To the outside world, they may not look like anything spectacular or out of the ordinary... but for our little family, they've been awesome!
Yesterday, Sunday, Dan got home from work at 8:00am. Aurora and I were already up and getting ready for church. Aurora was looking beautiful in the new dress she got from her Great Grandma Rigby and her cute flower hair clip she got from her Barclay aunts and grandma. Dan came in cheerful, despite a hectic morning at work and he looked so handsome in his church attire. And I was feeling pretty! I mean, all you girls out there can probably attest that that little fact right there can be all it takes for the makings of a good day, right?
We headed to church together and made it just in time for the sacrament meeting to start. The meeting was wonderful and the speakers spoke straight to my heart. It was as if they knew what was going on in our lives at this exact time and said what we needed to hear; the talks were on finding hope through your struggles.
Now as I say that I felt those talks on that particular topic were quite touching to me, many of you might be wondering what struggles we're enduring. Honestly, not too many, but some of the people closest to us are indeed struggling and in need of hope.
As many of you who follow me on Facebook might know, Dan's dad, Steve, is battling Melanoma (skin cancer). I'll share what his mom posted on the Facebook group page we've created to clue you in on his story:
I think that his parents and the whole rest of our family are in definite need of hope while going through this scary time.
The second speaker during the meeting, spoke of his dear mother who has been battling different kinds of cancer for a total of 13 years. He told that she had been given a blessing in the beginning of it all that she would live to see her youngest son serve a mission. During the years that followed, she had to go through stage IV cancer in various forms and survive the pains of having her cancer go into remission and come back multiple times. She was given "death sentences" of a few months to live each time they found the cancer had come back. Yet, through all that, she continued to have faith that she would be able to battle the cancer and she continued to have hope that she would come out stronger. Now it has been 13 years and her youngest son is putting in his papers to serve a mission. Because she continued to have hope even through her struggles, she is still here to see the fruits of the blessing she received so long ago. There were probably many times, that it would've been easy to get discouraged and lose hope, but she didn't.
My beautiful Grandmother Dorothella Smith, battled with Breast Cancer for most of my life. She was diagnosed with it around the time I was born and then it went into remission until the last couple years of her life. My mom always tells us that one thing my grandma really believed in was the power of having a hopeful and positive attitude in light of her struggles. Cancer is brutal and it isn't for the weak; my grandma knew that what you needed most to stay strong in the fight was a positive attitude, a hopeful attitude that you could survive and come out on top.
I think that one of the reasons my grandma battled so long was because of her hopeful attitude. She didn't let the depression of her diagnosis seep in and take over her body's ability to fight, she went about each day one step at a time with brightness.
As I write this, I'm not saying that just having a positive and hopeful attitude will cure cancer or solve all your problems. What I am saying is that it makes it a whole lot easier for you to see the light in the world, even when it seems at its darkest. Hope shines a light and clears your mind to help you see the good through all the bad. The talks on Sunday were a peaceful reminder for us to have hope and to not give up the fight with Steve! It was also a reminder to me that our Heavenly Father does know us each individually and he knows the desires of our hearts. What a testimony builder!
After church, Dan had to help the interior design woman finish getting the homes decorated for the Parade of Homes coming up. Because of my friend, Marissa, and her willingness to watch Aurora, I was able to help Dan. We got a lot done and it has been nice that I've been able to spend this time with him. This little side job has really been such a blessing to us. Dan was asked to help by our good friend, Shaun, and it has really helped to fill in the gaps from when Dan wasn't working. I even got to catch up a bit with Marissa when I got home. I haven't seen her in so long! We are truly blessed to have such good friends living near us.
Today brought with it 70° weather and beautiful sunshine plus two happy girls and one happy mama/babysitter. I watched Abi today and I'm happy to say that she AND Aurora are both feeling so much better after all this sickness that's been sticking around. I was lucky enough to find another high chair seat that I could use for Abi at lunch time on the St George Yard Sale page over the weekend, so we got to have both girls eat lunch at the same time, on their own. They were loving it!
We also spent some time outside today and we had a fun time following Miss Abi as she walked around the apartment complex. It only became not quite as fun when Abi decided she was too tired to walk any further and I ended up carrying both girls back to our apartment. Together they are heavy!
I also took a few pictures of the girls while we were outside; they both looked so cute! My favorite one is one I took standing on our porch looking down on them from above. I'm sad I could only get the one shot but that's about all you can do when you've got toddlers on the move!
Dan was able to work over at the parade/model home again today while I babysat and then got off early enough that we could hold Family Home Evening! We had so much fun. We got Panda Express for dinner and then couldn't help ourselves and got doughnuts from The Fractured Prune while we were over there. But, really, can you blame us? I mean, look at those things!
When we got home, we sang a hymn and said prayer before putting Aurora to bed and watching a movie. Dan fell asleep during the movie, but it's ok. After his busy weekend of working working working, he deserves an early bedtime!
Happy Monday, everyone!
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