Your such a nice lady

I just have to talk about my work for a minute. I work at an assisted living place and some of them need lots of assistance others none. I have met some pretty neat people over the couple of years that I have worked there. There is such a wide range of people. Most of them are in their 80's and 90's and some amaze me at how much they can still do for themselves. We are told to not have any favorites but I can't help myself I have some :) I really seem to take to the ones that do not have anybody come and see them. It breaks my heart that their families wouldn't come. There is one lady who had such a hard life but she is so sweet. She is not all there anymore and sometimes she will ask me if I know where her mom is. I just play along and tell her she is at the store. She is in a child's mind most of the time. She is so sweet and when I talk to her she always tells me she loves me and I am such a nice lady:) It makes my day every time she says it. I know I am there to help them but sometimes they help me more then they know.

heart of gold

When I first lived here in Oregon I had a job at a grill and I worked with some pretty shady guys. They were completely opposite of each other. I had mentioned to one of them that I was having car problems. He told me he has a guy that goes to his church that is really honest and good. So I found out who it was and went over there. He reminded me so much of my grandpa. His garage even smelled the same with old books and tools everywhere. I have been going to him since then and know that I really lucked out finding him. That was probably the only good thing that came out of the horrible job at the grill. A month ago I had to get my front brakes fixed and this last week it sounded like they were out again. I called him up and talked to him and he had me come over. Even though he had 8 other cars in front of mine he pulled it in and took a look. He found out that it was now my back brakes that had gone out. I wanted to cry because I knew I could not afford them right now. I asked him how bad it would be to drive with them like that and he said my car shouldn't leave the shop. I told him I didn't have the money right now and didn't get paid till next week. He told me if I could get a ride to work in the morning he would fix them. He said its usually his day off on Saturday but he wanted to make sure I had a car. I almost started crying but bit my lip. I told him once again that I could not afford it right now. He looked at me and said I feel in my heart that your an honest person and will pay me when you can. I could picture my grandpa doing the same thing. He was always fixing things for other people and never taking a dime for it. I was truly humbled by his kindness. To top it off he even took me home since my roommate was not home. I would love to do something for him for all of his extra concern for me. People like that are few and in between.

thoughts

I haven't been very good at keeping this blog up this year. It seems like when it rains it pours. I am trying to keep a positive attitude about everything. I had to give a talk last week on gratitude and that really made me stop and think about things. I was able to attend the temple this last week and I just love it there. Sometimes I wish I never had to leave, Its so peaceful and quiet. I wish I had the power to take the hurt away from people. I have seen so many miracles happen and so many that could really use one. I know that we will find out when we get to the other side why so many had so many trials. So I don't make this into a depressing post I wanted to mention what happened yesterday. In our ward we have a blue and gold banquet for the scouts. Its a dinner for the ward and then they do a cake auction. They were trying to earn money for their scout camp this summer. They bumped the cost to 100 dollars a boy and we have 10 so the goal was 1000. Each boy makes a cake and they get auctioned off. It was too cute watching the boys faces as their cakes went for different prices. Our ward is very generous and we have quite a few that have lots of money. There wasn't a cake that didn't go for less then 50.00 dollars. The last cake went for 250 and you couldn't wipe the smile off his face. It was fun to be there. I promise this next month I will be more positive and try and keep up better with this blog. I am going to be doing more for myself this year. I decided I am always helping others which is good but I have been putting myself last. I am excited and nervous to get started this week with my first big change. Wish me luck! I hope you all have a great week!

Rollercoaster of Emotion

Its been quite a crazy couple of weeks with good news and bad. The boy that I talked about in my last post received a miracle. After being in the hospital on a heart and lung machine and feeding tube he is at home. It truly was a miracle and quite an experience for our ward. They made a page on face book so we could keep up with the updates and he had over 700 followers! If that doesn't say something about him and his family I don't know what does. I am so happy it was a good outcome in the end of such a horrible story.
The bad news of the last couple of weeks is about my aunt Kim. After she got her cancer removed they did tests and found that she still had it in her arm. The choices to amputate her arm from the elbow down or die. How is that even a choice? It broke my heart to hear this news and I just wanted to be closer to her so I could hug her. I know that she will figure things out and do as much as she can with one hand. I just feel so bad because after so many years of being cancer free it came back and took her arm. I am doing Relay for life again this year and it makes me want to fight harder when things like this happen. Cancer has taken way too many of my family and friends.
On my last day off I told my roommate Trish we needed to get away to the coast. It was suppose to be a beautiful day and it was. It was almost in the 60's and for the Oregon coast that is amazing weather. We went shopping to some outlet stores and just relaxed it was so nice. Sometimes you just need to do that to clear your mind for a day.

Sad Story

We had a pretty sad day at church today. We learned that a family in our ward had an accident on Saturday night. A father and his 15 year old son and a really good friend of the dad (who is also in the ward)went kayaking. They started out in Corvallis which is the town next to ours. They were planning to go down the river together. They were doing fine until the son got to far over and kind of got caught up in some limbs. He fell out of his kayak but managed to grab a hold of it to hold on. They were all wearing life jackets thank goodness. They were close by a park so they were trying to get over to get out. The only one to make it out was the friend and he quickly called 911. They went down 6 more miles before they were able to get them out. The son had been in the water over an hour and it was only 44 degrees. He went unconcious and it took them an hour to get his heart started again. They took him to the hospital and then up to Portland to the OSHU. He is in very critical condition and has not woken up yet. We had a ward fast for him starting tonight and into tomorrow. It was a very sad day lots of tears and sadness. We are praying for the best for this family.

Rain Rain go Away!

This last week it started to rain on Monday then it changed to snow. Then on Tuesday afternoon it turned back to rain and didn't stop until Thursday!! That's right it rained straight through Wednesday without stopping! For awhile we were all worried at work because they kept closing roads. Alot of us live outside of the valley we work in and there are only 2 roads out. Everything started to flood and it got pretty bad. My parent's even called me because my hometown made it on the news!! It was a sad story of a family that got swept up in the water and the dad and 1 boy got out but the mom and baby drown:( It has calmed down quite a bit since then but don't worry we still have rain in the forecast!
Meanwhile up and my sister Lisa's house in Washington she was getting dumped on with snow!! It was pretty awful since they are not use to getting that much at a time. It dropped 4-6 inches and then it rained so it turned to ice. Not a pretty commute at all! Over 250 thousand people lost there electricity and there are still 50 thousand still without. This last weekend I had planned to go up to her house and move her to her new apartment. After all the crap with the storm I was very hesitant. The forecast said it was suppose to rain and get warmer so I thought why not! I got up there on Friday night and it was a really scary drive. It was really slushy and there was still snow on the sides. I didn't know what we were going to do the next day but we both prayed hard. When we woke up on Saturday it wasn't doing anything and it had started melting a lot. We were so excited we got started around 9 and about 4 we were done. Right after carrying up the last load it started to rain. We really lucked out! It was fun to be with my sister and help her. We got to play games and watch movies and went to a fun container store. We always eat too much and just enjoy each others company. I can't wait to go visit again! Maybe next time I will luck out and get sunshine! The first 3 pictures are in Oregon right around where I live. The other 2 are in Seattle but you would think they are in Utah!

Aunt Kim

This is my aunt Kim isn't she gorgeous! About 23 years ago she was diagnosed with Cancer. I don't remember what kind I just remember how horribly sick she got. After going through chemo and radiation she went into remission. We never thought we would have to hear she was dealing with it again. She works as a lunch lady at the middle school. She hit her arm when she was working and it hurt more then normal but she didn't think anything. A week or 2 later she hit it again on something and after a few days it started looking infected. She went and had it checked out and heard the devastating news. She has been diagnosed with epitheloid sarcoma a very rare cancer that began growing in her arm.This time it cant be treated with radiation or chemotherapy, so the only thing that can be done is surgery or amputation. To someone who cooks for a living this is not good news. She is also the most amazing seamstress. She went in and had the surgery it took them 3 hours and they took quite a bit out of her arm. I would post the picture but you might have a weak stomach. She went in yesterday to get it checked out to see if they had gotten all the cancer and still is waiting for results. If anyone can fight this she can she is one of the strongest women I know. They have had their fair share of heartaches. Her daughter was diagnosed with lukemia around the same time she was dealing with her cancer the first time. She was also 8 month's pregnant at the time so she wasn't able to do any chemo until the baby came. Its been a hard trial for the family but they have got through it. I know they will deal with whatever is given to them this time too. I am so thankful for strong examples of faith in my life. My aunt has been a rock and comforted everyone around her during this. We have been praying and fasting for her and hopefully it will be a good outcome. We just have to keep the faith!