Miracles

My family has seen our fair share of miracles. This week, we've seen another one! Many of you know my step father Peter has been battling esophageal cancer (cancer of the esophagus) for the past 8 months. When he was first diagnosed, the prognosis was grim. The doctor told my mom he probably only had months to live! Nevertheless, Peter began very aggressive chemo and radiation treatments to combat this extremely fast growing, almost always fatal cancer. As the doctors ran more tests as the months went on, they saw that Peter was responding very well to the treatments and they did a pet scan on Monday and found that the cancer was COMPLETELY gone. He won't have to undergo any more chemo/ radiation treatments. Peter's doctor told us this was nothing short of a MIRACLE. When Peter was diagnosed, 4 other of the doctors patient were diagnosed with this same type of cancer and 3 of the 4 have passed away and the 4th is not doing well at all. All of these patients were HALF Peter's age too! I got chills when my mom told me that. This is truly a testimony to me of miracles and the power of prayer. With God, truly NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. We celebrated Peter's birthday Thursday night and I thought to myself, what a WONDERFUL birthday present! To be healthy again when absolutely all odds were against you! I just thought I'd share our good news with everyone. Also, here are a few pics we took at his birthday party at Stonewood Grill Thursday night, a family favorite. Afterwards, we had cake and ice cream and opened presents back at my mom's house. You are never too old for cake, ice cream and presents in our family! It was a great night!

The birthday boy who had MUCH to smile about!


Dinner at Stonewood- John and I with Pete

My mom, aunt Sheila and aunt Sandra

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a WONDERFUL day! We sure did. Here are a few pics we took at my Aunt Sheila and Uncle Joe's house where we had Easter dinner. Kristin, we missed you! We hope you had a fab time in NYC!

John and me


Here's another great belly shot for you. Me and little Cameron are 7 months along now


Joey and Kelly


Dog's best friend! Jacob and Rhett


Isn't this so cute!


Rob and Michelle


Aunt Sheila's delicious pound cake that she makes every Easter


Chelsea and Aunt Sheila


L-R: Michelle, me, Em, Chelsea and Kelly


John and Jacob playing catch in the back yard




Mom and me


Chelsea and Kelly


I think Uncle Joe might have had a little too much to eat


Thanks Aunt Sheila and Uncle Joe for a wonderful Easter dinner!

I love to see the Temple

I just got home from our big overnight Youth Temple Trip to Orlando that the Young Men's President and I have been planning the last several months. The kids had the day off from school today for Good Friday so we thought, what better day to take the kids to the Temple! We had such a great time and have a very special group of kids! They make all my hard work in this calling SO WORTH IT. I love them all!

We drove down yesterday afternoon and stayed at the Wydham hotel on International Drive for the night where we had a pizza party and let the kids play at the hotel pool and other amenities. They had a blast! Then, this morning we all had breakfast together, then we took the kids to do a temple session. We had the greatest time and the sweetest testimony meeting after our session. It made me remember the days when I used to come to the temple as a youth growing up. It's so much fun now actually going as a leader! A total different experience! The trip was not without it's hardships and drama- like for instance, we got stuck in TERRIBLE traffic on the way to Orlando last night because of a bad accident. We SAT on I4 for 1.5 hours while the wreck cleared up so our 2.5 hour drive turned into a 4 hour one! We managed to make this experience fun though! One of the other leaders that I was driving by had to go to the bathroom SO BAD during this 1.5 hour stand still so he ended up leaving his car and going to find the closest tree off the highway! We all about DIED laughing! I also had one unruly parent that came along. Always one in every bunch I hear! But the kids were great! I've come to learn that the hardest part of my calling is not dealing with a bunch of rowdy teenagers but rather one high maintenance, loose cannon mother! Dealing with adults who act like children is all new for me! I know I need to pray for patience with this particular situation but all in all, the kids had a great and spiritual time. And that was my goal for this trip so I would definitely call it a success! Here are a few pictures we took...

Our youth group


Me and my young women. They just love to rub my pregnant "Buddha belly"! They say it's good luck!


Have you ever seen a cuter group of girls? They are the best!