Blessings

After a week of extreme stress and anxiety, I am so relieved to finally feel some of that lifted. Last Saturday Kiel and I were on a date when we recieved a phone call from my parents. Somehow they broke the news to us that my mom's liver was completely engolfed in cancer. The news came as a total shock; she is only in her 40s and still has 6 little kids at home. None of us were expecting it. To tell the truth when they called and said they had something to tell us the first thing I thought was that they were going to have ANOTHER baby! I was so wrong. So after a couple of very difficult days and after talking with my sisters in NY, we decided that we were going to go ahead and go home to be together and deal with this together. So we got tickets and flew to Arizona yesterday morning. It has been such a blessing! It is so wonderful to see my mother so happy and healthy looking, you would never know anything was terribly wrong. She is the one holding our hands and telling us everything is great and exactly how it should be or this wouldn't be happening at all. It is such a blessing to be able to be here and feel her positive influence even in the midst of such a huge trial. She has been an amazing example and has tought me so many lessons through her example but I think that she is teaching me the most right now by placing all of her faith so happily in Heavenly Father at this time when I know I would be freaking out and without a doubt considering all of the negative possibilities of the future. But she doesn't dwell on the negative at all--she just keeps saying how happy she is that we are all here right now and her only concern is for how it is affecting us. She is just so unselfish!

When my parents told us about mom's cancer they also told us that they were planning a two week trip to Hawaii so we could go and spend time together enjoying eachother and making memories. We have always wanted to go to Hawaii as a family (my parents never invited me for some reason every other time they've gone...) and right now seemed like the perfect oppertunity. We are leaving for Hawaii on the 3rd and coming back exactly two weeks later...isn't that great?! We will be on Oahu and Maui and maybe visit a few other islands. However...as great as going to Hawaii would normally be it was overshadowed by the reality of the situation. But we were blessed again today! My mom had a biopsy yesterday and recieved the results today. She didn't have the form of cancer the Dr thought she had which would have given her a few weeks, or a few months at best. Rather she has a form of cancer which is a very slow-growing cancer. That presented the possibility of months or maybe even years rather than weeks...what a total relief!! However, we also found out that the cancer is in several other organs and areas so a liver transplant is no longer an option. So we will wait for a few more tests and see just how quickly the tumors are growing. And although we might only have a few weeks to enjoy together, we might even have a few years!! I will enjoy Hawaii so much more knowing that! What a blessing!!!!! What a blessing to be surrounded with family that makes this so much easier! Aunt Christine is taking care of the whole Hawaii trip for us and aunt Jenise flew in to spend the weekend here and she always makes everything more fun...Its just so great!

I really want to thank everyone for their prayers in our behalf, especially my mother's. I know it makes such a difference and I have already seen the power prayer has whether its an answer as we would most like it or whether its an answer of comfort...I am so blessed to have the assurance that comes from knowing there is someone who loves us so much and is acutely aware of our every need and desire and wants so bad to give us what we want but knows what we need and always guides us in the way that is ultimately best. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!