Which Team's jersey will you Wear?

The other day I read this quote by Jeffrey R. Holland and it hit me like a ton of bricks!

“The FUTURE of this world has long been DECLARED; the final outcome between GOOD and evil is already KNOWN. There is absolutely no question as to who WINS because the VICTORY has already been posted on the SCOREBOARD. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the FIELD trying to decide which TEAM’S JERSEY we want to wear!”

The thought of not choosing the correct team's jersey seems ridiculous, yet that is what many of us do at times!

Brother David A. Christensen shared the following scripture, asking us to note the PAST TENSE....

32 And I also remember that thou HAST SAID THAT THOU HAS PREPARED A HOUSE FOR MAN, yea, even among the mansions of thy Father, in which man might have a more excellent hope; wherefore man must hope, or he cannot receive an inheritance in the place which thou hast prepared. (Ether 12:32)

PAST TENSE - In other words, our mansion is already prepared!  There should be no question as to which team's jersey we will wear!!!  

So when times get hard, and life seems almost not worth living, 

let's remember to chose CHRIST - 

because we already have a mansion prepared with him!

What is the meaning of Joy?

On Saturday I decided to try and go to the Stake Women's Conference.  I have noticed that when I push myself to do things, I actually "forget" that I don't feel well.  That's exactly what happened.  For some reason when I am around people, it is as if little endorphins are released and I actually feel better!

I was able to enjoy a few bites of Kneaders famous French Toast with whip cream and strawberries.  Then we all visited at our table while we ate and then we headed into the chapel to hear from our guest speaker, Brother David Alma Christensen.  He was so delightful!  He said so many things that that were true, that most of us don't like to talk about.  I loved the way he was so honest about how life has dealt him some rough cards.  He described to us some of the different challenges he has had in his family.  He said that if he wasn't careful, that he would never find JOY, because of all the things that have not turned out the way he thought they should.

But then he reminded us that when we were told that we got to come down to earth, that we SHOUTED for JOY! We are here now....so what has changed?  He said that we need to shout for joy NOW and he told us how it was possible to do that.

So many of us have misinterpreted the definition of  JOY. He told us that the greatest JOY of all is to feel the LOVE OF GOD!  So.....

JOY = THE LOVE OF GOD

Many times we think that joy has something to do with happiness or contentment.  But if you take the scripture in 2 Nephi 25,

 "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy,"  

and substitute the word JOY for LOVE of  GOD, 

then you can see how we can ALL have joy now.

Men are that they might have JOY...or in other words... 

Men are that they might have THE LOVE OF GOD!

Can we have the Love of God now?  Yes indeed!  Then that  also means that we can have JOY now too!

I Still have my Hair!

Here's a quick update.  The big news is that I still have my hair.  I ran into the girl yesterday that I had chemo with 3 weeks ago and she is completely bald.  So - I'm some how lucking out for now.  I can start to see the signs of pieces of hair falling  here and there, but most of it is still on my head.  So I will enjoy it while I can.

I am scheduled to have chemo every 3 weeks.  I was so happy to finally start feeling better on the third week..  I was surprised how long it took me to bounce back the first two weeks.  I guess you could say that I am a little impatient.  I should really look back and remember that when I had surgery and then started chemo a month later - that I didn't drive myself anywhere for 9 weeks.  So if I compare that to now, I am doing so much better.

So during my healthy week, I was able to help a little with some remodeling, and then help take care of some of the grand kids while their parents were busy.  I wasn't feeling really well on this day, but managed to go to McDonald's for some ice cream with the kiddos.

  

We had some of the grand kids come and watch "Pete's Dragon" and eat popcorn while their parents were working on their houses.  Byron and Tracy were sheet rocking their basement and Amy and Steve bought a home in Pleasant Grove and are remodeling that before they move in in March.  Everyone has been so good about helping each other out when ever we can.  It's great to live only 20 minutes away from each other so we can help each other out when we need it.

Craig and I were able to go to our Stake Valentines Prime Rid Dinner!  It was so nice and delicious!

And then someone Heart Attacked our Door and made us feel very special!

I had my 2nd session of Chemo on Tuesday this week. I usually get really sick on the 3 and 4th days.  This time around, they gave me an extra nausea medication and I did not throw up on day 3 like I did last time. So that is good news.  I got my CA-125 test taken and it had gone up to 501.  Previously it was 444, but I had a feeling that it would go up, because it had been another 3 weeks since my last test before we started chemo.  The doctor also had warned us that sometimes the numbers go up on the first chemo treatment because it is killing all of those cells and it registers on the test.  Hopefully next time, the numbers will start going down again.  We are continuing to pray that the chemo will kill the cancer and I can have more time without having to constantly fight this battle.  We thank you all for you continued love, support and prayers!

Never too old to play “Beauty Shop!”

Last week when I wasn’t feeling good enough to go out to lunch, some of my sweet friends brought their lunch to share with me! 

As we were visiting, I told them that I was going to lose my hair in 2 weeks and I hated that my roots were already turning grey.  I mentioned that I had some hair dye in my closet and the next thing we knew… we had set up our own beauty shop.

Lucy was the lucky one chosen to do the honors.  She said she was no professional, but I told her that I didn’t care, since it would all be gone soon.

Then all of a sudden, “splat” and then I hear Lucy gasp, “Oh no, I got it all over your cheek!”  Then a few minutes later she says, “Uh oh, there goes your ear!”  And then finally I think Kim said between laughs, “You might want to check out her forehead too!”

   

Next thing I knew there was Lana being Johnny on the spot, with a napkin trying to rub all of the dye off my face before it became permanent.  Then of course we need to thank dear Kim, who pulled out her phone in the moment of crisis… she knew a Kodak moment when she saw it!

What started out to be a not so good day for me, ended up being a total blast!  Thank you dear sisters for “cheering up the sad and making someone feel glad!”  Now my hair is good to go for a couple of weeks, hopefully I won’t lose it any sooner than that!
 

Getting better and better...

I am getting better and better every day!  I am so grateful that the effects of the chemo seem to get less and less each day.  I still have pain and nausea each day, but nothing near as bad as on Friday and Saturday.  I pushed myself and even went to church on Sunday.  Monday I was not feeling very good again, but today I am much better.  

For my birthday, my sweet sons bought me a new contraption for my Ipad so I could use it while I was recuperating from chemo.  As you can see, I'm milking my sickness for all it's worth!

I'm grateful for small miracles.  Tomorrow it will be a week since I had chemo and I'm finally starting to feel human again.  With my first round of chemo, I would have had to go back to chemo tomorrow again!  Back then I was on a trial and I went 12 weeks straight until I had to stop because of terrible neuropathy in my feet.  So this time around with having chemo every 3 weeks is such a blessing!