Day 112

     Conner went to a Primary pizza party yesterday afternoon.  We took Katie with us to pick him up.  Katie ran around with all the other kids.  I noticed, she was just a tad slower, but she ran just as far and just as long.  She so desperately wants to keep up and to do what all the other kids are doing!  She was wiped out by bedtime last night - but it was fun to see her playing with all the other children!  Conner got through another day with his "thumb cast" on (well a new one - it gets stinky and dirty fast - he is on his 3rd cast!)  We are hoping this will work for him.
     I got a call yesterday from Phoenix Children's Hospital, reminding me about Katie's next appointment on March 7th, at 8:00 a.m.  Katie is to go to the appointment fasting, and they will start with blood work and then do a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) at 9:30 a.m., and then she will get a couple more doses of chemo and steroids (all that day).  When I hung up the phone I started crying.  I don't know why really....It just hit me - a sudden sadness - I wish Katie didn't have to go through any more.  She is stronger than I am.  But we will get through this.  We know there are also good things to come.
     Elder Jeffery R. Holland has stated, "Joy in the gospel is...our privilege now, this very day.  We must never allow our burdens to obscure our blessings.  There will always be more blessings than burdens - even if some days it doesn't seem so" (Ensign, Octobe 2006, 15).
     "Some things don't change; they are true always and forever.  One of those vital sureties of life is that the Lord will stand by us, uphold and sustain us, if we turn to Him, trust Him, and rely upon the enabling power of His grace.  He will surely bless us.  The Savior said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).  We are here to have "life more abundantly" here and now, not just hereafter in the heavenly realm.  An abundant life is one that sees the blessings of the Lord and the gospel all around; a life that recognizes that blessings far outnumber burdens even at those times when it doesn't seem so; a life that has enough faith and confidence in the Lord and in His heart to know that the Lord will not abandon or forsake us.  '[WE] are that [we] might have joy' (2 Nephi 2:25), right here, right now, this day and always."  (Lloyd D. Newell, He Shall Fulfill All of His Promises, 205).
     Today I am glad for family, friends and simple abundance.  P.S. Thanks for yesterdays comments and for lending your strength and support to me!  (CeCe and Kelly, thanks for sharing your humor!  You both made me laugh).