Granny's, Granny's, GRANNY'S!

"Life is just a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!"

How true this quote has been for me in 2009. My life as most of you know from the blog has gone in a up and down, round and round roller coaster ride that seriously at times felt as though I was in the spin cycle of a washing machine. It makes me dizzy to even think about the whirlwind I have been through.

In 2009 I have worked doing so many things it is insane. Supersonic Car wash as a Cashier, Emergency Essentials as a Customer Service Rep, Alpine School District as Substitute Teacher, A Selection Committee for a research group (I would test products out and give a review), Selling at boutiques/trade shows, house cleaner, A Vacation Nanny, Wedding Planner, Wedding Caterer, and now A Granny Nanny!

As you can see I had my hand in many pots. I loved it though. I love the knowledge I would gain with each responsibility! It wasn't as though I was starting and then quitting, I was doing many at the same time! But for the time being, one has stuck, I am now a Granny Nanny.

This all started back in October when a favorite mission companion of mine Kirsti Turpin Canova called and asked me what I thought about taking a leave from my vacation nannying and watching a Grandma Whelan for a bit. I told her I didn't know what I thought and that I would have to think about it. I prayed and fasted and thought and was so shocked how GOOD it felt! I called her Mother in law back and accepted the position.I began the process of getting everything squared away to go to Arizona in a few weeks and was so excited and even started to love this woman I had never met. Two weeks before I was to report to AZ, I was with a nanny family at disneyland, and got the call from "Turpin" that she had passed away that morning!
I didn't know how to feel. Numb would be a way at looking at it. I was looking forward to this new adventure, a more extended way to gain more knowledge, more perspective and it was taken a way just like that.
(This Granny is pictured above)

A few days later I recieved a call from my adopted Dad Lynn Whiting asking me to go and live with Grandma Whiting (Dale Whiting) in her home in Salt Lake City and care for her. I was elated at the experience. How I loved her already and to take care of her was an honor! I got all moved in with help from My Mom and went the next day to the rehab facility to pick her up. Seeing how happy and anxious she was to be home made it seem even more worth it.
That whole day I just followed her around to learn the "ropes" and find out what things she wanted me to do. We laughed, reminissed, ate and then retired to our rooms. The next morning we awoke and got ourselves ready for the day. Around noon I left for a bit, hadn't even been gone for 40 minutes when I got a call from Life Alert that she had a fall and I needed to get home.
I rushed home and it was a serious fall. I had to call 911 and grandma and I spent the next 4 days in the hosital. Some of the sweetest, most emotional days of my life, watching her go through that. After those days she had to go back for physical therapy and back to the rehab. My life as I knew it was again like a juggling act. (Grandma Whiting passed away on December 13th more to come about her)
After this loss of job I was beside myself. I didn't understand what the Lord wanted of me, why he would allow me to feel such peace and then yank it away from me.
This is when Monica Whiting became my angel and set me up with a family in her ward that needed help with their Granny. I have been in Gilbert, AZ for nearly 3 weeks. I have loved every second (who knew I could love AZ!!) since I have been here. This Granny (Verna Taylor)
is hand picked for me. I have laughed and laughed my way through each day. She has the best one liners you have ever heard and she isn't even trying to be funny! She will be 99 next Saturday and doesn't act a day over 80. I have only spend 3 weeks with her but have learned a lifetime of lessons and perspectives that will forever shape my life. This job has been such a blessing to me in so many ways. I love waking up and going to work. I love to cook for her, laugh with her, help her pick out clothes, do her hair and makeup, take her out, talk with her family, help her out in her yard. It is such a sweet experience...I am so thankful! So glad she is alive!

Life is just a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get rings through in each of our lives today, doesn't it? We have to go on blind faith knowing that we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows countless more than we do. He knows where we need to be, when we need to be there. He knew that I needed Verna and she needed me and so he arranged situations to help me open my heart to get there.
If I didn't love Turpin so much I would have probably never considered that offer and now even though her Grandma and I never got to meet face to face, because of the need she had, I have found a sweetness I may have never known.

I am thankful for the tender mercies of the Lord. I am thankful for trials that open up our eyes to the things we REALLY have had all along. I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who molds me and sometimes even had to put me in that spin cycle so that I can get what I need to get out of this earthy life.

"In all of life, have much joy and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured!"

President Gordon B. Hinckley