Mission Call

Weston got his mission call to serve in the Colorado Denver North Mission.  His mission includes the northern part of Colorado and part of Wyoming and Nebraska.  Weston leaves February 20, 2013, the same day as his longtime friend, Josh Gross who is going to Australia.  They have been friends since they were 7 years old.    They played football together forever.  Now they go out on the same day.

Weston is ready to serve in the mission field.  He will be a good missionary and is prepared to serve the Lord.  As his parents, we are so excited for him to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers, Jesse who served in France and Keith who served in Belem, Brazil, and his father who served in California.  

Hunter said that he wants to go with Weston to his mission and will get inside his suitcase. 

Colorado you are getting a great Elder who loves life and the gospel.  We will miss him, but we are so proud of him in choosing to serve the Lord.  Weston will be blessed in this decision.

Happy to say "Cancer is shrinking"

Today Ross drove me down to Tucson to see Dr. Javid for my 6 month check up.  I have been nervous about the visit since my eye has been giving me trouble.  My eye toke a turn for the worse in July and then after 3 sessions with the cranial massage it got better only to start hurting again.  So I have been on a new journey where I have been studying the life of Christ and how he healed.  I have read conference talks and stories of Christ in the New Testament and I want to be made "whole".

This cancer has consumed my life and so I have tried to serve more, attend the temple and try to be a better person.  My emotions have been high, along with the pain in my eye.  My eye has been real dry and painful.  Felt like a rock in my eye.

Well we waited for 2 hours in the Doctor's office with my eye dilated.   While I was waiting I felt peaceful and felt real good about all the changes I have made and the path I am on.  The Lord has guided me each step of the way.  On the way down to Tucson there is a sign and it reads "Christ is the Answer".  He is my answer.

The Doctor has the latest and greatest equipment and they toke all kinds of pictures of my eye.  Then the Doctor came in to tell me the results. MRI and blood work all came back good.  He gave me thumbs up.  Then he compared the tumor from 8 months prior and the tumor has shrunk 3 millimeters in height.  The width stayed the same, but it is shrinking in height.  I will take any shrinking.

THE TUMOR IS SHRINKING!  HALLELUIAH!

I have been so blessed.  Thanks to all those who have prayed for me.

He also told me that if I was not in the 98% chance of being a live in 5 years, I would have had to start chemo.  I am so blessed that the cancer is starting to shrink and I DON'T have to start any other treatment. 

Christ is the Answer. 

Thanks to my family and all again, couldn't have done it without all the support.  Life is a journey.  Never a dull moment. 

Love ya all,
Linda

Day at the Aquarium

 Kent in his lambs chair.  So cute.  Another day we drove back to Newport and went to the Aquarium and spent the morning.  It was so much fun.  There was this bird that kept spraying Griffin.  We walked through the shark tank and saw the most beautiful fish and jelly fish.  We had a picnic and enjoyed the morning and then went to the beach.

 They had a play room for kids and a theater.  Kim and Griffin dressed and performed for Kent and Grandma

 They had such cute costumes.  Griffin with a shark head and below a jelly fish hat.

 Grandma and Griffin in the jaws of a large shark.  After a fun day we headed back home to have Griffin and Kent cry in stereo to us while we headed back.  I later learned that if you kept food coming to Griffin he was happy while driving.  So I would make special snacks for him for the car ride.  Kent just hated being buckled up in his car seat.  Can't blame him.  If Kim wants to go and do anything she has to travel.  Beautiful country.  Green everywhere and moss growing on the trees. 

Griffin's Big Boy Bed

 Lance is putting together Griffin's bed so Baby Kent can sleep in a crib.  Griffin loved the bed because the sheets had cars on them.  He loved cars as you can tell by his pj's.  He wore his pj's all day.

 The cutest baby Kent.  I just love him.  He was so much fun to rock and hold and kiss.

 Griffin is showing me his strawberry patch.  Griffin would go and pick them right off and eat them.  They were so sweet.  You can't buy strawberries that sweet.

 Griffin wanted to play in his mom's car, so I let him.  Now I know why he wants to play in the car, because he finds food and eats them.  I never found a food that Griffin wouldn't eat.

 The boys in the new bed.  Griffin went right to bed in his new bed.  Big Boy Griffin.  Kent is not that impressed with the bed.

Oregon's Rose Garden

 Grandma DeeDah with Griffin at the park.  First Griffin played on a train and then we walked through this beautiful rose garden.  They had so many roses of different colors, sizes and shapes.

 When we would go places, Kimberlee would wrap Kent up and carry him and Kent would fall asleep as long as you kept walking.  Kent loves to be rocked, walked or held.

 I asked Griffin to smell the roses and he bonks his head on the roses.  Such a funny kid.

 What a fun day at the park.  We would wear Griffin out in the morning and then head home for Griffin's nap.  As soon as we got him down, Kim and I would turn on the TV and watch Downton Abby.  We had a marathon going on.  We had to watch 2 episodes a day so we could finish before I returned home.  The last day there, we were still watching the last episode as I was packing and ready to head out the door.  Such a fun visit.  I just love my Family.

Baby Kent's Blessing

Grandma couldn't wait to hold her newest #11 Grandson Kent 6 weeks old.  Due to complications with my eye I was not able to go up until now to see Kent.  I just love him.

 Grandpa Ross as Griffin would call him.  He wanted to be by his Grandpa Ross all the time.

 Weston with the "arg, args" below him.  That is what Griffin called them.  They would bark at each other and make that noise.  Newport Beach

 Grandpa Ross and Grandma DeeDah.  We had such a beautiful day walking the beach.  The boys loved the candy store and bought $58 worth of taffy.

 Keith holding Kent.  Below is Grandpa Ross and Weston swinging Griffin in the air while walking to the restaurant in Newport Beach.

Griffin would pick out his clothes each day and on this day Griffin picked out Weston's clothes and they match.  Griffin loved his Uncle Weston.

 Griffin chilling with Uncle Keith.  Keith's bed was in the front room.

 Superman holding Griffin.  Weston came home from the store after shopping with Lance and Dad and this is what he bought.

 The boys went crawdad fishing and had a blast.  Don't you just love the white bodies.  We ate steaks cooked by the Grill Master, Keith and ate the crawdads.  They had as much fun cracking the shells and trying to get the meat as they did catching them.  Fun, Fun!

Weston being goofy.

 Now here is one face that you got to love.  Griffin loves his food and it shows.  Just love him!

 A trip to Portland means that you got to stop by VooDoo Doughnuts.  Grandpa Ross said he wasn't going to eat any, but as the proof is in the picture he did partake.  Hard to resist.  But Linda will not touch sugar and does not want her cancer to grow and have food, so she did not even taste a morsel.  Linda says she would rather live a longer life than eat sugar.  Linda wants to see her grandchildren grow up and be a part of their lives.

 In Newport we ate on the beach and Griffin loved to head butt Weston and Grandpa Ross.  Hopefully he doesn't try it on Kent.

 Grandpa Ross and Weston trying to eat a jelly fish  

 Eating breakfast with Griffin.  He was one boy who loved to eat.

 Looks like Grandpa Ross is holding Weston up.  He is one strong Grandpa

 Superman can fly.  Weston flying through the air in one leap. 

 My favorite part of the trip to see my grandson blessed.  One thing I have come to really appreciate is seeing my grandchildren blessed.  I am so thankful that I am alive and was there to see Kent blessed.  This was the first time for Weston to stand in the circle.  Made it even more special.  Kim and Lance have such a great family.  So proud of them both.

 As you can tell I goofed up and got the pictures out of order.  Here is another picture of the crawdad hunters.

 Grandpa Ross with his new hair.  What a handsome man. 

Pain in the Eye Therapy

My eye has been hurting for about a month.  It felt like there was a flat rock in my eye putting pressure on it.  Finally I could not stand it any longer and I told Keith that my eye was hurting.  Keith looks up at me and very nonchalant says "Why don't you go and get it checked out?"

I never thought about it.  I just thought my eye would stop hurting.  So I call up and the Doctor in Tucson tells me to go and see the eye doctor here in town.  Eye doctor, Woolf has no idea what is wrong, so he sends me down to Tucson all in the same morning.

Ross was out of town and I am upset that I have to drive 2 hours and thankfully for Marie.  Marie drives me down to Tucson.  The doctor has no idea what it is, but guesses it might be nerves and tells me to go and get an MRI.  The nurse tells me I will have to be inside it and I am not happy about that.  I spent $120 on 2 doctor visits and a tank of gas to drive to Tucson.

I felt inspired to call my daughter-in-law, Terra and she told me about a Cranial Sacral Therapy that she is going to try.  She explained about it and I got Annette Encinas's phone number and made an appointment.  I am willing to try anything at this point.

I went and had a Cranial Sacral Massage and there is a difference in my cancer eye.  I wish I had taken a picture of my eye prior to the visit.  The eye lid was not opening up and the eye looked like it was getting smaller.  The eye looked in pain and it was.

She worked on Ross and helped him with his knee that had been swollen for 3 weeks and sore back.  Then she worked on my eye.  She worked on both of us for a total of 3 hours and charged $150.00.  (I had spent $120 the week prior for the 2 doctors for a total of 5 minutes and got no results)

While she was working on my eye, it felt like my eye was in a pool of water.  You have to understand that my eye since radiation has been real dry.  I have bottles of eye tears everywhere.  It was bathed in water and felt so good.  After she worked on me, my eye looked so much better.  The pressure is not there like it had been for 3 weeks.  It felt so good that Monday night we went to see a movie.  I wouldn't go to the movies for months because my eye can't look that long at a big screen, not even TV.

I have to go back for more treatments.  I would rather do this than do an MRI and take drugs.  The Doctor was thinking that he would have to give me drugs to treat this.  I felt inspired to try this treatment. 

She said during the therapy that I need to receive more.  I will be more open to receive the prayers that have been said on my behalf and more willing to accept help.  She also said that I should honor the eye and thank the eye for all that it has done for me.   She also said that since it was my left eye that represented that I don't like to see all the bad in the world and around me.  Something to think about.   It was worth a try.  Ross feels much better and so do I.  My kids think it is weird, but it works for me now.

Gracie asks an important ???

Tonight Gracie (5 years) came up to me with a very serious look on her face and said "Grandma, I want to ask you a question."  I walked her out to the kitchen where it was not as crowded and loud.  She was almost in tears when she said "Grandma, are you going to die?"

I immediately toke her to a quiet room and sat down on the couch with her and we talked about my cancer.  Apparently one of her friends had a Grandmother who died of cancer.  I told her I am trying everything I know to live.  After talking about cancer and how I want to live, then Gracie looked up at me and said "Grandma I want you to live because Grandpa won't be much fun at sleep overs."

Gracie Girl, I will live as long as the Lord permits so we can have a lot more fun sleep overs.  I want to live a full life and be around to make a difference to my grandchildren. 

I just love my family.  They keep me going even when my eye does hurt.

Tank installed

 We finally got the tank delivered.  We are on the last stretch of the septic tank.  Ross has worked long and hard to get this completed this year.  Linda is standing on the tank.  Below Keith is standing on the distribution box. 

 Ross was the official tractor operator.  He dug all the holes for the pipes.  Keith and Ross had fun calculating on the flow of the pipes.  It has been a real learning experience for us.  Ross can now say he has put in a septic system. 

This system is huge.  Ross built up the dirt so no one will drive over the system and destroy it.  So much work.  Amazing that we got it this far...that is due to Ross being such a hard worker.  His mind was made up and he did it.  Just love that guy!!!