Ladybugs

This post was started and then never posted so it's a little out of date :)

I can't believe it's been 2 years today since we vacated Utah and moved to Idaho Falls!  I miss it terribly.  I miss the beautiful mountains close by and all the fun things to do in the "city".  The plethera of shopping options, I miss my/our friends, my job (never thought I would admit to that), and my dear family we left there. But, we were an unhappy little family.  Mike was so unhappy with his job and where it was going, and the ever changing unorganization it became.  We had a rushed life.  Probably a life that we weren't so much content but always enjoying the search for something more. Course, you don't realize these things until you have a new life.  A new, slower paced, I know that I am doing what I am supposed to at this point in my life, life.  It was a great life there though.  We made so many memories and friends there.  It was hard to leave.  But it's also hard to imagine that was our life!  It's hard to imagine getting up and rushing so early.  Shuffling kids around to get dressed, fed and off to daycare so we can be at work all day.  Getting home late and eating crappy, fast dinners :)
Not that our life is bliss by any means.  But we are lucky that Mike gets to be around for school prep time.  He gets to chat and hang out.  He goes to work later and he gets to be home at dinner time. Not almost bed time.  It's crazy obviously around retail moments but overall, it's wonderful.  Reagan loves to be taken to school by her dad :)  Most importantly, I love being home with Kade.  I love the bond I have with him. I love playing hide and seek all day, swords, karate, tea parties, and puzzles when I can convince him to slow down.  I really miss the concept of work. I miss the interaction with patients and my friends I worked with.  I'm slowly beginning to long for some working life again (that doesn't entail a cash register) :o)

It's weird to think about the place we were in as a family 2 winters ago.  It was such a hard, trying time emotionally.

 A few shorts months after moving into our house, it seemed as if we were being invaded by Lady Bugs. Yes, ladybugs. We bought our house from a couple who up and moved and were supposedly very mysterious.  I was convinced they were involved in some Middle East corruption :) I have a GREAT wandering imagination and paranoia!  Anyway, to make a long story short,  It was THE STRANGEST thing!  I mean, we moved in December and it was below zero for most of the next few months.  However, we would randomly find LIVE lady bugs throughout the house, then in our cars, etc.  I was so paranoid about what the whole thing was that I started googling (because the internet is NEVER wrong) why a lady bug would be alive in the middle of a very cold winter!  It was totally freaking me out.
Anyway, I found out some interesting things and I swear to you, it put my life in perspective, and it gave me hope, renewed faith in our little family, and a sensation that someone, somewhere, was watching over us and preparing us for something greater, for something that would put us on a path that we needed to reconnect to.

• Because the life of the adult ladybug is short, it teaches us how to release worries and enjoy our lives to the fullest. When a ladybug appears in our life it is telling us to "let go and let God."
• The name lady bug finds its origins in the middle ages when this beetle was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and called the "beetle of our lady" and the insect is said to hold a link to mothers.
• Ladybugs are very visible, unlike most insects that are camouflaged from predators. In spite of the ladybug's size, it appears to be fearless.
• Seen often as a messenger of promise, the ladybug reconnects us with the joy of living.

And I would never wish our old life back but sometimes I think, what would life be like.  I know I would choose this life over that!