The Stephens Family: I did it!

It all started after I graduated high school in 2000. I decided to go to UVSC on a scholarship I had received. I met Matt shortly after he moved to Provo and of course, we married, moved and started over in North Dakota. While there, I attended Minot State University. Its a wonderful school which is dedicated to educators. When I found out I was pregnant with Mae and that we'd be moving before I could finish, I decided to stop going to school (I only had 2 semesters left... ouch). I didn't realize at the time how close I was!

Fast forward to 2009 -- I enrolled at USU in Tooele. I've mostly gone full-time with a couple of part time semesters and a few semesters I took off as things were crazy. I had to re-do a lot of classes. USU does not like transfer credits. However, I got through them and finished. Yay.

Going to school and actually finishing has been one of the hardest things I've ever done. A lot of people have told me "It was hard for me to go to school, without kids! I don't know how you do it!"

Most of the time I didn't know how I did it either. Somehow I always had time to study, hand in assignments and take tests. Somehow I always had time for the things that were most important. I never missed out on anything with my family. I always put my family first. Sure, they had to get babysat a few times here and there. I was lucky to have such a wonderful support system. My mom would come over at any time to help out (Even when I had some awful classes that went until 10:30pm and Matt was out of town). I have wonderful friends who have always helped and continued to ask what they can do to help me. Emily(my friend of many years and next-door neighbor as of December) has been watching Will every. single. day. since January. He is in kindergarten and only stays half-day. She just became a second mom to my kids. The best part is that my kids love and adore her and her family. Through the past few years we have been very blessed. I've realized that I don't get stressed unless I have to. I kept my grades up so that if I had to let an assignment slip, it didn't hurt me too much. I actually ended up having good enough grades to make it on the Dean's list for my final 3 semesters.

During the past few months while I've been student teaching I've spent a lot of nights exhausted, sad and ready to quit. Matt has always been my biggest support. He gave me the pep talks when I needed them the most. He helped me realize that I'm stronger than I think I can. I'm so thankful for my family and their sacrifice for me. I know it wasn't easy on them. Mae and Will had to sacrifice and put up with me. One evening we had an FHE lesson on dreams. Having dreams and pursuing them is one of the most important things in life. I told them that they can do anything they want-- they just have to work hard and keep at it. Fulfilling a dream is a wonderful feeling. It took me a long time but in the meantime I did some pretty important things that I'm also proud of.