They take care of their own! No matter the task!

Hello Blogger Fam! 

If I didn't blog today I would be very ungrateful! As I got ready to leave my parents house, all I could think about was how I was going to have to shovel my driveway and sidewalk. To my surprise when I pulled in from my 2.5 hour commute my driveway was clear and so was my sidewalk. My silent prayers were answered. I am truly blessed to be apart of this community. It isn't just the snow, it's all the things this community does and being welcomed with open arms. Let me tell you about some of the other amazing things this community. 

First off I want to start with saying how grateful I am for the kind soul or souls who cleared my driveway and sidewalk. I came home to a cleared driveway and sidewalk after a big winter storm. I am so thankful to live in this community. They took me in when I was broken, torn and trying to rebuild my self esteem, they took me in when I had no where to live but the school but they didn't have that, they found me a place to stay for a month, while the place I was supposed to live was getting finished. Once the place I was supposed to move into was ready. It was a the whole community was here to move me in and in less than 20 minutes all my stuff was moved in. 

I am so thankful to be apart of a community that welcomes outsiders  (if they know you are coming, if you are a hick hiker that is another story) and takes them in as their own (they protect their own). I am thankful for the people who I can call to come and kill a spider that is 6 feet big and I mean that! Or the ones who come and get a dead mouse and remove it from my house as I am screaming and crying like a 5 year old because I am pretty sure I am going to die, because I am so scared. I am so thankful for this new adventure I have embarked on. I am thankful to be the school teacher out here. I am truly the luckiest teacher. I love this community. When I first started I thought people were crazy for living out in the middle of nowhere but I was the one that was wrong. I have met the most amazing people out here. 

I love being apart of a community that when you drive to town after a snow storm they say text me when you get to your parents so I know you are safe. I am thankful for the janitor who calls to check on me to make sure that I made it back safe. I am truly the luckiest school teacher around. What other teacher can say that when you leave for the weekend everyone is concerned for their well being. 

I am truly the lucky one. I am so thankful for the journey that got me here and the opportunity I have to be here. I am thankful for all the challenges that I had to go through to get here, all the hiccups and I am so thankful that I took the leap of faith to come out and to start a life for myself in the middle of nowhere. I wouldn't change it for the world. I am so grateful for all the no's that I got. It only takes one yes and I am so thankful that this was my yes! I love this adventure and this community! Thank you for taking me in when I needed it the most and most importantly thanks for taking a chance on me! 

I am off to my next adventure! Send Coke! I mean that with all seriousness or grape crush is accepted too! 😉 When life gets hard, drink a coke. 😊 And don't forget to pray because sometimes that is all you have!

Until next time, Peace Out Cub Scout. Work hard, play harder, RUN YOUR HEART OUT! Pray a little louder! Never lose sight of the end goal! Keep the Faith! Peace and Love! Over and Out! 

So long 2023! Welcome New Adventures 2024!

Hello Blogger Fam!

 
So long 2023! Hello 2024!

What an adventure 2023 was, it changed my life for the better. It had it's ups and downs as every year does but this was one for the books. It changed my life for the better! It taught me how to stand up for what I believe in and what to fight for and what to not fight for. Here are the top 5 things that changed my life in 2023.

1. Having oral surgery in July.

2. Going to the gym in the mornings at 5 am and the morning chats.

3. Getting a new job and attending the rural school conference.

4. Going to Missouri Star and Oklahoma with my mom.

5. Being able to attend 2 of my best friends weddings both in September.

2023 was a year that didn't go how I planned but it went the way it needed to. It shaped me into a better person and a happier one. I learned that I am strong enough to handle hard things and I am never alone. You never realize how alone you really are until you are homeless just praying to sleep, then moving into a bunk house and you just pray to not see a mouse or have one in your car and to live to see that next day. Life is hard but the hiccups in the road make it all worth it. I learned that a dead mouse isn't going to kill you even though it is as big as a rhinoceros.

If you would have asked me a year ago what my life would look like it would have been staying in West Valley teaching the morning conversations at the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I would be living in the city around things and still seeing my friends everyday. The year had its ups and downs but I wouldn't change it for anything.  

Out with the old and in with the new. I am so excited for this year and all of the adventures! I am hoping for one real adventure this year and I hope it finds me and if not I hope I get some adventure that is life changing and I hope to get to spend sometime with my brother! 

I must tell you I am finally an adult, I changed my own toilet seat and I used my very own drill yes I did have to call my dad to ask how to take the drill part out of the drill but I did it. 

Here is to 2024 and new adventures! 

I am off to my next adventure! Send Coke! I mean that with all seriousness or grape crush is accepted too. 😉 When life gets hard, drink a coke. 😊 And don't forget to pray because sometimes that is all you have. 

Until next time, Peace Out Cub Scout. Work hard, play harder, RUN YOUR HEART OUT! Pray a little louder! Never lose sight of the end goal! Keep the Faith! Peace and Love! Over and Out! Here is to new adventures and great things ahead! 

Camping?!

Hello Blogger Fam!

Have you ever been camping?! Do you know all the work that goes into camping? Well, that is what Grouse Creek living is like. You pack a bag, you plan your meals, you make sure you have fabric and you have to drive with your head on the swivel to make sure you don't hit a cow/deer/antelope because they are expensive.  You have to plan your meals and all the things you want to do. You have to make sure you have enough food to last you until you go to town and enough just in case you get snowed in because I am not willing to drive on a dirt road in a snow storm to go get groceries. Please don't tell me that I can leave my parents house at 5 in the evening and get to Grouse Creek by 5:30 there is no way it is 160 miles one way that is 2.5 hours that's will no stops. Don't tell me you understand until you make the commute as many times as I have. I get that my schedule isn't the best and doesn't work with the Bishops schedule and I am sorry about that. But I would rather drive in the daylight and return in one piece than be on the side of the road in a ditch somewhere with no cell service because you didn't understand where I work or the commute I make.

Camping is fun when it is only for a while but an every week occurrence is something I never thought was possible, I never even know what I am going to eat until I eat it planning meals is something else. I know that every Tuesday I am going to eat two cheese enchiladas with rice no beans. Yes, every Tuesday, lately is has been Friday or Saturday when I am in town. I am became a pro at living out of a suitcase and a cooler and now I have a place to finally hang my clothes and to put my food. I have a nice little place in the middle of nowhere. I am grateful to the foreman who can read body language and facial expressions of a  girl who is like I think this is a bad idea, but my mom taught me to never quit no matter the challenge it brings. I appreciate that the foreman puts up with me even the angry crying girl because the breaker was turned off to the fridge. I am grateful that he never once made me feel like I was an idiot (even when he had every right to) even when I overreact about the little things but they are mountains to me. I am thankful for the opportunity to work out here and to be the teacher in a small town. I am learning so much about myself and how much I have grown being here. Camping is an adventure and so is living in a small town in the middle of no where. 

Now, I want to tell you the sweetest story that happened. At lunch I had just returned to the lunchroom from the office because I needed to microwave my lunch. I went and sat down it was dead silent and I mean so quiet a pin could have dropped. Mind you, it is never quiet someone is always talking! One of my students said, who is going to pray we need to pray another said you pray to who and why? This students isn't of their faith and without missing a beat the other student said to Heavenly Father we always thank him for our food before we eat it. Another student said to this student, its okay buddy we will pray at dinner for our lunch to and he will understand. We sat in silence for another minute and then they started eating. The faith of little child is something so real that you know they love their father in heaven and they are willing to pray no matter where they are. My heart melted because that was a tender mercy to me to remind me that as long as you still have a little bit of faith it will grow. It reminded me that the love of a child is real and the love of Heavenly Father is real no matter how far you stray or how hard the struggles are. I hope to have has much faith as these students one day. 

I am off to my next adventure! Send Coke! I mean that with all seriousness or grape crush is accepted too. 😉

When life gets hard, drink a coke. 😊 And don't forget to pray because sometimes that is all you have. 

Until next time, Peace Out Cub Scout. Work hard, play harder, RUN YOUR HEART OUT! Pray a little louder! Never lose sight of the end goal! Keep the Faith! Peace and Love! Over and Out! Here is to new adventures and great things ahead! 

Thank you for knowing I needed you!

 Hello Blogger Fam! 

What a week and it is only Tuesday! First let me give you the weekly update I wish I had something so profound to say like something that would make you say oh man I wish I could be just like this girl. Well, I don’t. Many people have told me to write a book about my adventures, I should but I am just trying to survive. Clearly, you are like trying to survive. I have been living in survival mode for the past month or so and I am now starting to feel it in my body as it is refusing to do things it used to do with ease like running 5 miles now, I can barely run a mile without my back telling me to stop I can’t take it please stop you are hurting me. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I am on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere with the silent tears streaming down my cheeks talking to the Branch President. I love to run and lately this fear of being attacked by a mouse or a bug or germs were going to kill me. My mom came with her army and cleaned the house I am in now. I am sleeping on a cot and my back is not having that either. It’s alright one day I will have a bed.

I have read a few books two last month to be exact. I read this one and it changed my life. It taught me to love myself and to forgive myself. I learned that sometimes once you can let go of things you are holding on to, it becomes easier not because of your circumstances but because of the way you look at them and way you handle them. Life is different for everyone; everyone has different struggles different battles to face and mountains to climb. 

Yesterday, I was trying to have a conversation with my dad it got to the point where I was just done and stressed and I said I’m done talking to you, you are causing me stress and it just isn’t going to work. Then my mom starts on the bandwagon and I am like just leave me alone. I called my boss she called someone and then the foreman called me and said in the most loving tone even though he was probably super annoyed with me. “Why didn’t you call earlier? Why didn’t you call me first?” My response I didn’t think it was your problem anymore. It is my are problem for a year. I laughed and said OKAY he said call me first. He then had me call the heating guys and he said we will be out in the morning. Heat broke once again sound familiar? At least it is getting fixed much faster than last time. Update it is fixed!

Sunday night, I just rolled back in to Grouse Creek and having my normal pity party and panic of I’m going to die to many germs. I got a phone call from a friend who I truly adore and it was the worst timing but yet the best timing. We talked for 45 minutes it was so fun to catch up and just talk like old times. We used to work together they were the first one that I told I was taking this job in Grouse Creek. The love, the love that this friend has for the Savior is truly the most incredible thing I have ever seen. They have the most Christlike love. I hope one day to that kind of spiritual giant. I am so thankful for that friend who listened to call me that day to boost my spirits for the week and to bring a smile to my face. Little did they know I really needed them that night. They said something and it just made me giggle inside because I had never thought about it and you know what they are right I am tough and I can do hard things. 

I am so lucky to have the people I have in my life. My life has been changed for the better because of most of the people I have met some maybe not so much but this one friend definitely changed my life for the better and saved it truly saved it!

Until next week! Send Coke! I mean that with all seriousness or grape crush is accepted too. 😉

I am off to my next adventure. When life gets hard, drink a coke. 😊  And don’t forget to pray because sometimes that’s all you have. Also, be like an elementary student and wish big and dream big. Wishes do come true, they just take time. They tell me so! 

Until, next time, Peace Out Cub Scout. Work hard, play harder, RUN YOUR HEART OUT! Pray a little louder! Never lose sight of the end goal! Keep the Faith! Peace and Love! Over and Out! Here is to new adventures and great things ahead!

31 in the rearview mirror

Hello Blogger Fam! 

Goodbye 31! Hello 32! My life has changed so much in the past year and most of those changes took place in the last month. I moved to the middle of nowhere, was homeless, left all my friends, got invited to be in a wedding line and then got uninvited not sure how that even happened but it did. I fixed a wedding reception crisis. I made my own blinds for my classroom. My mom and her army have come and made the house where I am supposed to be living livable. 

A year ago, a sweet sister came and decorated my door for my birthday and we became the best of friends all because it was important to her for me to do something for my birthday. I asked her where she got the stuff to decorate my apartment door and she said without missing a beat from my car trunk don't you have an emergency decorations box in your car. Umm, no I have everything else haha. We laughed and now this sweet sister is getting married! I couldn't be more excited. I don't know if she knows how much it meant to me that she decorated my door something so simple would lead to such a wonderful friendship!

I learned over this past month how tough I really am! I also learned that spiders are still scary but I can kill Mormon crickets that are on the ground. I watched a 7 year old kill one and said if she can do it so can I. 

I got a call from another coworker who I have only worked with briefly and said thanks for being you! Thank you for your fun spunky personality. 

Okay, lets me honest I know why you are here because you want an update on my past few weeks. 

Here we go. My friends came to Brigham and took me to lunch for my birthday. I am truly lucky to have this group of friends they came into my life at a tough time but they stood by me and I have truly met one of my best friends in this group of friends. She came into my classroom when I was broken and needed to be rebuilt she rebuilt me from the ground up while being 7 months pregnant mind you. I should have been the one there for her but she was the one there for me. 

Grouse Creek update! PLAYGROUND I know you are all like cool that's great what you don't know the students haven't had one and they finally got one! It was such a surprise when it showed up last Tuesday and then started getting built and was up by Thursday! It was like a celebrity was in town the joy it brought to the students and communities face was priceless. It's the simple things we can call wins that make the biggest different! Nothing really great to report. House I am supposed to move in is almost ready I mean we just have to finish cleaning it. Did you catch that we as me and my mom and her army! I have learned something very important... I am not willing to work for a company that can't keep their promises because who wants to be thrown into fire and be left there to burn? That has been my life lately my Principal is doing the best she can I know she cares but when higher up the chain doesn't do their job it is really frustrating. I have started to love Grouse Creek and I am truly so lucky to be out here on this adventure! 

Until next week! Send Coke! I mean that with all seriousness or grape crush is accepted too. 

I am off to my next adventure. When life gets hard, drink a coke.  And don’t forget to pray because sometimes that’s all you have. Until, next time, Peace Out Cub Scout. Work hard, play harder, RUN YOUR HEART OUT! Pray a little louder! Never lose sight of the end goal! Keep the Faith! Peace and Love! Over and Out! Here is to new adventures and great things ahead! 

What a whirl wind

 Hello Blogger Fam! 

Week two has come and gone here on Grouse Creek. People ask how it is and I tell them what they want to hear and then my neighbor always ask so I always tell her the truth I don’t think she is ready for the reality of how rough it is. She is on the school board mind you. My mom said you need to start being positive. Me okay everything’s awesome I love it! Wahoo! 

Come on now let’s be honest! I’m not saying my life is harder than anyone else’s. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m just saying it’s a little mediocre right now. Kind of unraveling if you will. But this too shall pass. BRIGHT SIDE I REMEMBERED A FLASH LIGHT!

I am so sick of having to lie and tell people everything fine I’m happy I’m doing great when the reality is…. I’m living in a constant fear am I going to get eaten alive by mice tonight is there a spider that’s going to eat me. Why do these people hate me? I’m doing the best with the hand I was dealt and clearly right now it is a struggle but I’m giving it my all and the best that I can. Last Friday, on my way home I hit highway 30 and this peace just filled my heart the fear had left my body and the spirit came back to my life. I knew without a doubt I was almost safe! Almost, I was almost home. Almost to a safe space. 

Grouse Creek is a wonderful place and I am truly lucky to be able to be the teacher out here but the struggles and heartache is rough! I know right now you are saying, Jill you are overreacting, to you that may be true. Right now I don’t think so but as I look back on this experience I am sure I will say to myself you were a fool. Right now all I can say is Heavenly Father please let me live to see another day and not a mouse. Please keep mice out of my car and away from me. 

As many of you know I am terrified of animals and I mean terrified. If you didn’t know now you do. I start to hyperventilate and then cry, panic and then if you touch me or try to calm me down from the behind, I start hitting you not because I want to hit because I think you are an animal trying to kill me. Because in my mind that’s what’s happening. 

Last week there was a spider and I called my dad 160 miles away to come and kill it and of course he egging me on in my irrational fear I know. I started to panic more so I called the bus driver to come and kill it. This wasn’t just a baby spider it was huge massive black widow going to kill me. The bus driver came he drove 11 miles on a dirt road to get rid of it for me. He didn’t laugh at me when he had every reason to. He came with his wife and even she was like that’s huge! Now he calls me spider girl and I don’t care! I am grateful to that man to come to my rescue when I thought I was going to die and all I could think about was I’m going to die and they don’t make yellow headstones yet. Thank kind bus driver! I will never forget and never be able to thank you enough! 

Here is now what you were waiting for the second week update. It was better than last week. I actually had a place to stay. I went to a community event that was fun someone asked me if I knew my brother but you must relies there are two people the same age with the same name just a different letter changed in the last name. I asked which one and he looked at me like what’s wrong with you, you either have a brother or you don’t so I had to explain myself. Come to find out it really was my brother! Someone from where my brother works knows someone out here. So that’s awesome. I also found the treasury book of the school from many moons ago and I knew a name of a person in that book so I sent a picture to the man’s daughter in law and was like this is so cool! We texted for a minute and then went on our way. I went and watched another teacher teach now my life seems a little easier that I know what is going on. People in education of all places you would think would know people learn differently show me once or twice and I got it. Expected me to read a book to figure it out I got nothing. I finally feel like I can teach here. I’m thankful for the opportunity that had to go see an experienced teacher teach! Not only to learn but to make it to my best friends wedding and to get my henna. My best friend calls me so upset/sad at 5 am no-one can come to my wedding not even you. I said actually I’ll be there I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I was grateful the stars aligned for me to go Friday to watch this teacher teach, so I could get everything I wanted to and needed to done. It was a crazy week and even crazier weekend. But it was worth it. Update on the housing situation no idea but hey a couch is better than nothing! 

Until next week! Send Coke! I mean that with all seriousness or grape crush is accepted too. 😉

I am off to my next adventure. When life gets hard, drink a coke.😊  And don’t forget to pray because sometimes that’s all you have. Until, next time, Peace Out Cub Scout. Work hard, play harder, RUN YOUR HEART OUT! Pray a little louder! Never lose sight of the end goal! Keep the Faith! Peace and Love! Over and Out! 

My Miracle

Hello Blogger Fam! 

This post is real and raw with a lot of emotion.

Have you ever been homeless or felt homeless? Well, it doesn’t feel great. I want to tell you about the last week of my life it truly is a miracle. I started a new job and couldn’t have been more excited or thrilled. Here is my first weeks update. 

Hey! I thought you might like a week one update. Well, I legitimately started the week homeless and I mean literally homeless living at the school and praying for a miracle! I was almost ready to quit and be like this isn’t for me I’m out I’m out! I didn’t because let’s be real we know I can’t quit on these kids, I stayed. I found a couch to crash on for a few weeks and it’s quite a nice couch haha. Better than motion lights and the floor haha. It’s an adventure out here my coworkers are alright they take good care of me in a non weird way. We are a just a little family out here in the middle of nowhere but you know what, I wouldn’t change it for the world. The tears were rough and fierce but they come and go. I am learning how tough I truly am! Do I miss the city yea I do. But at least this is where I am meant to be for a little while! Something out being in the middle of nowhere changes the way you look at life! New perspective I guess! 

Now, I must tell you about the love of the savior I have felt this past week. I have felt the prayers of my homeward family and the pleas of my heart. I have felt the prayers of others who love and care about me too! I have been lifted up on the hardest days. I  have felt the face plants and scraps of the world too but I never once should have doubted that I was loved or ever forgotten. 

This week hasn’t been easy nor is a week ever easy some are easier than others and  that is true too. Short week this week and then only 4 days from here!

Friday, I am lucky enough to go to the temple for my best friends sealing if you would have asked me if I would ever love this girl I would have said never she wronged me and I never let go of a grudge. I never met someone who was so alone and need a friend more than her. I don’t think it was her who needed a friend it was me. My father in heaven knew it and he needed me to trust him at that point in my life to let her in 9 years ago. 

Over this week and last I have learned so much! I learned that I am tough and I can do many things. I know that if I don’t give up on someone who never gave up on me I’ll always end up where I need to go. 

Today I read a book to my students a book I have read many times but today it made the silent tears fall because I knew that the words were true in this book! “I’m off to great places.” Dr. Seuss speaks to the heart. It hit my heart today it jerked at the heart strings.

Life is hard I’m not telling you it is easy but I’m telling you it is worth it! I can honestly say I’ve felt so alone and no one cares and those were the days my miracle happen. I prayed for a miracle and I got one maybe not the one I wanted but I truly got a miracle. 

I am off to my next adventure. When life gets hard, drink a coke.😊  And don’t forget to pray. Until, next time, Peace Out Cub Scout. Work hard, play harder, RUN YOUR HEART OUT! Never lose sight of the end goal! Keep the Faith! Peace and Love! Over and Out!