. He is getting four or five houses a week, which is keeping him and his crew busy. Then he gets a call from his boss. Bill was tipped to this repo job by a friend in another ward. So, his boss is LDS also, and he and Bill have become great friends. It also helps to develop trust when you are brothers in the gospel. Anyway, Chris, his boss, calls the other day and said he is not happy with some of his other crews and he wants to phase some of them out, and have Bill pick them up. This means Bill will eventually have the whole lower half of the state. This is a huge blessing for us. We have prayed for work, and Bill is deluged. He has also had some personal testimony builders to show him how much Heavenly Father loves us and knows us. One was last Sunday. He was behind on Chaffey, and felt it was best to work on Sunday to get caught up. When I got home from church he called me and was on his way home. He said the guilt feelings were so strong that we were so blessed by being obedient.....and here he is working on the Sabbath. He made a vow it won't happen again.

He also knows that me paying our tithing in full, whether he was on board or not, is why these things are going so well for us. For the longest time I paid almost on the sly. I told the bishop I was hiding the yellow slips so Bill didn't get frustrated. He knew tithing worked, he was just so scared of us having to move, or not having enough food. He has realized neither will ever happen. He supports my tithing paying now. He told me he was sorry he has been such a spiritual galoot.

So, now our family history story. My mom was called to be the family history person in her ward last year. She said then that since ours is done back to the Savior, she would work on Bill's. He is a convert, and except for some dabbling by an uncle, not much had been done. First off, when Bill was baptized in '94, he had a faith promoting experience. He said as he was listening to the bishop speak, he felt someone put their arm around his shoulders, and he was filled with a feeling of love and rightness. He figured it was my mom, since she was such a verbal supporter of his choice to be baptized.When the bishop was done speaking, he turned to acknowledge my mom, and was stunned to see her three rows back, and no one directly behind him. As he turned the feeling of the hug slowly left him. He was baffled by it, but felt it was a grandmother, and they were happy he was baptized because they wanted their temple work done.

I am confused by my PAF file, and not much has been done. Not enough time to dedicate to it while I was changing diapers and cleaning koolaid out of the carpet. So I was excited to learn my mom's calling, and her choice to work on Bill's line.

Last Wednesday, she calls me, just ecstatic. She found some of Bill's family. A Mary Steele. Mary was listed as a single mom (possibly a widow??) with two sons, William and Robert. William had a son, Huffman, who had a daughter, Mary (Bill's mom) who had Bill. I thought it really neat that Mary Steele had a William, and two generations later, Bill's mom, Mary, had a William. I would love to ask her if she knew of her great grandmother, and the naming situation. Someday, since she has been gone seven years now. Anyhow, my mom was thrilled to find this line, and was looking forward to calling me with the info....right after her institute class.

As she gets there and sits down she said it was like abolt of lightning. Mary Steele is the 'grandmother' who came to Bill's baptism. She hasn't thought of that story in years, and here it was, and she knew it was right. Now she was really anxious to call me and almost ditched her class. LOL. I had her tell Bill. He was almost in tears, and the spirit testified to him that what my mom said, and found, was true. That it was Mary Steele who had such a love for him, and was waiting for her work. So, soon, we are making a trek to the temple.

We have been so blessed.