Sunday, March 15, 2020

March 15th Family update- Trina quits Plexus, redefining my business, Coronavirus quarantine

Well the last 30 days have been eventful, that's for sure.

We returned from Hawaii around the middle of February and it took a minute to find our routines again and get used to all being in the same house (and having to actually make all our food!). After a week of getting readjusted, my Plexus team was getting all ramped up to push for our goals. Amy and Trina both set a goal to be Ruby by the end of April (100 ordering people each) and I have a goal for Emerald (300 ordering people). I currently have about 200 people ordering in my organization each month, and with Trina and Amy pushing for Ruby, I thought it would be in the bag.

Well, last week of the month, Trina sends me a Marco Polo that she's taking a break. She just moved after living out here in Roosevelt by herself for 10 months (because Steve took a job at eBay after working at Duchesne county for less than a year) and was having a hard time juggling her Plexus business, unpacking, and wanting to spend her evenings with Steve. I should have known that things might change, but I just felt so confident that Trina would be with me all the way to Diamond. Well she told me she needed a break, and I was trying not to freak out, knowing we only have 2 months to get to our goals, and February was likely shot. I thought "Trina changes her mind quickly and can do u-turns often as well, maybe it's just a breather". But I felt in my heart, because of her personality and how she makes decisions, that she was totally done. The next morning she sent me a Venmo request for a refund for Nashville Convention in JUNE, and I knew it was over.

Well that set me into sort of a panic/free fall. I have been working SO hard for SO long with the idea that I would save my family from financial stress and we'd have financial freedom in April. It just seemed so close, but just keeps slipping out of reach.

It was a HUGE disappointment for me, and while initially I was able to be calm and collected, it sent me into a spiral of depression and anxiety. I kept trying to think my way out of the situation and found myself obsessing over it. I was deeply sad, and felt a deep sense of abandonment, and it just lingered. I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me. I stopped being able to function. I couldn't even put together meals or do chores. I couldn't think about anything else. I became anxious about everything and felt hurt about everything.

I poured out my heart to my Heavenly Father, and ironically I felt that this was just an obstacle I was meant to get through, and that it might not look like what I thought it would look, but my job was to have faith and to trust that if it was His will, He would provide a way. I've also realized that the answer isn't to work MORE and HARDER. I was thinking it was up to me to kill myself in my business and keep spending more time and doing more to rescue the situation- but that's not the case! He can do his own work- I just have to do my part and then ALLOW him to do his.

I also met with Melissa Steadman Taylor for the first time. She's a reiki master and an energy worker. I have felt for a long time that I wanted to do some emotional release and trauma release surrounding mom's death, the fatality car accident I witnessed, and abandonment issues. I met Melissa at Brooke's first Gold Retreat in Heber where she came to do yoga and had an interesting experience there with her. Then after talking to Kris Ah Quin about her in Kauai I decided to make an appointment.

Well it was a transformational experience for me. We talked about mom's death, and the guilt I feel for not allowing her to come and witness the birth. She told me she sensed that mom felt lost and lonely- something I totally believe. We talked about abandonment and inter-generational transference of trauma. She asked if I had a grandpa that was dead. After a minute I realized she was likely talking about Reuben Ouzounina. She said she feels like he is very actively involved in watching over and trying to help my family. I don't know much about Reuben, only Mary. But I 100% believe that my mother and myself inherited some trauma from the Armenian genocide, and that deep feelings of abandonment and loss of home are something we've been metabolizing for the last 2 generations. She told me I was a chain breaker or a transitional character for my family and that even though I worry I've passed some abandonment issues on to Levi, that I have years to show him positive energy, and as I heal, he will too.

We talked briefly about the car accident and the misinterpreted motives by Locke's family- how his aunt called me a "bad human". She told me she senses that he watches over my family, especially Caleb. I did and do still feel a connection to him and know that one day his family will understand I only hoped to help.

I still don't know how I feel about emotional release or how she does what she does, but I felt like a million pounds was lifted off my chest after chatting with her. It felt like just acknowledging those issues and naming them was what I needed to be able to let them go. I recorded the last half of the session. I felt only light and peace and help and it was amazingly comforting. I feel inclined to believe that you can recognize spirits by their energy, and that they are invested from the other side in trying to help and heal.

From that point on, the anxiety started to disperse and I began to find my enthusiasm for life again. Caleb's smiles have really been so healing for me. He's so dang cute, and he has 2 bottom teeth and 4 top teeth now- real teeth! The first kid of ours to have normal teeth. He started crawling when he was almost exactly 11 months old, and next week he'll be a year, and is already so close to walking. He sure took his sweet time crawling, but now that he's mobile, he's anxious to walk. He's a vocal and hyper boy- we might have met our match with him. He LOVES zooming around the kitchen and dining room with his walker and running over everyone's feet. He loves eating pouches of sweet potato and trying other new foods. And he's always smiling.

Alida is still a sweetheart- and she knows it. She tests her limits by doing what you JUST told her not to do, and then immediately says "Sorry Mommy!" and smiles sweetly. She's a stinker sometimes. She also can get vicious and has thrown glass bottles and other things and Levi's head a few times when she's fed up with his taunting. She's now fully potty trained, but frequently forgets to wipe or put her underwear back on, so we often have to hassle her to put her underwear on. She's got long beautiful hair, but won't keep her pony tail in to keep it out of her eyes, so she's constantly brushing hair out of her eyes and getting food in her hair. And she's SO clumsy! If there is food, she will knock it on the floor, spill it, dump it and make a general mess. She also falls often and trips on things or knocks things down. I was complaining to Michael on one of our dates about how clumsy she is, and right as I was telling the story, I knocked my drink all over the table. DOH! She obviously gets it from me!It was pretty funny. She's in preschool now and she LOVES it. She had her front two teeth pulled when we got the rest of her teeth crowned because they were beginning to recede back into her gums, so now she's a toothless wonder.  But she's pretty cute. She's full of "I love you"s and kisses and hugs every day and is so innocent. I believe she has a hard time getting enough oxygen at night though (sleep apnea) because she is such a light sleeper, and often is really tired during the day. I'm hoping our dentist Tomlinson can develop a mouth piece for her to help pull her jaw forward a little and correct the problem.

Levi is 4.5 and is growing so FAST! He'll be in kindergarten in a few months! He does online preschool with Waterford on his own laptop and is learning syllabals, the alphabet, counting, and also goes to Mrs. Jeri's for preschool every other day. He LOVES learning and his favorite shows are educational- Octonauts about ocean creatures or Story Bots that explains how computers work, how you catch a cold, why you can't always eat just dessert. He also LOVES playing Angry Birds on dad's work phone or any video game. We have to limit his screen time to a couple hours a day or he'd watch TV and pay video games ALL DAY. Already at only 4! He's a smart boy though and asks thoughtful questions about the gospel and about death and being good and returning to Heavenly Father.

Spring is just coming on around here, and I've decided this year we are going to do a garden and spend more time outside as a family. Even if I'm working hard for a work goal, it's still ok to unplug and enjoy my family life. The grass is just barely beginning to turn green, we let the hens out to forage bugs, our horse is in a corral Michael built so we can grow our pasture grass for him, and the 6 goats are enjoying the North East pasture. We have loved being able to go outside again and I'm so looking forward to more time in the sun, especially now that Caleb is a little more mobile.

With that said, I can't finish this entry without mentioning the Coronavirus, that is rapidly becoming a National Emergency. We watched casually as it spread through China and then Italy, and it came to the US and to Utah last week. After reading articles on the exponential spread of the disease and the strain it will have on the medical system, I stopped making fun of the people buying toliet paper, and started to stock up myself and urging people to take it more seriously. As of today, there are only about 25 cases in Utah, but that number doubles about every other day, so it's just a matter of time before it's rampant. It's been declared a pandemic and all schools, work, and gatherings including church and General Conference have been cancelled- first for 2 weeks, and now up to 6 weeks as people are finally beginning to accept the reality of this situation.

We've been on self-quarantine since Wednesday and have only left the house to buy groceries. I feel so much peace though knowing that we are well prepared and that "all is safely gathered in". We have plenty of stock of meat, milk, bread, eggs in our spare fridge and freezer, plenty of pasta, rice, grain and beans, and enough food to last us for a long time. I am so grateful for that. Even diapers, wipes and formula we were able to stock up on before everyone went crazy. Ironically, Caleb's had a high fever for 4 days last week (102.9) but on day 4 it broke and he started acting himself, which I am SO grateful for, because the last thing I wanted to do was kill his immunity with an antibiotic while the coronavirus is about to be rampant.

There's still a large absence of awareness of the problem and a lot of people refuse to stay home or take it seriously, thinking it's a political tactic or fear mongering by the media. I felt that way for a long time as well, until I talked to Trina and started studying about the disease itself and the sheer number and rate of infection and trasnmission- that's when I became really concerned. We are now where Italy was just 10 days ago, and now the have 10,000 cases. It's estimated that a third of the US will get it, and of that 100million, about 5 million will need hospitalization, 2.5 million will need critical care, and anywhere from half a million to a million will die as a result. It's a big deal.

The stock market has been crashing, the Fed slashed rates to .25%, and everyone is feeling unnerved. All the quarantining and calls for increasing measures happened on Thursday and Friday so people are still reeling and I think on Monday and next week and the week after we will see the storm that this virus really is. I hope that it's not as bad as it sounds. But I think we're all going to be shocked at how terrible a plague like this is. I feel prepared now but there are so many who were caught unaware and now it's too late. I hope I and my family have a chance to help and serve those who weren't ready. At the same time I've had to be firm about limiting social contact. People are still going out to eat and getting together for game nights and movies, and I've had to politely decline people coming over a few times. People just don't understand how spreadable it is- and that you can spread it even when you have no symptoms.

Anyway, we'll see how this all unravels. It seems so clear now why the counsel on food storage is so relevant. Why we've been focused on a home-based/church supported curriculum, and how we're being prepared for the Second Coming of Christ. I think this is just the beginning.

Tomorrow is Michael's birthday. He's still going to work right now, although oil is tumbling too with the stock market and is below $30/barrel right now. He doesn't have much if any people contact at his job, so he's not concerned about the illness. But we are concerned about his job. It's only a matter of time before he no longer has employment. I thought for sure that I would save us from this situation with Plexus but maybe Plexus has just been a vehicle to develop my abilities as a leader, in setting goals and receiving personal revelation? I'm not sure. But the truth is I feel like I'm still supposed to continue. I don't know how. Especially without Trina AND when no one in the world is spending money on anything- my whole business might disappear overnight. But I guess the Lord has his ways, and they are mysterious and mightier than me.

Corona Quarantine day 2!

Good night!

Sunday, February 16, 2020

February Family update- Plexus, Traveling, Finances and kids

I've wanted to write in my journal for a long time, but have felt like I needed to catch up before I could just start writing- always my downfall with journal writing.

But I'm going to do my best to just start writing little bits here and there, and especially my thoughts and feelings about what's been going on of late.

We have been doing a LOT of travel with Plexus in the last year or so. There was Plexus convention in Las Vegas, the Bear Lake Gold Retreat that I trained at and was with Trina and Amy, the October Leader's Retreat in San Diego with the Bloomingdale's shopping spree, the Align Palm Springs Retreat in January and the Kona All-In Retreat in February.

In addition, we've done a lot of personal travel too. In September our whole family flew to Oregon to see Grandma Schoening and Dave and Jenny as well. And in November we went to Houston to see my Dad and Jen and Jonathan and Mitch for Thanksgiving. That's basically a major trip every month for the last 7 months. Or if we weren't traveling, we were having some sort of surgery- oral or otherwise.

We also had the rest of Levi's front teeth crowned in November, and Alida's back one's put in and then finished hers in January. There was also my birthday and Alida's birthday we celebrated, AND my double jaw surgery a week before Christmas in December, along with my back lipoma removal. We figured since we had met our out of pocket max we should go for it on the surgeries.

So there's been a LOT going on. I have been working HARD in my Plexus business with the hopes of getting to profit sharing soon. I am a Senior Ruby right now, which means I have over 150 people ordering in my organization. I'm hoping to be Emerald by April, which is 300 people ordering. Emerald means profit sharing, and profit sharing means about $7000/month.

We've been doing pretty well staying afloat with my income, but it's come with some opportunity costs. I've had to be much better at using my time well- I work about 30 hours a week now, and I don't like to be on my phone all day with my kids. So I have to try to get up early and stay up late to work so I don't neglect them all day. I also usually have Emily Gordon or Camrie Snow come over a few times each week and help me with the kids from 5-8pm so they can do bedtime and I can work. So we're figuring out a way, but it's definitely a sacrifice.

I make between $3000 and $4000/month right now and that's been a huge blessing. But it's mostly gone to paying for Levi and Alida's crowns (about $5k each), the travel we've been doing (about $2500 per trip) and then there's a lot of money that is re-invested in Plexus travel and conferences as well. Like our Hawaii trip- Brooke paid for our tickets since I won the trip a year ago for being the top enroller for her organization in 2018. So we had free plane tickets and a free place to stay. But I was gone for 10 days, and the food alone probably cost about $500-$750. Then we did a couple of excursions (whale watching and tubing) that was about $600 for Michael and I. So all said and done it still probably cost about $1500- and then Michael also had to take of a significant amount of time, which basically cut his paycheck in half. Same with Align- only $200 for the ticket instead of $800, and a free hotel. But food and transportation and everything else, I ended up paying about $700. So all this "free travel" still comes at a cost! I'm grateful for it, but it's definitely costly.

Just a business expense I have to make right now. And I'm so glad we've had the funds to pay for the trips to our family and for the kids' teeth. But I'm sure glad to be home with my babies for a bit. And to not have any more big expenses for a bit and not have any more dental bills coming up!!

Although, after my jaw surgery, my dentist wants to do a full mouth restoration, and quoted me about $55k. So there's that. Michael's would cost about $40k- he also needs a lot of work done. But we're going to try to start saving for everything beforehand instead of trying to pay things off. It's exhausting to have to use every paycheck to just pay for debt.

I've been trying to lose weight since my jaw surgery. I lost about 15 lbs right out the door after not being able to eat anything for about a week, and then only liquid after that- so that helped. But then I'm also hosting a weight loss challenge group along with the Plexus weight loss challenge, with about 40 people in it in teams of 4. We were doing really well all through January- Michael even lost about 10 lbs and we have been drinking more water, working out, and eating 5 fruits and vegetables/day. It's been so good for us- and for me to finally not be pregnant or nursing. It feels good to finally lose some weight and focus on my health.

I weened Caleb before Align in January because I just knew I wouldn't be able to pump every 3 hours there, and I certainly didn't want to do it in HI either. So I just decided it was time- and to be honest I thought I'd lose my supply with my jaw surgery- I was surprised when I didn't! So that's definitely a Plexus win. But ween we did- and he was 10 months old, and I feel good about that. He LOVES food anyway, so he's definitely getting plenty, although we were both sad for a few days. I could tell he LOVES breast milk and would wait for his bottle of it every morning. But we're getting along.

Anyway, the point is, 2 weeks after weening I had my first period and then we were in Hawaii together during my ovulation period so I very well could be pregnant again. We've talked about wanting another, but I really wanted to wait until April at least to get some weight off and finish my push to Emerald. But if I am pregnant, with only a 5% chance of that happening each month because I'm 39!! then that means the Lord was involved for sure, so we'll figure it out.

The next 4 months I'm hoping will be very boring for us. Well, they'll have to be since Michael's paycheck will barely cover the mortgage from all the time he's taken off, and that means we don't have any extra after paying for Alida's teeth. Time to tighten the belt once again. But we're good at that. And it will be nice to be home and focus on the kids. In the last month my angel Mother in law Pam has had my kids for about 15 days- more than I have. She took them to her house for about a week after I had jaw surgery so I could recover, and then when we went to Hawaii she had them for about a week at our house too. She's a saint to do it, but she should be able to be just grandma and not mom to my kids. So I don't want to have to ask her again. I hope and pray that we can find some overnight help if we need to do more trips.

Ironically, Michael won his company's grand prize for Christmas- 2 round trip tickets for 2 anywhere in the US. Have to be used by October! He's already used up more PTO than he should and can't really take off until June. So we're just gonna buckle down and get into our routine here with pre school and work and getting to Emerald!

I'm also really enjoying my calling as a gospel doctrine teacher. I only get to teach once every 6 weeks, but the experience is such a blessing. Today I taught on 2 Nephi 6-10 and it was ok. Isaiah and the Atonement are both hard topics, but I got a lot out of my study. I don't think I thought enough about questions to ask or how to lead the discussion though. I'm really looking forward to April 2020 General conference and learning more about President  Nelson's vision for the Gather of Isreal- that will no doubt involve us sharing the message of the Restoration with those around us. It's been fun teaching our kids about the Atonement and the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. It's fun to have Levi start understanding and asking good questions. He's a smart boy. Can't believe he'll be in kindergarten in 6 months!

Alida just turned 3 and is just a little doll. She's a people pleaser and so polite- she's always saying please and thank you and I love you so much and kissing us. She's a sweet little girl. She can't sit in her chair to eat her food to save her life, but she's a joy to have around. Daddy bought her some roses and a balloon for Valentine's day and she loved it.

Coming up is Michael's 40th birthday next month, and Caleb's 1 year birthday. Then there's Easter and Spring and then SUMMER! I'm hoping we can enjoy this summer a little more and spend more time outside since Caleb will likely be crawling or walking.

He's about 11 months old right now, and SO CLOSE to crawling. Just barely learned how to use his knees and now he does the stink bug and scooches forward to get around. That's new as of just today- being able to move himself around. He's been our slowest so far for crawling and walking, but I'm not sad about that- once they're mobile they cause a lot more trouble! But he's a cute stinker- and LOUD too if he doesn't get what he wants.

Anyway, I NEED to go to bed! I try so hard to get up an hour before the kids for my scriptures and prayer and planning. Back into the routine. The jet lag from Hawaii has been HARD to get over!

Good night!

Feb 2020- Kona All In Retreat, Hawaii with Michael