Amazing Faith

Hello my dearest friends. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I was blessed to be here in Idaho with my family. All of us were here except my sister Shalee, who is 37 weeks pregnant. And here we were worried she would deliver at 25 weeks and then was placed on bed rest for 9 weeks. Now she can't get the little miss out! But anyhow, it was a wonderful day with my family. I hope all of you also enjoyed your time with family. We are all so blessed to have wonderful families, friends, and most importantly the gospel. 

Earlier this week I had shared with Mel that there were some family difficulties going on for us. My Mom has had problems with her bowels for the past 3-4 years. She had seen a Dr, but they attributed it to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). My parents do not have insurance, so they had not been able to invest too much into it. But my Mother is an angel and has never complained about it. A few weeks ago, we had heard about a study for IBS; included with the study was a colonoscopy. So last Thursday she went in for the colonoscopy. We were quite surprised when my parents shared the results with us that the last 7cm of her colon is lined with a large tumor; my Mom has colon cancer. 

On Monday we got the results back from pathology and it is indeed malignant. We were gathered together as a family to watch Brave. My Dad gave my Mom a blessing. She didn't want a blessing, she wanted a healing. And that is indeed what was said in the blessing, that she would be healed. On Tuesday she went in for a CT scan and some labs. My Mom told the Dr that she wasn't sure why she needed the CT scan, there wasn't going to be cancer anywhere else. Well, the results are beyond wonderful. Sure enough all of the cancer is localized in that last section of her colon. This is the best news that we could ask for. We are all very grateful this Thanksgiving. My Mothers faith astounds me. If only I could have even a fraction of her faith. 

My Mom doesn't have the appointment with the oncologist until Dec. 11th. So for now we just wait to hear what the game plan is. We are so just grateful for the results we have received so far. I hope that the oncologist will have just as good of news that we have received so far. From what I have read online, she will need to have a bowel resection (the cancer portion of her bowel cut out and then the remaining good part reconnected), and then we aren't sure about the chemo or radiation yet. 

This has definitely brought my family closer together already. I am sure that it will bring us even closer together. It makes us treasure the moments we have with each other so much more. This holiday season will be more tender and memorable I'm sure. We have so much to be thankful for. 

After finding out this information I told my Mom that I would defer nursing school. I know that I have waited for this for so long. But family comes first. However, everything for school is falling into place. I was offered a job in the ICU at the hospital there and I may have found a place to live that is the right price. I will only be an hour and a half away, so I will still continue on with my plans and go to school. I am not sure what the future will hold. There have already been many tears. I think I have cried every day since finding this out. But I know that the Lord is with my family and I. I know that my Mom will be healed and that eventually everything will be ok. If you could please keep my Mom in your prayers, I would appreciate that. She is an amazing woman. And honestly, I don't know how I could ever live without her. 

I love you all so very much! I look forward to meeting up with you in a few weeks. You are all my dear sweet angels that I was blessed enough to have become a part of my life. Love you!!

all i got.

from mary

sadly, i realized i have no pics of tonya or her cute home!  next time i'll snag some and post them cause it's a cute place and we need some visuals on this website :)

pic 1:  sam and shawn:  watching Thomas the Train talkin' sports.
pic 2:  jared, tonya, and shawn played in a softball tournament together this summer.  here's a picture of tonya be the softballer that she is.  she smacked that ball good and hard!  they got skills and it was fun to watch the game with sam--who let the other little girl on the opposing team know that his mommy and daddy won the game while her daddy lost.  funny funny stuff.  cutest little kid i know!

Making history--My first blog post ever!

So it might not be a great day for me to write my post since I am feeling heavy hearted but here goes....

First a little update. Jared and I moved into a cute little 3 bedroom house in orem. We rent out the top floor and a newly married couple live in the basement. We have a Cherry tree in the front yard and a huge fenced in backyard for the kids to play in complete with patio furniture and a grill:) Having more space has been a HUGE blessing to our family. Chad has his own room (and a REAL bed!) so we all have private space and now can come out and enjoy the shared space. We have a washer, dryer, and dishwasher so I am feeling the blessing of these amenities in my life right now! We love our new home! (did I mention Jared and I have our own bathroom with 2 sinks?! So awesome to be able to get out of bed to use the bathroom without having to get fully clothed each time:)!)

On more good news....if you didn't know...we are expecting our third little one this April. I think it's a girl but we will know for sure in a few weeks. I am planning on delivering with the midwife again at our house so wish me luck:) 

Jared is still working as the art director at Connect PR. He is enjoying as he puts it "being a productive/contributing member of society" but is looking forward to finishing school and teaching which is his true passion. 

Sam and Nathan are as cute as can be. Nathan turned one last month and I can't believe it has been a year. He loves walking around exploring the house and everything in it but more than anything he loves his brother. Sam started a neighborhood preschool which he loves! He is so social and thrives off interaction with people. He still looks just like me and talks peoples ear off just like me:) 

Self-Reflection

Spiritual - I have been feeling the need, the urge, the inspiration to read the Book of Mormon again. Let's just say I keep getting stuck in my scripture study.I have yet as a wife and a mother found a great scripture study system. I have often beat myself up for the changes in study and prayer and have many times felt lazy. Yet, I am thankful for Heavenly Father's mercy blessing me with understanding, patience and a broader more flexible understanding of how to have a relationship with him during this transition and life phase. I am amazed at his compassion continuing to bless me as I say my prayer laying down with my eyes closed in bed too tired to get myself in the proper order of prayer or the way he showers down inspiration and guidance the moment I sincerely seek his help. I feel so blessed and watched over. I also feel the need to receive the blessings and the transformation that come into our lives when we read the Book of Mormon. I want the power of protection and the increase of love that comes from a true study of the Book of Mormon. So....if anyone wants to join me I am going to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I am in Alma 36 so I am going to start from there and see how it goes. I know I can accomplish any goal that is confirmed by Heavenly Father and I know this is something he wants me to do. If I make the sacrifice I will be successful. 

Physical- So being pregnant is nice in one respect because I don't feel bad about the little pooch that never left after Nathan was born. I actually think I look cute again with skinny jeans and a maternity shirt where there is suppose to be a big belly...I will enjoy this while it lasts until I just feel big and swollen and fat faced:) Seriously though, I am supposedly doing 8 goals for the last 8 weeks of the year. I failed miserably the first week but will try to accomplish the goals the next 7 which include working out 4 times a week and eating 4 fruits/vegetables a day. Not sure I will ever make the water goal of 8 glasses a day but I will give it a go:)

Mental-not sure... Some times I struggle with the isolation/identity of being a stay at home mom (see social section:)) and forgiveness.  Other than that things are great up stairs:)

Social- I need to change my attitude. I feel like I have struggled since we moved to Utah. I haven't really made many friends and feel somewhat isolated. Some of that is self inflicted. I am thankful for the friends I have (although sometimes I isolate from them too...(Mel so sorry I never returned your call to hang out. I really appreciated your call and I love you despite my slow response rate!)) and really need to do better at reaching out to others. I get in my little shell and just hide there. When I do peek out and try to reach out to others I often feel discouraged and or rejected at the result and throw in the towel. 

 Do something fun and spontaneous with the necklace on and take a picture to post to the blog:

On a date night Jared and I climbed to the top of a tall parking lot that was empty and we sat and talked and looked out at the beautiful city of provo. It was spontaneous and it was nothing exciting or extravagen. However, it was so fun! One of the best dates we had in a long time. Life fills up and it is rare that Jared and I have a chance to just sit, talk, and be in love (when we are not both tired out from the day:)) Sorry no picture though....you are just going to have to imagine it. 

Do something to stretch yourself

So technically I did not have the necklace for this event....but I thought I would so I am still using it:) I ran the top of Utah marathon pregnant and nursing! Sure I finished after the race officially shut down but I finished and it was no easy task! I was definitely not as prepared as I wish I would have been but I will throw myself a bone for the above stated reasons. It was really fun, it stretched me, and I am glad I was able to finish my 4th and probably final full marathon!!

all 5 berrys
do a fun service for someone sometime this month:   My fun service this month (November not October but I will double up this month) was playing in the snow with Sam. Don't love the cold but he was SO excited to play outside that I went out there with him.  We built a snowman, snow castle, and ended the adventure with a snow ball fight. Definitely rewarding service and worth the sacrifice because he couldn't stop giggling during the snow ball fight which got me giggling too. He kept talking about how fun it was for the rest of the day. Heart warming stuff I tell you. He would stop what he was doing and say "that was really fun having a snow ball fight with you mommy" doesn't get better than knowing you brought your child a bit of joy. 

This is very long but you may not hear from me again for 5 more months so hopefully you will forgive me:)

Love you guys. 

T