A Whole Lotta' Change.

I have been so busy lately but extraordinarily happy.  Things are all coming together in my life and although the last year, make that two years, have been filled with a lot of growing pangs, a lot of tears, a lot of excitement, and a lot pf prayers, it all finally makes sense. I am always so marveled when I come out of a trial to look back and realize, “Ah, so that is why I had to go through that…” I had this ah hah moment while in Sunday school a few weeks prior. We were talking about faith, which is one of my strong attributes, and how sometimes we have no clue where we are going or what we are doing.

I am a photographer by trade and it has been a rewarding and hard sought year of capturing moments of beauty across the world, including Thailand, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and Russia. After this last trip I came home and was really at rock bottom.  I had spent all of my savings on the trip (in which I had a distinct impression to go to Russia and am grateful to have followed that impression- but the other parts of the trip were extremely expensive), my lease on my apartment was coming to an end in June, my church calling, which had always been something highly demanding, was Girls Camp Leader and that ended in June as well.  I knelt to pray numerous times, “What am I supposed to do with my life?”

While working in the temple I made it a point to pray about something new each shift. I began praying about my life, and had a strong impression that something big was going to happen in July. My life was coming to somewhat of a crescendo and I knew it had to be leading up to something. It was midnight and I was headed to bed, I had just said my prayers and said with quite frustration, “I give up.” Just then I heard a ding on my phone, it was an email notification. “Family in Geneva Switzerland is interested in you.”

I had signed up for a nanny website a while back to pick up extra hours in Los Angeles when I wasn’t doing photography. Here was a family in Rolle, Switzerland, about 30 minutes north of Geneva, that was interested in learning about me regarding an aupair position. I read through their profile, I was nothing they had requested: SPEAKS FRENCH, 27 YEARS OLD, BRITISH. How in the world this family found me is unknown. The more interesting part that I would later learn is that the day the family signed up for the site, they emailed me and never emailed another person. We exchanged emails for a month. Extensive emails, asking in-depth questions about each other, it felt as if it was a marriage inquiry. I was hard on questioning them because if I moved, that meant giving up everything in the states.

Everything was too good to be true, the kids were 5 and 8, the parents are extremely involved, the mother stops work at 3:00 and makes herself available to take one child and I the other. I will be driving them to activities after school, engaging in wholesome entertainment, with some light housework, ie making beds and picking up toys. They have their own housekeeper, the mother does the laundry and cooks meals, I am just there to lend an extra hand. I get nights and weekends to myself, and on top of it all, the pay was incredible.

I prayed. This was a big move, if I were to make it, things needed to be perfect. Scared about the visa, I am 31, to be an aupair, you need to be 27, things worked out perfectly. As everything fell into place I knew that it wasn’t by my doing, it was by the hand of God, it had to be, it was all too perfect. We Skyped, we talked for hours, I met the children, and fell in love. When she looked at me over Skype and asked, “So, will you be my nanny?” I couldn't have been happier. I have started learning French, exciting, my lease is up in Los Angeles at the end of June, I have accepted contract work at an airline leasing company for the next month to save up money, and will move into my brother’s house mid-June, selling everything I don’t want to keep. Travel to Utah the second week to shoot a wedding at Mt. Timpanogas and starting this new adventure on July 25.

I don’t know why I am headed to Switzerland. I don’t know what the purpose is for any of this, but I know I am supposed to be there. It may only be for three months (if my visa doesn’t go through, which we wont file for and find out about until after I am there) and perhaps it will be for the full contract, a year, I don’t know but I am excited to find out.