Priesthood, Sacrament, Church is Awesome!

So I am behind on some very important happenings in our family.  On March 31st, John was ordained as a High Priest.  He also has a new calling in the ward.  He is one of the assistants to the High Priest Group Leader.  John's dad was able to drive in to do the ordination and celebrate this wonderful day with us.  This day also happened to be Easter, so it was great to have him here to celebrate that with us as well!

On April 1st, our oldest son William turned 12.  On Sunday April 14th he received the Priesthood  and was ordained to the office of Deacon.  It was a wonderful day and I am so proud of our son.

My mom, my sister Sheri, my brother Kevin, and his children were all able to be here with us to celebrate this wonderful day.  In Sacrament meeting, the Bishop always has the newly turned 12 year olds recite an article of faith.  William had #13.  He did a fantastic job reciting it.  He has been practicing the memorization of all of them for a while now and has them down!

Then this past Sunday, William was able to pass the Sacrament for the first time.  He was so nervous!  There are some wonderful young men in our ward though and they helped him know exactly what he needed to do.  He did a fantastic job and it made me so happy to see him doing this.  Mom and Sheri came to church with us this day as well!

John also spoke in church last week.  Annalise had been up most of the night before, so I was only planning to stay for Sacrament meeting. I wasn't sure how she was going to do or if we would make it through the meeting.   Amazingly, she did very well.  As I carried her into the chapel, she lifted her arms up and said very clearly, "this place is Awesome!"  She was in such a great mood throughout the entire meeting.  What a blessing!

It is so wonderful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  To be able to attend meetings every week where we can feel the spirit, where our children are able to learn about Christ and his teachings, and where we can "recharge" our spiritual batteries in preparation of the upcoming week.  I agree with Annalise...This place is Awesome!

Miracles Do Happen

4-18-13

Today was a good day.  So far, this week has been a good week for our family.  As of this morning, my brother Kevin and his kids are free!  His divorce is official and he has full custody of his children!  Now they can all relax a bit and start building their new lives here in Arizona.  I am so happy for them.  Of course I am sad to see an eternal family break up, but I was sad about that when I first learned what was happening.  I understand that sometimes, because of free agency and the choices that people make, sad things have to happen.  But in the end, everything will work out for those who are trying their best to do what is right.  I am so happy for my brother and look forward to seeing what his life ahead has in store for him and his children!  

Also this week we witnessed what I believe to be a miracle, a very significant one in my family.  A couple of weeks ago my dad, who had some cancer removed from his stomach a few years back went in for a check up which he does every 6 months.  His white blood cell count was high so they decided to do a CT scan and make sure everything was okay.  His stomach looked fine, but they did find something in his liver.  Tuesday of this week he went in for a biopsy.  The surgeon doing the biopsy said that since the mass was so close to his lung he wanted to do another CT scan to be sure of where it was and make sure he could get to it without puncturing his lung.  He took the CT Scan and saw nothing in the liver.  He did an ultrasound to see what was going on.  Again, he could not find anything there.  He had seen the original CT Scan and knew that less than 2 weeks earlier there had definitely been something in my Dad's liver and today it is not there.  They rechecked his numbers and guess what...they were down as well!  Not to normal, but lower than they have been in the past.  Prayers have been answered and we have witnessed a miracle!  I am so thankful for the power of prayer and fasting and thankful that miracles do indeed still happen!

As a side note, as for the rest of the story of  "My best day so far" post, I don't think I am even going to finish it now.  It seems like that week was so long ago now and I don't even remember all that happened, nor do I really want to go back and relive it at this point.  Let's just say that for about 2+ weeks things around here were very intense and basically non stop.  We still aren't back to our normal and I don't know if my laundry and house will ever fully recover, but life moves on.  Things are good.  Not perfect, but good and Miracles do happen! 

My Best Day So Far part 2

Back to the story...So that is what we did.  When we got to urgent care, they showed us the x-ray and we could clearly see the fracture.  We got a brace that mostly fit Jacob's arm, stopped at Costco to pick up a couple of things including a pizza for dinner, went home, threw a few things in the suitcase, tried not to look at the dishes in the sink, and left for a wonderful weekend away.

A few weeks back, our past Stake President, President Richardson told John that he felt inspired to invite our family to use their cabin for a little family get away.  We had decided that this past weekend would be a good time to do that.  Other than a slight nagging pain in John's shoulder/neck, we all were feeling great and had a fantastic time at the cabin. (More on that with pictures in another post)

Then we came home.  We got home Saturday night and I spent until about midnight getting clothes, dishes, etc. clean and ready for Sunday morning.  I also listened to our phone messages.  I realized from the two reminder calls that came from PCH, that someone has messed up and scheduled Jacob's Ortho appointment at 10:45 when he was supposed to check in for surgery at 10:15.  Oops.  No problem, I would just call and get it all cleared up first thing Monday morning.

So Monday morning came.  Yes, my best day so far.  I called the orthopedics's office and explained the mistake that was made.  The receptionist's response, "well, I don't have another appointment time."   Okay, so what should we do?  I explained that he had broken his arm almost a week before, he was still in pain, and we needed to get it set.  She just kept repeating, "I don't have another appointment time."  No offer of another day, or to squeeze him in earlier, or even an apology for whoever made the mistake.

So my mind reeled for a minute trying to figure out what to do, then I just said for her to cancel the appointment and I would take him somewhere else.  As I began looking for the names of the other orthopedic offices that I had gotten from our PCP, the phone rang.  That was my dermatologist letting me know that the spot on my nose was indeed cancer.  They told me they would call me with the results in 7-10 days.  I wasn't ready for that call just 4 days after the appointment.  It threw me for a loop.

So, back to trying to find an orthopedic doctor for Jacob.  Luckily the first place that I called, was very helpful.  A very kind young man listened as I explained our situation.  He then said that he would do everything he could to get William in right away so that it did not interfere with his surgery the next day.  He determined that the Gilbert office was the closest for us and looked at the schedule.  He said that they were totally booked, but that he would talk to his supervisor and see if they could squeeze him in, but it might be at the very end of the day or at the very beginning of the next day.  She would call me and let me know.

Okay, off to the grocery store to grab a few things.  While out, I got a call from the supervisor at the Core Institute.  She said that they could get Jacob in at 10:30 if I could make it.  The doctor had to leave by 11.  It was 9:55 at the time.  At first I said I could but then as I sat there with my groceries, I realized that there would be no way I could check out, get my groceries home, pick Jacob up at school, and get over to the office in time.  Besides I only had respite scheduled for Bryce and Annalise until 10:15.   She said that they could get him in at 2.  Perfect!

Our awesome respite worker was able/willing to come back that afternoon, which was great.  I did find out at this time though that due to sickness and unavailability for the next morning, I would not have any respite workers available Tuesday until 1:30pm instead of 7am like we had originally scheduled.  I would need to figure out another way to have Annalise taken care of while I took Jacob up for his surgery.  No time to figure that out now though, I would do it when we got home from his appointment.   Luckily Bryce would be in school all day so as long as all went well, it would just be Annalise and she is pretty easy.

At 1:30, I picked Jacob up from school and headed to the appointment.  I signed him in and the man behind the counter asked me what our last name is.  He looked at his computer and then back at us and told me that we were at the wrong office.  Ends up that the lady didn't schedule us at the Gilbert office, near Mercy Gilbert Hospital, but at the Mesa office on Dobson by Banner Desert Hospital, 16 miles away from where we were.  That would have been good to know earlier!  I explained that we would not make it there by 2 and that they were just squeezing us in.  Again, this young man was very kind and said that he would call them and let them know what had happened and that we were on our way.

As we headed back out to the car, I called our respite worker to explain that we would be a little longer than we had planned.  Then I realized that despite having charged my phone to 100%, the battery was low and would soon die.  I've been having trouble with my phone holding a charge and it no longer will charge with the charger in the car.  So it would soon die.  Not a big deal, I know.  However, when you have a medically fragile child at home who has a tendency to stop breathing at times, it makes you a little nervous to be without any way of someone getting a hold of you.  At least it does me!  I called John with the last bit of battery I had and told him what was happening and where we were going if anyone needed to get a hold of us...and off we went!  I explained that I had no idea when we would be home and that dinner would be late.  He reminded me that he had a meeting at 6.  I said that I would be home as soon as possible, but it should be in plenty of time.  He said, "I'll see you with a pizza in hand at 5:45.  I hadn't planned on pizza for that night, or being home that late, but he was right on!  Jacob and I walked in with a pizza for dinner at 5:45.

to be continued  (and finished) soon!

Happy Birthday to my Big Boy!

Today our oldest son turned 12 years old.  It is hard to believe that it was 12 years ago today that I became a Mom.  What a wonderful day and a fantastic first born.  I sure love this boy!   Happy birthday William.