So thankful for AMAZING Gospel friends and family!!!

Now that I'm back to blogging I've decided to make it fun and have a daily theme and today's theme is...

So today I am most thankful for my Gospel friends and family!!! Let me tell you about an experience I had with some of them... which is a continuation of my last post :)

My first week out of the hospital with our new baby Kawika was wonderful... I got so much done and I felt like, "wow this is cake! I can do this!!!" Then the next week came and by mid week I was done... I couldn't function... my mind was going to very dark places. I was experiencing postpartum depression so much sooner than with any of our other children but HELLO that's because I didn't have my hunny to make it all sweet!

During that crazy week when I was feeling my lowest my neighbor and sweet friend Anna called me to find out how I was feeling... and I told her how I had to call the Air Force Base Family Advocacy because I was having major thoughts of taking my own life... I focused on taking care of my new baby to get me through those thoughts but I really wanted to take all precautions so I wouldn't get to the point of no return.

Anna totally understood how I was feeling because she had gone through something similar when her husband was in the Navy. She totally dropped all of her plans for her weekend and stayed with me for 5 days. She had even called the Relief Society President in our ward to schedule some of our church members to bring me meals on a regular basis. While she was staying with me I got to go to the clinical psychologist on base to help me sort through my needs to get me through this horrible moment. I had only told Awesome Anna, my great friend Jen and my husband how I was feeling, OH and the clinic on base. I didn't even call my mom and dad because I didn't want to worry them... but the psychologist told me to call them and said, "how would you feel if someone in your family was going through the same thing and didn't tell you and ask you for help?" Naturally I'd be very upset so I called my mom right when I got home from my appointment. And not too long after that I realized that I needed to get to AZ and stay with my parents.

In the meantime my sister, Shari, hopped on a plane and got to UT from FL to stay with me for the next week and help me with the kids while I went to more Dr.'s appointments. I got better medication for my depression... mind you I had postpartum depression after every child's birth and I have now had 5 children... and it got worse every time!

Let me tell you the peace I felt when I decided to go stay with my parents... Anna told me that my entire countenance changed after I had made the decision. She said that I looked rested :) But of course it was so hard for me to leave my house and have to pull the boys outta school and place them into new schools in a totally different place where they know no one. I miss all of my amazing friends, family and neighbors in UT. Even though I was super concerned about these things Anna told me that I still looked like I was at peace and that is a mega sign that my decision was the right one! I love Anna for her wisdom, love, support and selflessness. I love that woman more than I ♥ root beer floats... and that's whole lot!!! She also made me these amazing smoothies that my kids most affectionately call the "cup of nasty"... I'll blog about that at a later time... and I think I'll continue this story tomorrow :) this is getting long!

Let me end this with a great quote from Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "... Think back about your favorite fairy tale. In that story the main character may be a princess of a peasant; she might be a mermaid or a milkmaid, a ruler or a servant. You will find one thing all have in common: they must overcome adversity... How you react to adversity and temptation is a critical factor in whether or not you arrive at your own 'happily ever after.' "