ahhh, I can breathe again

The weight & stress from my hellacious 8 week classes is over, & it feels so nice to relax & breathe again! Of course,, the week of finals had to be especially stressful, so Sterling had the stomach flu for 3 days (& I mean bad!! The poor baby could not keep anything down!) and as soon as he stopped throwing up, Roman started. Roman had it for only 2 days, and then the day he stopped throwing up, Anthon started. You add that all up & that's an entire week of vomiting at the Perkins house... Remember what my desk looked like??? You ain't seen nothin'!! Yeah, my house was completely thrashed & reeked of vomit. Thankfully, somehow the house got cleaned, & I was able to pass my classes- I got an A in Pathophysiology & received a total miracle in math!! I had spent less than an adequate amount of time learning the material that would be covered on the final, and an even less amount of time studying said material, because I was so concerned about my patho class, and had children constantly throwing up on me. So when I took my practice final to see how I would fair on the real deal, I scored a 56% the first time & a 58% the 2nd. I was heart broken, SO angry with myself, & just knew I was going to fail- wasting the 8 weeks of complete hell!! Thankfully, Anthon is the man that he is! He wrapped me in his enormous arms for a much needed bear hug & then suggested we pray before I left to take the actual final. I must say, I felt completely unworthy to ask the Lord for help remembering the things I hadn't spent enough time to learn on my own, but Anthon said a pleading a prayer on my behalf anyway, & sent me on my way to take the final. I stopped crying in enough time to have only slightly red eyes when I got to the testing center, & felt complete peace the entire time I tested. You can imagine my gratitude after submitting the final, to see that I scored a 77% and got an overall B in the class!! God does hear our prayers... and is merciful!!
So, that was my Friday. Saturday, I worked and then after, we had every Christmas party in the world to attend! I was gone from the house from 8AM til about 10:30PM, & was completely exhausted. Sunday, blessed Sunday, we went to church, came home, & rested!! It was SOOO nice to simply relax & enjoy my family... I swear, it felt like I hadn't held/ really interacted with Sterling for weeks :(. I'm so glad life is getting back to "normal" now!
Last night, after our full day of rest, we decided to go see the temple lights. Anthon's brother, sister, & brother-in-law met us there and even though it had been a rainy, drizzly day, it was a pleasant evening.

Roman had a blast running around outside & looking at all the lights

I simply enjoyed snuggling with my baby.. he's super sweet & makes a great little heater :)

 Something else I failed to mention, Saturday marked 10 years that Anthon & I have been together! I'm so grateful for our relationship! I'm pretty sure I'm the only girl on the planet who is willing to put up with him, & he's the only guy on the planet able to put up with me. I love him so much that the word "love" itself just doesn't seem to describe how I feel adequately. All I know is that with him, the easy parts of life are made funner, the hard parts in life are made easier, and the joyous parts of life are sweeter! Not many people can say the best decision they ever made was made in high school, but I can... it was Him!

PS- If you wanna read the story that started our romance, click HERE :)