Blessings come by the handfuls

Remember my last post? The one about how depressed I was Jake and I couldn't find jobs and it seemed as though we were never going to catch a break. Well, this blog post title sums it up perfect. Blessings do come, and when they do, they come by the handfuls. I won't waste any time getting to the good part. After a month of applying at every place we could think of, countless interviews, we thought for sure we were destined to be unemployed and poor forever. One day last week, I got a call from the cute little owner of Swig. {yes, Swig, my FAVORITE place ever!!} She wanted me to come in for an interview. Sure, this wasn't a high paying dream job, but it was something. And a better something than working at somewhere I hated. ^^Remember I love Swig? Ten minutes into the interview she told me she wanted to hire me and that I would start the next day. That was the first blessing. The second came the very next day WHILE I was at my first day of work at Swig. Jake was waiting for me to get off work and so he drove across the street over to Dixie Gun & Fish to waste some time. While driving there, he said he felt prompted to go into the Fireplace company right next door. He'd never been there before but decided to follow the prompting anyways. He walked in and struck up a conversation with the owner. After talking for about an hour, the owner told Jake he could tell he was a good man and a hard worker and offered him a job installing fireplaces and being the handyman around the store. Although it wasn't a 40 hour a week job, it was a start. And a good one. The NEXT day, Jake and I were getting ready to leave for Salt Lake with his family, and I got a phone call from Dixie Regional Medical Center informing me that I have been chosen for the position I interviewed for last week. Marina has two jobs: check! Jake also is able to go work for his brother's pipe inspection business for the oil rigs. He makes extremely good money and is able to go up as often as we need-making more in three days than he would in two or three weeks or work. His brother offered to let him go up as much as possible!
Next blessing: Jake's grandparents have lived in their house in Leeds for like, pretty much forever. Two weeks ago they moved down to Bloomington to be closer and to get the help they need. The house in Leeds is owned by Jake's aunt Liz and they were talking about how they are going to clean it out and get rid of everything but didn't know what to do with it. We didn't think too much of this talk besides how sad it was that his grandparents had to leave their home of 50+ years. A few days later, being so caught up in finding a new apartment of our own, Jake's mom told us that aunt Liz offered us to live in that house. For free. FOR FREE! At first we were a little apprehensive because it's Leeds, but the simple fact that we are going to live in a three bedroom home without paying rent and we will save SOOOOO MUCH money that the extra gas money won't even matter. Not only that, but we can use the money we would've paid for a deposit and first and last months rent on a place would allow us to buy couches, a TV, and a few other nice things we wouldn't normally be able to afford and start setting up our home! We will hopefully be moving in towards the end of this month after some painting, cleaning, and redoing that good old fashioned popcorn ceiling stuff. Is it just me, or are we being blessed way beyond what we deserve!?
I have a feeling this post is going to be a long one. I have so much to be grateful for and I just feel it coming out of my fingers and there's nothing I can do about it.
I also want to tell a little bit about this last weekend. We went to Salt Lake with Jake's family to go to the zoo and have a little family get away. This was perfect because Jake and I needed to go to Manti that Saturday for my good friend Paige's sealing. We woke up Saturday morning a little later than we should have and were stressing out about getting there on time. After driving way too fast through the way too middle of nowhere towns on the way to Manti, we made it in PLENTY of time. I was lucky enough to catch Paige in the entrance of the temple while she was waiting for Tommy to get there, and seriously everyone-she looked so beautiful! There is something about a girl on her wedding day that just makes her glow. I know I had the same thing on my big day and I couldn't be more happy for her being married to the love of her life in the House of the Lord. It was such a beautiful day! Her sealing was amazing and the Spirit was so there I almost teared up. After the sealing, I annoyingly chased her down to get a picture and then we left so we didn't intrude. I'm just so grateful she invited us to the sealing! After that, we went and got lunch at a small diner there in Manti and headed back to the temple to do an endowment session. All I have to say is the live sessions are INCREDIBLE!! I loved it so much. After the session, we wanted to do some sealings. We sealed about 40 families together and it was one of the greatest feelings ever. I have never been so sure of something as I am that the Temple is the most amazing place on Earth, you can feel the Spirit in every inch of the building and the work that goes on inside is incredible. Guys, life and the gospel is so good. Jake and I are so blessed it's unreal. I am constantly reminded of the love the Savior has for me and has all my interests in mind, he blesses us all! It might not be the second you expect it, or even the answer you were expecting, but something will always come and it will always be the best for you. Sometimes our plans don't match up with His, but that's because His are always better.
One last tidbit on this blog post before I end it, I just want to brag real quick about my sweet husband Jake. Every single day I am beyond amazed at how endlessly sweet, caring, compassionate and forgiving he is. He takes such good care of me and never fails to do everything in his power to provide for me. He is more than what I could have ever wished for a husband. I'm not just saying this stuff, it really is so true that sometimes I don't even believe it. My husband is amazing.
I'm done ranting about how awesome my life is for now. K, that sounded really bad. I'm just feeling super blessed and super grateful lately and I know whenever times are hard I can come back and read this to know how good life really is. I also hope there will be someone who stumbles across this post who is feeling down, and in my hoping this post doesn't come across as snobby or braggy, maybe this can shed some light and let someone know that blessings DO come. They will make all the waiting worth it.
XOXO