I Believe In Miracles

On Thursday evening when I got home from a meeting, Chad relayed a message to me that Courtney had left, telling us that my sister-in-law Kathy had gotten in a car accident, but that she was ok. Keep in mind that I have a sister-in-law named Kathy and her daughter's name is Cassi. You can imagine that this would be very confusing when talking about either one of them on the phone. We tend to spend the first minute of a phone conversation just deciphering who we're talking about. Conversations have been known to go something like this: "Now wait, are you talking about Kathy the mom or Cassi the daughter?" "KaTHY with a K or CaSSI with a C?" (emphasis added) "Wait, KaTHY or Cassandra?" Once we're satisfied about whom we're speaking it is only then that we may move on with the conversation. Its always somewhat humorous.

Anyway, upon hearing the news, I called Courtney to get more details. It was then that I found out that it wasn't KaTHY, but CaSSi who was in the car accident and was air lifted to the hospital and was in critical condition. Cassi was a passenger in her friend Sam's car. As they were making a left hand turn their car was t-boned by another car going 55 miles an hour. Their car was pushed up on its side and Cassi had been knocked unconscious. One of the first people on the scene was an off duty firefighter. The firefighter instructed someone to turn Cassi's head in a way that she wouldn't choke on her own vomit. An action that saved her life. Guess where her vomit ended up? Right on her friend Sam. (Just a fun little fact). While in the car waiting for help Sam couldn't get Cassi to respond so he lifted his hand up and gave her a Priesthood blessing. Another action which I believe saved her life. They had to cut Cassi out of the car and then airlifted her to the hospital. After much testing, they have found that Cassi has bruising on her lungs and some scratches on her legs. The doctors are amazed that those are her only injuries. No internal bleeding. No broken bones. And she's alive! It really is a miracle. She's doing ok. In some pain of course, but they're hoping she can leave the hospital today. Its times like these that I realize how precious life is. Life as I know it can change at any moment and it helps me appreciate all those important people in my life even more.

In the way of other news: My mom's surgery went well and she is recovering splendidly.

Blog Worthy

You know how my mom has colon cancer and had 14 inches of her colon removed in August? After the doctors did a biopsy on the part of the colon that was removed they found cancer in the lymph nodes. It had also metastasized to her liver. That's when they decided to start the six necessary rounds of chemo immediately, which she just finished. Its been an uncertain time for our family and especially for my mom. WELL, after some testing her cancer has officially gone into REMISSION!!! Let me repeat that, its officially GONE, out of her body, see ya later cancer! (I of course know that remission doesn't mean it'll be gone forever, it could come back, but hopefully it won't and if it does I hope it won't be for many years). To hear that the cancer went into remission has been such a relief and I've felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Its a miracle. My mom is a fighter and I admire her strength and positive attitude through this whole ordeal. Even though its technically in remission, she'll be going into surgery on Wednesday to get the part of her liver removed where the cancer was and then she'll have to endure another 6 rounds of chemo. Keep her in your prayers for us.

NOW, in the way of other good news of the much more trivial sort: I'm officially retired from lugging a big ol' bag to church every week. I realize this doesn't seem like a big deal but I know that any mom who has been doing the same thing knows what a dream it is to have free hands and shoulders at church. It started off being a diaper bag but after seven years had morphed into a big bag o' crap filled with activities, snacks and treats to keep Ethan entertained during church. I'm no longer doing it. I am done. And I have to admit, its literally been a huge wait lifted off my shoulder, and my back. My official church bag is....drum roll please...

This pretty little number. It holds those church essentials: mints, lip gloss and keys. Oh, and a couple pieces of candy to use in case Ethan starts getting wiggly. Its a very effective bribing method I like to use. Now Ethan gets to sit there, like a big boy and play tic-tac-toe and hangman like we all used to do during sacrament meeting.