2011 - A Year in Review Part 2.5

May

May was a roller coaster of events. I graduated from USU with my Masters in Deaf Education the first Friday of the month. By Monday I was in Disneyland celebrating my graduation with Jared, his sister Shana, and her husband Joey. It was a blast!! After a very stressful year of grad school, it was so nice to just relax and have fun. It had been seven years since I had been to Disneyland, so I was excited to go back and experience it again. Little did I know that it would be more exciting than I thought.

Wednesday afternoon we were wandering around, going on various different rides and Jared insisted that we go on Peter Pan. We had already been on it a couple days before, but he wanted to go again. The minute we got into the flying ships he pulled out a napkin (yes, I said napkin) and said, "I wouldn't be able to get a box in here, so I put it in a napkin." He then proceeded to pull out a ring and propose to me. He said some really sweet things that he needed to tell me again later because I was in such awe at what was happening. :) Then he put the ring on my finger and I kissed him. Then I looked at my ring, kissed him again, looked at my ring, kissed him, and so on until we were nearing the end of the ride. He finally asked, "So is that a yes?" I hadn't even answered his question. Oooops. I said a strong yes before we ended the ride and got off. Though we tried to be cool about things, Shana, his sister, knew what had happened the minute we got off. She grabbed my hand and then hugged us. That was definitely the topic of conversation the rest of the trip. :)

The rest of the week in Disneyland was a blast, but due to outside events, it was a roller-coaster of emotions. Wednesday we got engaged, then early Thursday morning I got a phone call from my future principal, offering me the job at the Sequoia School for the Deaf in Arizona. WHAT?!?! It was almost like I couldn't quite comprehend what was happening. I was still on a high from last night, then I get even more exciting news! :) Jared and I had talked about living in AZ many times and knew that if I was offered the job, I could accept it in a heartbeat. We both had a confirmation that AZ was right for us. So, when my principal called, I could have easily said yes, but having my head in the clouds like I did, I said, "I just got engaged last night, let me talk to my fiance and let you know. Is that okay?" Ha ha ha...I think I was having an overload of exciting information and not thinking straight. So, I woke him up, talked to him for two seconds, verifying that it was right, and then called back. I was now officially employed with my first grown-up job. Woo Hoo!!

Oh, that is a roller-coaster of emotions, you might say, but it doesn't stop there. Sadly, what came next wasn't quite the exciting news like I had just experienced the two days before. I got a call Friday saying the Mom was in the hospital and would be having a pacemaker put in within the next few hours. WHAT?!?!?! This came as a total surprise because my mom has never had a history of heart problems. Over the next 24 hours I got a few calls saying yes they are doing it, to no, they won't be doing it. Saturday morning it was a definite yes and she would be going in for surgery in a couple hours. We were supposed to stay in Cali one more day and spend time with Jared's aunt and uncle and a couple from my mission, but those got canceled and we were on the road as soon as possible.

The drive home was filled with anxiety, but I tried not to worry about things and just remember the memories made the week before. We had such a fun trip! Thanks Shana and Joey for the good times. And a HUGE thank you to Jared for the graduation/engagement present. :)

Here are a few pics from that week in "The Happiest Place on Earth."

When we first arrived at the park.

Toy Story Mania

Fun in The Mad Hatter

Right after we got engaged. :)

The ring! It's gorgeous! He designed it himself. Way to go!

Shana and Joey waiting for World of Color to start.

I couldn't stop looking at my ring and holding it

up in every picture. I know, I'm such a girl.

Celebrating with Martinelli's

Our last night in Disneyland. It was a blast!

We were so tired from all the fun.

Jared playing with the Mr. Potato Head we got.

He is such a kid at heart, and I love it!

Sunday morning, after the long drive, Dad and I picked up Mom from the hospital. She was doing great, considering she had just had heart surgery. It was so good to see her and talk to her. The next few days she was really tired, but understandably so. We let her take it easy and relax for a couple days.

Though she had to relax, I had to get going on wedding plans. We only had two months to get everything ready. Tiff, Ryker (he LOVED it....hahaha), and I went wedding dress shopping. Mom was just too exhausted to go and because she has MS, she can't push her body. It would have only made it worse. So we agreed that we would take pictures for her and if I found the one I wanted, she could go back with me later.

Well, the Lord knew what I would be facing in the next couple months, so He blessed me with a beautiful dress rather quickly. We found it at the first shop we went to. One of the senior sisters I served with on my mission owns the bridal shop and gave us an amazing deal. I can't thank her enough. Fortunately, Mom was able to go back with me when I tried it on for my fitting and see me in it. She loved it!

Ryker thought he was the model for the day.

He loved the platform and mirror. Goofy kid!

After a wonderful morning of a Dr. appointment, wedding dress fitting, and wedding shopping, Mom and I headed home to rest. Sadly, it was at that time that I noticed that things weren't quite right. While driving around SLC, which is where my Mom has lived her entire life, she kept asking where we were. Later she needed help using her cell phone, and many other things that were routine for her didn't seem quite right. After a couple days of this, and some advice from the on call MS doctor, Dad and I took her in to the University of Utah hospital. Little did we know that our worlds would be turned upside down over the next month.

I can't write much detail about this time because it still brings with it a lot of emotion. Here it was two months before my wedding and my mom was in the hospital for unknown reasons. These months were the months I had dreamed of since I was a little girl...my mom and I would be able to do all the planning for my wedding. She and I had talked about this time for YEARS, even before I started dating Jared, and now it wasn't playing out like we had dreamed. It is still hard for me to talk about without having tears.

To make a long story short, they weren't able to figure out what was wrong with her, yet she continued to become more disillusioned and the right side of the body no longer had any movement at all. 3 CT scans, 3 MRIs, 6 Spinal Taps, 1 biopsy of the brain, countless neurologists, and 4 long weeks later, it was finally determined that it was an EXTREME episode of her MS. It was so extreme that the doctors couldn't figure it out for weeks. They were finally able to label it as MS after they took the piece from her brain. With that knowledge, we were then able to move ahead with things and get mom back on the road to recovery. It would still be another week in the hospital for rehabilitation and then a few more at home, but we were ready to hit it head on and get her out of there.

This was a very difficult time for our entire family. We never expected anything like this to ever happen. No one does. However, it was also a time of faith, growth, and miracles. Here are a few examples of those:

1) I was originally going to work with a professor during the two months before my wedding. She had already trained me and I was ready to start when I got an incredibly strong prompting form the Spirit not to. Though hard, I had to tell her that I couldn't do it. Looking back, if I had done it, I wouldn't have been able to be at the hospital everyday with Mom.

2) My brother Justin was laid off from his job just a week or two prior to Mom going into the hospital. Though it would be a hard time for his family, it turned out to be a blessing for all of us. He was able to be there with me most of the time. And if we weren't there together, then we could switch off to make sure someone was there. We were the two that were working with the doctors and making sure everything was getting done right. Without Justin there to be my constant support and to remember everything the doctors said, I couldn't have made it.

3) Dad works downtown, which was nice because he didn't have far to drive when he got off work. What was even better than that though, was that his part time job was driving bus for the University of Utah. Ever since he started there, he has had the night route that goes to the hospital, and he routinely takes his lunch/dinner break there. This was a wonderful blessing during this trial. He was able to be so close to mom and spend time with her during his breaks, but still work to support the family.

4) As I mentioned earlier, I got offered a job right after I got engaged. Getting this job had nothing to do with skills. Nothing at all. The others that interviewed for it would be doing an incredible job if they were at my school instead of me. In my opinion, the only reason I got the job was because I would be facing such a trial in my life. The Lord knew that if I were still trying to apply and interview for jobs while planning a wedding AND taking care of my hospitalized mother, I would have been thrown over the edge completely. Knowing that I had a job gave me peace and allowed me to focus on the situation at hand.

5) Technology is an amazing thing! I was able to have my laptop at the hospital and we skyped with Andrew every chance we got. He was able to see mom, and she was able to see him. He was totally involved with everything that was happening. Technology can be a major blessing!

6) One day as I was with Mom, I returned from doing something in the hall and noticed a pigeon sitting on her window sill. It confidently walked back and forth, never showing any intentions of leaving. I told Mom about it and we both decided that it was my grandpa, her father, watching over her. Grandpa loved pigeons! He raised and raced them. That pigeon continued to sit there for another 5 minutes or so, despite us moving back and forth in front of the window. That was a sign to us that we were being watched over. :)

7) Though there were many times that Mom couldn't think straight and couldn't remember anything, or speak coherently, there was one phrase that she never forgot. From the very beginning of her hospital stay, we established the phrase "We must have faith" as our motto. Any time we were struggling with recent news or happenings, I would turn to mom and say, "We must have..." then wait for her to fill in the "faith." Every time, she could finish it. To this day, despite not remembering most of what happened in the hospital, she remembers that phrase, and we continue to quote it often.

8) Speaking of her memory, there were times that she didn't even remember family names. That was probably the hardest part of all, but we made it through. The funniest part was that though she didn't remember family names, she could remember Larry Gelwix, the coach of the Highland Rugby team. Forever Strong is one of her favorite movies, and she requested to watch it a couple times. The first time, we were very impressed because she could EASILY quote parts of the movie. That told us that she was still in there and something was just blocking her ability to think and communicate with us.

8)Pets are allowed at the hospital!! When we found that out, we had Rooty up there in a heart beat. It had been about one to two weeks since Mom and Rooty had seen each other, and that was too long for both of them. The minute we brought Rooty into the room, Mom's face lit up and she had a huge smile on her face. It was a real Mom smile, not the fake ones that she had been giving us before. It was incredible! Rooty immediately jumped on Mom's bed and stayed for quite a while. He didn't want to move at all. They are best buds!

9) The greatest blessing of all was how close our family grew through all of this. We have always been a very close family, but this showed that we could still grow so much closer, and we did. We were constantly leaning on each other for support; we HAD to. We have an awesome family!

10) Last, though there are many more, is the patience and support of my sweet husband (fiance at the time). I know I was constantly on a roller coaster of emotion as I was trying to plan a wedding and take care of my mom, and he was so understanding. He would just listen and then hold me in his arms. His tenderness was exactly what I needed at that time!

This was one of the greatest trials I have ever experienced, but at the same time, it is one of the most sacred experiences I have been through. I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who watches over and protects us. I am eternally grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, whom I received strength from all along the way. It was only through His Atonement that I was able to endure each day. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth! It is true!