Relay For Life

A few months ago my sister Melissa gave me a call and said, "hey, I think it would be really cool if we got a team together for Relay For Life." Sounded good, except I had one question: "What's Relay For Life?"

My mom and sister worked incredibly hard to organize our team (which consisted of family members) and raise money. My others sisters- Steph and Ilea, joined in. They put together a garage sale and raised hundreds of dollars. The purpose: Cancer Research.

A few years ago I didn't know anything about cancer. Now I know what a horrible disease it is: Cancer comes into your life and takes a part of you. It takes thousands of mothers, sisters, fathers, sons, and daughters every year. If it doesn't take your life, it definitely takes a piece of your soul.

It was pretty awesome to do something to fight back.

On Saturday morning we got my parents motor home and headed to the high school for the fundraiser. We stayed at the high school for over 27 hours- taking turns with our team (The High Five Gang) and walking the track for 24 hours straight.

They started with a Survivor Walk. A whole bunch of survivors walked- including my dad:

 I have to say, watching the Survivor Walk was pretty emotional:

 Claire and Camille were ready to go:

 Here's the family taking a walk:

 We had a booth to try and sale items to raise more money. We made tons of Rice Krispy treats of all different flavors- peanut butter, brownie marshmallow, etc. Unfortunately, we didn't sale very many. Oh, well.

 We made a sign with facts about colon cancer to try and educate others about colon cancer:

 The #1 thing to know is my favorite:

 I love seeing my dad wearing this shirt:

 The girls were so incredibly awesome through the whole thing. Really, they had a great time and behaved incredibly well. They had such a GREAT time playing with their cousins. It was really awesome.

 Look at the smiles on these girls faces:

 This was our baton. We "had" to keep it on the track the entire time. On the second lap it wasn't on the track, and Ken said, "Oh, darn. We're done. We have to leave."

 Even Camille was awesome!

 All the girls fought over who could pull the wagon.

 Some of the booths had activities for the kids. The bubbles were a HUGE hit!

 On Saturday night they had a luminary ceremony. Around the track they put hundreds of bags that were decorated in honor of people affected by cancer. This bag brought a tear to my eye:

 Camille was so awesome- look at her:

 Audra and Claire got to play with a robot- they were so excited!

There were 25 teams total. Each team had around 10-15 team members, more or less. So there were probably less than 500 people walking during that 24 hours. But those 25 teams raised over $116,000 for cancer research! WOW! It was so empowering to see what just a few people can do! It really was a special experience for all of us, and I'm glad I got to participate.

I would, however, say one thing would have made it better: I wish the person in charge of music wasn't such a big country fan.

WOO-HOO!!!

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I couldn't wait to see it for myself: My dad healthy, happy, and unofficially cancer free!!! (They won't officially say he is cancer free for another 5 years, but the cancer did not spread at all, and the surgery to remove the tumor was successful, so I am calling him cancer free because it sounds OH SO GOOD!)

There were a couple of things that I wanted to say about this horrible chapter in our lives- a chapter that will never truly be over for my dad because in order to remove the tumor they did a rather horrible surgery that is a life changing surgery, but better than the alternatives.

Anyway, both of these things happened after we found out my dad had cancer, but before we knew how treatable it was.

The night my mom called me to tell me my dad had cancer, I was obviously devastated. But, I had a meeting to go to so I couldn't wallow. I went to the meeting and then came home and called my dad to see how he was doing. The FIRST thing he said to me- the day he found out he had cancer- was "how is your mom holding up?" She is the one who had called everyone and told everyone and he wanted to know how SHE was doing, even though he was the one with cancer. When I say my parents have the greatest love story, it is simply because it is true. I hope Ben and I can be as in love as these two are in 40 years and love each other so completely and unconditionally! What an example and legacy they have given their kids of true love!!!

The second thing is regarding the love our Heavenly Father has for each of us. This is my testimony here, so listen up:)

Before we found out what stage of cancer he was in, I needed to go and clear my head and I desparately needed to feel the Spirit of God in my heart. I made arrangements to attend the Temple- a place of worship and peace. I prayed harder than I had in a long time that the Lord would bless my father and help my mom be strong for the trial of cancer. I pleaded for my dad that he would be alright and that my children would have their Grandpa High to know and love and be a part of their lives.

I was overwhelmed with a feeling of peace- a feeling that whatever the outcome of this cancer would be, the Lord was watching over my parents and over my family and He was with us in this trial. Whatever happened, whatever the outcome was to be, I knew it was OK. Even if that meant he would die- I knew the Lord was in this. God is in the details of our lives- He cares about what happens, and He will lift us through any trial- even death. I felt that. In talking to my mom later, she said she had the same feelings of peace and assurance that the Lord was with them- with us.

Now, I am not going to lie. I am forever grateful that death was not the plan the Lord had for my dad. Our whole family has given fervent, tearful prayers of gratitude that my dad has had successful treatment. But if that was not the case, I know it still would have been OK. God is good. God is with us. Of that I am absolutely, 100% certain!