It's a...

It's a girl! Another little pink thing! We're excited. Well, I should say, everyone's excited but Zack. He keeps insisting that its still a boy. So sorry. Time to get out the girl clothes and start thinking of names. We've made it halfway!

Miracles

Do you believe in miracles? I know I do. I've seen many in my life, both big and small. We saw a lot of miracles in our experience with Linz. The big miracle of Linz being saved didn't happen, but that doesn't mean we weren't blessed with a lot of other miracles. These miracles help us get through our days. These miracles are what we focus on when things get tough. And when things get really tough we hope for future miracles.

We've also been blessed with many miracles since my mom has been sick. Our lives will never be the same. Our testimonies and understanding of the gospel is forever changed. While we've been grateful for the miracles we've seen, we've continued to hope for the ultimate miracle of my mom being healed. We've prayed, fasted, and hoped with all of our hearts. I know many of you have joined with us in those prayers and even fasting, and so you're also a part of our latest miracle. Is my mom completely healed? No, but I would say that she's halfway there and I see no reason why she couldn't be completely healed at some point. She had her latest round of tests this week. They looked at her stomach and saw that the tumor is 50% reduced. A miracle? Yes. That rarely happens and pretty much never happens that quickly. Then they looked at her liver. The liver is the real kicker in all of this. Liver cancer doesn't go away. It pretty much never gets smaller and if some of the cancer is killed it just turns into scar tissue. In other words, when you're looking at CT films you're always going to see the same amount of spots. With the liver you're just happy if you don't see any increase in spots. Unless you're my mom. Her doctor called the second he got her CT results because he was so excited. Why? Well, a lot of her spots are gone, and the ones that are still there are smaller. That doesn't happen, not without a miracle.

So to those of you who have been praying, fasting, and hoping with us: Thank you. Please keep it coming because it's working. We're 50% of the way there. Why not go all the way?

And most of all, my gratitude and appreciation to a loving God who hears and answers prayers. Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for giving us more time. Thank you for loving my mom.

He's Home!

My brother's home from his mission! Okay, so he's been home for almost two weeks now, but since when do I post anything on time? He served in the Ohio, Cincinati (I just realized I don't know how to spell that, how embarassing) mission spanish speaking. He spent two years teaching illegals as much as he could before they headed back to their home land. Missions are tough either way you look at it, but he had an especially tough mission dealing with Linz and my mom. He's definitely a trooper for sticking it out the full two years. We love having him home!

And yes, we believe he's adjusting quite well. The day after he got home he was working and two days after he got home he was on a date. One of his first questions was, "Do I get a cell phone?". And then my mom decided to give him the ultimate welcome home gift. She's had yet to actually throw up with all of the chemo, just lots of nausea. Well, she and Greg were eating a nice quiet dinner together and, you guessed it, puked all over Greg. Needless to say, neither one of them finished dinner. Welcome home Greg!

Here are some pics from the airport. So sorry that they're in reverse order. I'm too lazy to do it over. Also, please note how dutiful Zack and Megan were in holding their sign up. I believe it said, 'Hola Baby'.

Also, please note that the bum didn't come down the escalator. No, he had to find a sneaky way down and just walk through the airport. How rude of him to deny us those beautiful escalator pictures:)