Here we go again!

Well, it's February again. And once again, Bryce has just received another invitation for an interview for med school at the University of Calgary! We are really excited to have the opportunity! Here we go again... another month of preparing for the interview... and another 3+ months sitting waiting, kinda biting nails, wondering if Bryce will get into school or not. **crossing fingers** PRAYING HARD!! This is the 3rd yr in a row of applying and getting an interview. Ultimately, we know that whether he gets in or not, we will be where we are supposed to be, and having the experiences that we each need to be having. So as much as we really want it to happen, we are very happy where we are at, we are enjoying life in St Albert... so if he doesn't get in, it's not the end all, be all. All of our experiences are for our good... and we are constantly learning and re-learning this principle. Having said that, I've already been looking on the MLS to see what houses are for sale in Calgary, and what neighbourhoods, just to get an idea of what we may have to anticipate. The hardest part of this whole situation, is not knowing what will happen, where we will be living and that we will only have roughly a 2 month turn around time to sell our house & buy a new one. That is the single detail that stresses me alot. ALOT. It's alot like being in the military, lol, which we know soooo much about already! That's the other thing that's at the back of my mind. Bryce's posting ends in March (I think) and he's confident that they won't send him anywhere, and that he'll just have the same posting. I, on the other hand, am not so sure... I know the military can say one thing, but then things can change all too quickly... sigh. No stress here, lol ;) It's all good though. I'll just keep rolling with punches, life's not boring! 

My Dad often reminds me of a comment I made when I was 16 yrs old... you know, when my brain was scrambled and totally not working right (I didn't think that back then though!). I told my Dad one day that I hoped that I would have wild children because I didn't want to be bored. He reminds me ALLLLL the time of my not-so-wise statement, and that I should be careful of what I ask for. I long for the days of being 'bored', whatever that is... it kinda sounds dreamy. I'm so not bored!! I guess, that's good, it means that I am living my life, and not idling it away. Life is full, my life is good, very busy, but good. I am grateful for that. I'm glad I have 5 children, I am learning so much about myself and life. Somethings I like and somethings I don't like... the things/characteristics that need tweaking. There's no way I would learn life's lessons without all of it's ups and downs. I'm trying so love what happens in my life, both the good and the bad. That's really tricky. It's so easy to love when things go right. But when things are going sideways/wrong, it's hard in the moment to remember to keep perspective of what I should be trying to learn. I hope I have a long life on this earth... I need all the time I can get! ;)

I often watch Mormon Messages... they help me remember what's important and to keep an eternal perspective. I have been watching this particular one lately. Come What May and Love it... words to live by.

Today is Fast Sunday. I was thinking about Noah & Adam talking to each other about fasting. It was last year when church was at 1:00. It would have been late in the morning. Noah had fasted through breakfast, but had decided to eat lunch and break his fast. So Noah says to Adam, "I'm breaking my fast now." Adam says, "I am too." Noah says, "When did you start your fast?" Adam says, "I started my fast after breakfast and I'm breaking it right before lunch." And it was said all so innocently!! Still cracks me up whenever I think about that. And just about every fast Sunday since then I think about it. :) Adam, you are cute!

This week is a big week for me. I have a REALLY big wedding order! **all smiles** I really like doing wedding orders. I love making pretty cakes. I like that way more than doing crazy 3d cakes... those stress me out and I just really don't enjoy making them. (Although, I like the feeling of completing any of the cakes I've made.) This is the biggest order I have had yet. I'm making a 2 tiered cake and 21 dozen cupcakes and they are renting my cupcake stand as well. It's going to be a crazy busy week, and I'm sure I will having some late nights on Thursday and Friday this week. I'm trying to keep myself organized so that I can sleep on those nights. I started working on things yesterday. I've already made the sugar flowers that are going on the cake, I've made some of the toppers for the cupcakes and I have the cupcake stand all ready to go. If I pick away at everything, every day, I should be good. I have to be good... they're picking their order up at noon on Saturday! (no pressure, lol) It's nice to have some extra money. I'm putting some to debt, some in savings, some towards food storage items and I bought myself some more cake tools. (soooo excited for more tools!! I LOVE tools!!) Who would've thought that 3 years ago I wouldn't have dared take a cake out of a pan to decorate it, and now I am doing a huge wedding order! I have another wedding booked for April and 3 more weddings booked in August. I'm really picking and choosing what orders I do and don't do. My time is really limited, so I've decided that I'm only taking on orders that I like, that I have time for and that will pay me well. I've made enough cakes where I wasn't charging near enough for my time; especially in the first yr or so while I was figuring out what I could do and how much I could/should be charging for my work. I've had a number of people say no to an order after getting a quote, saying it's out of their budget. I'm totally fine with that because that means I have more time to do things for/with my family and for myself. And if they will pay, great, I get a new project to work on and I'm compensated well for my time. This whole making cakes for people has been a learning curve for me. It's good though. I like it. And when I do too many cakes and don't have enough time to do what I need to be doing, I slow things down. And if we need some extra cash, I just make more cakes and it helps us out. Last summer I didn't have any dayhome kids. The one family I was watching gave 2 weeks notice mid June... the mom wasn't working July & August and they didn't want to pay to hold a spot. So I found myself scrambling to find another dayhome family. I did find 2 more families BUT they weren't ready to sign up until September. Wow, that was stressful! So I put my cake ad on kijiji and the orders started rolling in. The heavens literally opened last summer. I had so many orders coming in that I literally had to turn people away because I couldn't keep up with it all! And we had enough money to live off of and to be able to pay for the kids school supplies. The Lord's hand was in our lives, it really was a blessing to be able to have all those opportunities! I am grateful for that trial... it was hard going through it, so very stressful to always be worrying about money... but once again, the Lord helped the Rollins family out with any opportunities to make money. And here's how I know it was the Lord's help. I know it because anytime we are short money, the flood gates open and soooo many people will want cakes from me. And when we aren't short money, I have virtually no orders. Plus I *feel* it. I know when we are being blessed because I feel it, I feel the peace & assurance that comes in those times of trials. And I am grateful to have had many experiences and trials so that I can know that feeling, they feeling that the Lord is mindful of little old me, and of my family. He has not forgotten me. And I will always be grateful for that. 

Back to Bryce's med school interview. Just the thought of Bryce having the opportunity to become a doctor gives me such hope. Hope that at some point, I will only have to worry about people... not money all the time and people. I'm glad if it happens, it happens this late in life. (Crazy I know!) But I'm really glad that we have had all these different experiences, ones that are shaping who we are. I know if he had become a doctor years ago (which wasn't really an option then), we would have missed out on these experiences that we need to have. And if he nevers becomes a doctor, that's ok too. Bryce has a good, honest, honorable job. We never do without the things we need, and I know that all of these experiences are for our good. I will be happy. Come what may and love it!

While I'm typing up a storm, I am watching out our front window and watching Madi, Adam and June playing together (and not fighting!!). Life is good. (for the moment, lol)

Oh and by the way, Dallin is sitting beside me with one of Madi's dresses on, lol. Life's not boring, and neither are my children!! ;) 

 Oh and one more picture of my crazy little Dallin. I don't think I put this on the blog yet. I had a cake in the cake fridge, back in September. It wasn't for anything special, it was just one that I was playing with... and the fridge lock was off, so Dallin saw an opportunity and took it. See what I found... 

He was caught red handed!! Mr Mischief himself!!