Cancer keeps a family busy!

As I briefly mentioned at the end of my last post, my mother-in-law, Carol, was diagnosed with a terminal form of bone cancer, Multiple Myeloma. But it has a high success of remission with treatment, and is also the cancer with the most progress in research. We brought her home to our house from the hospital back in mid February, and she's been with us since. (Except that she's in the hospital this weekend so they can watch her kidneys.) It's been a very busy time, and quite emotionally draining. I had no idea! So if I haven't posted, or don't post much, you'll understand a bit better why. I have been keeping an online blog for her care, so that loved ones can have detailed updates. For those of you who know Carol well, and want to be able to read those, let me know, and if I have your e-mail, I'll send you a link to that.

One of the most tremendous tender mercies during all of this was having Heather here. Yes, Nels' sister, Heather. She has lived in Japan for the last seven years. (Her husband, Curt is a patent law attorney there.) They love it. But I can't imagine how difficult this would have been for her to be so removed during all of this. So the Lord saw fit for her to be here already; her purpose for being here was a GMAT prep course she was taking at BYU. But it turned out that was the side purpose. The real reason she was here was so that she'd be here when her mother was diagnosed, and so that she could be part of the whole process. She's one of the main reasons I'm keeping the detailed updates, although even local family wants to know what the doctor said, what test results said, and so forth.

My boss has been very generous, saying "family first" and to take whatever time I needed, and my volunteers at the library have been wonderful too, filling in for me whenever needed so we could keep the library open for the kids. I've only had to take three or four times of an hour or or two off for doctor's appts, or whatever, but it really helps. (It also helps that I only work part time, T/W/T!)

Hopefully I'll get to post sometime about Kimberly's participation in the YW choir that will be singing in the General Young Women's meeting a week from today, 24 March. It's been a spiritual feast, and a busy experience in and of itself. If you have the opportunity to watch it, (you could always view it online after the fact,) watch for her in the choir, and know that the colored shirts have been an adventure, and there have been lots of stories along the way for many of the participants, and lots of spiritual preparation on their part. What a blessing to the girls and those who have been able to witness the practices...

So it's a busy time, but we wouldn't have it any other way. It's right. We've absolutely loved the way the family has pulled together during this time of need, that we've seen each other more than we would have, and feel closer to each other too. Isn't that the Lord's plan anyway?