Concrete Blessings

Four years ago today I was very pregnant. I had made a decision that I wasn't thrilled about. I had prayed and prayed and prayed and every time I did, I received the same answer: I needed to stay home and take care of this baby. I thought I was giving up my career. It wasn't fair of Heavenly Father to ask me to do this. I had worked hard to get where I was and I didn't want to throw it away. After four years of school and four years of working as an E.I.T. I had finally earned my Professional Engineer's license and now I was just supposed to leave all that work behind and take care of kids. At least that's what I thought.

Fast forward a couple weeks. We were going to leave for the hospital and I (being a novice) had no idea how bad labor was going to get. I didn't want to bother anyone at 11 o'clock at night for a blessing of healing, so I asked Chris to give me a blessing of comfort before we left. I was more scared than in pain at the time, so it seemed appropriate. I was in the moment where I realized that this was really going to happen and I was more frightened than I had ever been. I knew labor would be easier if I was calm, so a blessing seemed to be just the ticket.

But as Chris lays his hands on my head, does he talk about how I will be able to be calm through labor and be able to stand the pain, etc., etc.? No. He does not. He briefly says something about how this will be over soon and he starts talking about my career. My career? Does Heavenly Father not realize that I am about to push a human being out my body? Does he realize that I have 20 hours of labor left? Does he realize that the epidural won't work and that when Emily finally comes out she will have colic on par with demonic possession?  If he did, none of those things seemed to be what I needed to hear at the time because most of the blessing was assurance that I would be able to pick my career back up where I left off and how I would be blessed for my decision to stay at home with Emily. I was more than a little ticked off. But off we went to the hospital.

And everything I was worried about was over soon. After labor, after childbirth and after colic, I was left at home missing my career and wanting to rip off every mom's head who said that she "needed" to work because if she was at home, she would "go crazy". Here I was at home, going crazy for the sake of my baby. The adjustment was not smooth. But once we started to get into a regular schedule, something miraculous happened. My faith was rewarded and Chris' blessing came to pass.

I don't know how it happened, but projects started to fall into my lap. I didn't really have to solicit. It just happened. First it was checking of plans, then a bit of drafting, and then some design. Pivik Engineering was born. I don't work very often and when I do work, it's not spectacular but it's work. It keeps my head in the game and it gives me something that's mine. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Chris makes my work possible by giving me time to work and by checking my designs.

Tonight we went to go see Pivik Engineering's first design to go to contract (it was very windy). What you are looking at is a pair of abutments for a pedestrian bridge. The manufactured bridge will be inserted in the seats and span the creek between the abutments. I will share some pictures of the bridge when it's placed. Bottom line: I designed those chunks of concrete and, to me, they are beautiful. They are the fulfillment of a blessing and evidence that Heavenly Father knows me and cares about my happiness.