8-19-13

2 Years.

Lots of things can happen in 2 years.

LDS Missionaries can serve a full time mission.

Mama Elephants can create a new little life inside them.

One can be diagnosed with cancer, go through a roller coaster adventure of surgeries and treatments, and kick that cancer's butt.

Remember this entry 2 years ago today?

As I was reading through it this morning, I found myself in a very reflective mood.  It seems like I wrote that entry a million years ago.  I am thankful for the inspiration I had to keep this blog during my journey.  I don't remember all of the little details from day to day and I don't ever want to forget how hard this journey has been.

It has shaped and molded me into who I am today.

Before 8-19-11 I had a great life.  I was happy.  We were healthy.  I had a wonderful husband, 4 awesome kiddos, jobs that I loved (paid and unpaid ;), and amazing family and friends.

Today- 2 years later - I still have a great life.  An even better life, because I now know how precious that life really is.  I have a 2nd chance at that life.  I still have everything that I had before, but now I have a different perspective.

I read a great quote recently.  It was said by a husband of a fellow breast cancer survivor who battled that cancer over 20 years ago.  She had a single mastectomy and did not have reconstructive surgery.  So she has a pretty incredible scar that she lives with every day.

"Every time I look at that scar, it reminds me that the good Lord could have taken your life.  Instead he chose to let you stay with us and teach the boys about Jesus."

I have a lot of scars.  

A lumpectomy scar,

Mastectomy scars,

Scars from multiple drains,

2 scars from my port,

Too many to count from my last reconstructive surgery,

 and when I read that quote, it hit home for me.

I love every one of these ugly scars because they are a daily reminder that...

I was a lucky one.

I have a 2nd chance.

I have a job to do.

My loving Father in Heaven could have taken my life.  Instead, he chose to allow me to stay here with my loved ones because I have a job to do.

I take that job very seriously.

With this 2nd chance that He has blessed me with, I intend to do whatever He needs me to, to help His other children here on earth.

*That begins with my job as a mother.  My 4 kiddos are my most important job.

It is my responsibility to love them, to teach them, to help them reach their full potential.

*That job also includes working together with my husband and best friend to make sure our family is doing the things that they need to in this life, so that we can be together forever in the next.

 *That job also includes sharing my testimony of the Savior to whomever will listen to me.

I know that I have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who loves me, who suffered for my sins, and who died for me.

He did all of those things so that I can be perfected in Him.

I can make mistakes (and I make plenty of them).

But I can be forgiven of those mistakes- no matter the number or how severe they are.

Do you want to know how I have been able to be so positive and upbeat while battling cancer?

Do you want to know how to have real happiness...the kind of happiness that lasts forever?

Do you want to know how I can live each day in this world filled with sorrow and evil and not be fearful?

The answers are in this book.

(found this photo through Google search and I have always loved it.)

The Book of Mormon- along with the Bible- testify of our Savior. 

If you read it with a prayer in your heart, you will know that the words contained in it are true.

I know this because I have tried it.

Yes, I was born in the church and raised in the church- but I am a convert to the church because I had to find out for myself if the Book of Mormon is true.

It has brought me peace in my most troubled times.

It has given me answers to questions that no one else could answer.

It is true.

The only way that you will know if it is true, is to read it for yourself.

No one else can convince you of that.

The choice is yours.

I share this because I know how much happiness it has brought to my life and I have to share that happiness with the people that I love the most or I have already failed at my 2nd chance.

I love you all.  Thank you for sticking by me.  Thank you for loving me for loving my family.  Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.

In the words of my good friend, Nancy (one of my survivor sisters)

"Happy Cancerversary!"