It was five years ago, today, (Sunday, February 1, 2004) when I woke up to my dad telling me that the Bishop was on the phone… to ask to have a meeting with him and the Stake President. Seeing as I was waiting anxiously for my mission call at the time, I knew that something was definitely wrong.

Five years later, here I am, married to an amazingly wonderful woman, surrounded by family, and some really good life-long friends. It’s interesting, as I’ve been anticipating writing this very post for quite some time now, my thoughts would drift into how hard it has been for me, not having been able to serve a mission… how I constantly face serious bouts of inadequacy with people at church, and even sometimes friends. I can’t say my experience has been the same of those who I know who didn’t serve missions either, but for some reason, it continues to be difficult, and could very well stay with me for the rest of my life.

But as I sat down to actually write this, my mind immediately turned to all the great things that have happened to me in the last 5 years.

• Moved to Utah
• Moved into the 157th Ward
• Made a set of great friends
• Learned a lot about myself in forming these friendships and in callings for the ward
• Starting Toaster Strudel Tuesday
• Being able to be there when my brother and his wife were married
• Having been able to watch, and play a very small part in good friends, after good friends meet, interact, fall in love, and get married
• Starting a project that is very dear to me, The Place
• Despite not getting into BYU, as I was planning on when I moved here, continuing the education I started in Dallas, here at UVU
• Meeting, getting to know, falling in love with, and marrying the most amazing woman in the world
• Being able to be there when my parents’ first grandchild, my first nephew, and my only brother’s first child was born

The months after I got the news, back in 2004, in having discussions on why this would happen with people who I cared about, they constantly told me, “Well, Heavenly Father must have another plan for you.” Looking through this list and realizing how incredibly blessed I’ve been, the ‘another plan’ might not have been too far off.