He hears me...

I do not mean this to sound self-righteous, conceited, or arrogant, (because if you really truly stop and think about it, I bet you'll find that it is the same for you), but Heavenly Father hears me. I can't think of a single thing I've asked for that he hasn't given me. I'm not talking about praying to ace a test I didn't study for, because come on now, that doesn't really count. Now it might have happened 5 years after I asked for it, or it might have come/happened in a different way that I wanted it to, but it still happened. (Even if someone dies, like my best friend Jackie when I was 16. You pray for it not to be true because if they're dead that means you can't see them. BUT you will see them again someday when you die, so the real prayer is for God to allow you to see them, which will happen someday if you're patient. Sorry about the tagent...anyway...) The real reason I'm bringing this up is because as some of you will recall last year Stephen had applied for the CHP (California Highway Patrol). We have been praying for a very long time, and had heard nothing. We had begun to lose hope, especially since his older brother Nathan applied several months before him, scored higher, and still wasn't in the academy yet. It had gotten to the point where we were praying just to at least know whether he had gotten in or not. Well... about a month ago the head of CHP recruiting (I hope I got that right) moved into Stephen's parents home ward. Stephen's dad, being the action taking/initiative person that he is, approached the guy and explained to him the situation. The man then asked for Stephen's info and said he would check things out. Three days later his background investigator called him. Unfortunately, it was while he was at work so he couldn't pick up. Again for several days he tried calling him back, but with no success. On Sunday Stephen remembered he'd forgotten to pay tithing the last paycheck, so he did and VOILA! The very next day he gets in touch with him. Hurray! Finally after 6 months of not hearing a word. My brother in law asked me, "So what? Are you saying that Heavenly Father wants Stephen to be in the CHP?" No, not necessarily. What I'm saying is we'd been praying to hear back at least something, and that prayer was answered. I'm not sure if he'll get in, but when he talked to his Background Investigator, he said that Stephen was in the top 5 out of the 30-some odd in his group. WOOHOO! At the same time we had gotten used to the idea of looking for jobs in other places. For example, at the beginning of the month Stephen turned in an application for a police job that opened up in Coeur D'Alene, ID, the same city that my parents are moving to next month. To be honest I had looked forward to that. I thought it would be nice to live near my parents, and three of my siblings live relatively close. Plus, it's supposed to be beautiful there, not like the rest of Idaho which doesn't totally appeal to us. Here are some pictures of it.


It's a popular summer resort city. We have lots of family in California as well, so either way we're good. My only beef is I really don't want to live around L.A. or San Francisco. Almost anywhere else, except for Contra Costa County is good with me. But preferably I'd to live in one of these areas: Roseville area, San Diego, Pleasanton, Orange County, or Riverside County. (I've lived in 4 of those places already and like them.) We'll keep ya'll updated if he gets in!