Can we say crazy day after crazy day?? We've had a million errands to run. While driving home from one of those errands, I got a phone call from Mike saying... Um, we're going to trade your van in. Ummm, Okay, We've only had that thing for a year and it only has 15k miles on it, but okay. Some months, I love the last day of the month... Others, not so much. This month it was a good day. Even though I STILL didn't get the color I wanted. {I've been waiting 5 years for a blizzard pearl Toyota of any model} ...Our payments stayed the same and our new van has every feature that my old one did, plus a dual screen DVD player. And we will get back our deposit we put down on the old van. I don't know how they did it, and I'm not going to ask any questions. Mike also hit his bonus. Actually a bonus that he wasn't really expecting to hit. He sold 31 cars for the month and 8 cars yesterday. It was a huge blessing to us. A friend of Mike's at work asked me if I could believe how many cars Mike was selling this year, and I said I know it's crazy. I really wanted to explain to him that it was a blessing from the Lord because there is no way Mike could be this successful on his own. I feel like Mike has put his life in the Lords hands, and the Lord has balanced his life perfectly. He spends adequate time with us, and loves every second he gets to spend with his babies, He fulfills his calling to the very best of his ability, He serves those around him generously, and still has time to work and fulfill his duties to provide for our family. It seems like when we decided that Mike should be at work all the time to hit his bonuses, that he did, but he never sold like he has been lately. I'm not saying that he or we are perfect, in any way at keeping the Lords commandments, but we're trying our best to consecrate our lives to his service. But I will say that when you genuinely give your life to the Lord he will bless you with the things you seek. I am also not saying that if you are doing everything you're supposed to that the Lord will bless you temporally when you want it. There were 2 years that Mike and I were doing everything that we should have been. Reading the scriptures, serving others, fulfilling our callings, praying, attending the temple faithfully etc. And we struggled financially. To the point that we had $8 in our bank account, and a huge pile of medical and consumer debt, and had to make the decision to leave behind the first home we had together that all of my babies came home to. It was hard, and the Lord let us struggle. How grateful I am that he did. There are lessons we never could have learned any other way. I can tell you that I am no happier now than I was then. Just a little wiser. It opened my eyes and I can say with an honest heart, Money does not buy happiness. It's merely a tool to bring to pass the work of the Lord. We pray everyday that we will be given the knowledge to be better and wiser stewards of the things that the Lord has blessed us with. That we will be able to have others needs made known to us, that we can be a blessing to them. Obviously we aren't millionaires, but we have sufficient for our needs, and a little extra to help those in need. These experiences have given me a greater testimony of the scriptures and the love that the Lord has for his children. And how much he expects of us. To give freely of our love, time, talents, and everything in which he has blessed us with. The Lord knows our hearts and he knows our intentions, and will bless us accordingly with the trials that will benefit us most at the time.