I’m at Women’s Conference today at BYU, but I wanted you to meet Stephani (who is only one “e” short of being as cool as me 🙂 ). Thank you so much to all of you who chimed in on my post about Natalie. You have given me some great things to think about and look into, and more importantly, you made me feel understood and hopeful. Thank you.
Can I just say that the more I do this Find-A-Friend Friday feature, the more my faith is restored in humanity in general? I love discovering an army of able, righteous, strong women fighting the same battle along side me. Ladies and gentleman, meet Stephani:
(p.s. I know this post has some trouble with some of the spacing, but I’m too tired to find all the coding errors, so please forgive me.)
Hello! My name is Stephani and I am delighted to have this chance to share a little bit about myself! I am 33 years old and just last Friday my husband (Corey) and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. We have two wonderful children – our son is 9 and our daughter is 7. After six very long years we are blessed to now have twins (a boy and a girl) on the way. We have lived in Houston, Texas for the past eight years but will only be Texans for two more months. In June we are headed up to Ann Arbor, Michigan and we are excited!
I am the oldest of eight children, seven girls and one boy. Nope, the boy isn’t at the end. He’s smack dab in the middle. My mother decided one little bundle of energy was enough for her! Though I was born in Colorado, I spent most of my growing up years in Wisconsin and Minnesota. I headed off to BYU in 1996 and graduated a few months after I was married with a degree in American Studies. I went on to teach second grade until our son was born in 2001. My husband graduated from BYU in 2002 and we headed off to med school in Houston. He just graduated in 2010 with an MD/PhD and we are thrilled to, at last, be done with school. He has almost completed his first year of residency here in Houston and will complete his last four years of residency in Ann Arbor.
I want to take my kids to Israel. My husband and I, in 2007, had the blessing of visiting Israel. It was a life changing experience that I would like give to my children.
“Righteous sorrow and suffering carve cavities in the soul that will become later reservoirs of joy” Elder Neal A. Maxwell
“Everything will work out” President Gordon B. Hinckley
“We owe everything to the Lord. We are so blessed to be involved in a faith based work, a work in which we can create families, support families, defend families, teach families, and prepare them for the blessings of eternal life—and love them, love them, love them.” Sister Julie B. Beck
Each of these have offered their comfort and direction at various times, as I’m sure they will continue to do.
I have also found that revelation flows the most swiftly when my children are involved. I am quite certain that this is due to the fact that the Lord knows I would seriously mess them up if He didn’t send revelation on their behalf rapidly. It has been such a blessing to be able to turn to Him for anything and receive the guidance my kiddos need.
What’s something unexpected in your life, and how have you dealt with it?
We have experienced many miracles over the last few months which have resulted in two sweet babies on the way. We couldn’t be more blessed.
If you could make a pie chart (graph) of your thoughts during the last week or so, what would take up most of the space?
30% – I have a total of five onesies and two burp clothes for the twins (we gave away every last baby item during our years of infertility). How in the world am I going to come up with everything I need for two?
20% – How in the world are we going to get our family and all of our stuff to Michigan?
10% – I can’t, for the life of me, figure out how handle my son’s latest development of complete inability to follow through with any given task
10% – How do I help my daughter deal with elementary school drama?
10% – How can I better show my appreciation for my husband?
10% – Is this going to be a throwing up day?
10% – General business of the day
In the last few months I started a personal blog, separate from our family blog, entitled ‘Becoming’. It’s a place where I can share some thoughts and experiences (the good and not so good!) on my personal journey to become more like the Savior. I am hoping for the blog to function as forum for all to share ideas and insights along our very different roads that are all leading us back to Him. I would love it if you hopped on over! www.stephani-becoming.blogspot.com
Diapers and Divinity 
You sound nice Stephani. We lived in Ann Arbor for years. You are going to love the wards/stake out there– so many good people. But, I had my second baby at The University of Michigan Hospital and that was probably my worst delivery.
So glad to meet you, Stephani! I can’t wait to check out your thoughts on your blog. And congratulations on the twins!
I am so glad to meet you Stephani! I have a 9 1/2 year old son and have been there with ya on the infertility front. It is so hard, but the Lord only gives us what we can bare. I am so happy for you that your family will be blessed by twins. I dream of twins…If I lived closer I would throw you a onesie party and we would all sit around and decorate them with fabric pens. 🙂 That will be the first FHE my family will have after finding out the sex of the baby, if we are ever blessed with another sweet child. Good luck on the move! I can’t wait to check out your blog!!!
Yeah Stephani — how exciting to see a friend who I already know! Congrats!
Wow, Stephani, we have a lot in common! I enjoy reading to my children too. Even the teenagers enjoy sitting in the living room while we read picture books to the little ones.
And Stephanie, I was at Women’s Conference too!