Tender Mercies

My Dad has cancer. Last night we found out that it is terminal.
It is treatable, but not curable. 

One of my very favorite General Conference talks of all time is
Elder Bednar's talk entitled "The Tender Mercies of the Lord". 

"We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord's tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequalities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty, even unto the power of deliverance."

I can not "attempt to explain that which is unexplainable" and I am struggling to understand the "injustices and inequalities of life," but I can tell you about the tender mercies that have blessed my life in the last three weeks. They truly have helped to make me "mighty" and have brought to me the "power of deliverance."
(1 Nephi 1:20)

1) There is never a good "time" to be diagnosed with cancer. Cancer is not convenient. However, knowing my parents history, you would know that the timing of this diagnosis couldn't have been much better. About three years ago he was out of a job for some time. It was a very hard time for us as a family but we got through it and he now has a great job with great insurance. For that we are grateful. He is young, 57 on Christmas Eve, however he is strong and will fight this as long as he can. We are so blessed to have medical technology that gives us the best fighting chance and time to spend with our loved ones. My Dad's Grandma also had a brain tumor around this age. She died when when my dad was 5 years old, on the operating table. We have come so far in the last 50 years. My dad had a brain tumor removed last week and although he has to learn to write again, he is still alive. That to me is amazing. 

2) Last Christmas my parents surprised us with a family trip to Disneyland. It was a much anticipated trip. We didn't get to go until the middle of October, one month ago. It was a dream vacation. My mom got a little teary as we all walked into the gates of Disneyland as a family. We used to go every few years with my family and there are lots of memories shared there. But, I will never forget this last Disneyland vacation. We had no idea that just two weeks after we got home my dad would be going in to remove a brain tumor. It all came on so fast after we got home. The Lord saw it fit to let us have a worry free vacation as a family. The Lord was waiting for us to have that magical time together.

3) Over a year ago my dad was feeling a real push to move out of the house that he had built with his own hands and raised all of his kids in. They had been in that house for 28 years and my mom was a pretty hard cookie to crack when it came to this subject. She loved that house. There were so many memories in that house, and yet, she knew that the upkeep of it in the long run wasn't going to work. So, finally, after about a year of pushing my mom finally conceded and made the leap to a new house in Centerville last July. I myself was sad to see the other house go, it was the only house that I had known growing up (they moved in when I was only a few weeks old), but the house they have now is PERFECT for them. Now seeing what the future holds, I am convinced that the spirit was speaking to my dad telling him to move.

The ward that they are in is amazing. They truly take care of one another. One of the connections that was made that I also see as a tender mercy is a relationship that was rekindled with my dad and Elder Baxter who lives in their new ward. My dad served a mission in Scotland and Elder Baxter was his Assistant to the mission president while he was there. About a year ago Elder Baxter also went in for surgery to remove a brain tumor. His experience has brought strength to my dad during his struggle the last few weeks. The night before the surgery Elder Baxter gave my dad an amazing blessing. I am truly grateful for the power of the priesthood in the last few weeks. 

4) The last tender mercy, although I know there are probably hundreds more that will become apparent, is one that I wouldn't have even suspected. A year ago we started our whole fiasco of moving (a long story for another post soon to come). Somehow in all of that moving we ended up living with my parents for 2 months this last summer. During this time my children developed a love for their grandparents that I don't think we could replicate any other way. Jack became grandpa's "little buddy." Every day when he came home from work Jack would yell "Grandpa!" and jump into his arms. My dad told me that that was the highlight of his day. I'm sure it wasn't easy to share a house with us, but there was never a question of them saying "no," even though we made their move to the new house much harder than it needed to be. I hope that my children will always remember those special two months that they got to spend with their grandpa.

I repeat Elder Bednar's words as he said:

"I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord's timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge him."

I absolutely know this to be true. The Lord is truly mindful of us.

"The Disneyland Part"

Here we go... the day the kids (and I) have been waiting for for almost a year. I think that I was equally excited, if not more so, to go to Disneyland. There is something about this place that is just magic. This is probably why Disney can charge crazy prices for everything and people still continue to come back over and over again. The magic doesn't end when you are an adult either. I remember the feelings that I had while at Disneyland when I was little and it is the same now that I am older, although they are influenced by different things. The excitement that I feel is more to see the smiles on my kids faces this time around. I love the awe that I see in their eyes as they try to take everything in. It reminds me of my experiences as a kid and just compounds the excitement and happiness I feel.

I have posted lots of pictures in this post and it is not even close to everything we experienced. We were there for a total of three days. My parents bought us all "Hopper passes" where we could go to both Disneyland and California Adventure for the three days we were there. 

As I looked at the pictures later my first thought was "I wish I took more pictures of us doing _____ or standing by ______ or with _______," but then I decided that it was so much better living in the moment than looking at everything through my camera lens. Shad and I laughed when we were in line for the "Indiana Jones" ride and a couple in front of us each had their own cameras taking pictures of every curve and corner in the line. Although I won't remember all of the little details of what the Indiana Jones line was like, I remember that I had a fantastic time with my family. The feelings that I had there with my kids can not really be captured in a picture anyway, although we tried to do that a little bit with the smiles that you see on these kid's faces. 

Day One

Today we spent the whole day in Disneyland. It being a Thursday it was supposed to be least crowded this day so we took advantage of that. Honestly it wasn't that crowded the whole time that we were there. The longest we waited was 40 minutes for a ride and that was because the kids absolutely had to go on a ride again, even though the timing wasn't quite right. Most rides were about a 10-15 minute wait. Some we walked right on. 

 It was a lot of fun seeing Disneyland all decked out for Halloween. The weather was absolutely perfect the whole time we were there. It was only hot for maybe an hour out of the day and then a tiny bit chilly an hour before we left each night. I really liked going this time of year more than any of the times I went before (or that I remember). 

Jack's first sight of Disneyland

Standing at the gates of Adventureland to get in.
We started there and we got right on every ride.

The first ride that we went on was the Jungle Cruise. This typically has a long line towards the middle of the day, but we walked right on. My mom was so smart in her planning. We really maximized our time with her research.  

Next, we went over to Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Jack took a little flashlight in with him that we brought and he wasn't scared at all. Gracie didn't make a peep the entire time and sat very still taking it all in. I loved seeing the Haunted Mansion made into "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I guess my kids need to watch that show now so that they know why it was decorated the way that it was. 

We spent a bunch of time over in the classic Disney rides in Fantasyland. Haken wasn't as impressed with these as he was the big roller coasters, but Jack really liked them. 

Shad and I got to spend a little bit of time alone while the rest of the group went to a show. We went back to the Hotel to grab and few things we forgot that morning. I loved just walking around with my sweetheart probably more than all of the rides I went on. 

Love the photo bomb in this picture.

When we got back, we all went to "It's a small world." We waited about 30 minutes for this ride, which Shad says was entirely too long, but the kids loved it. You have to go on this ride once when you are in Disneyland, no matter how much you will despise the song after you get off.

The afternoon was spent in Toontown where Haken saw Mickey at his house and I got to ride a roller coaster with my handsome little guy.

We had tons of good food while we were there. I was really impressed with the quality of the food. Although it pretty much costs your first born to eat there, I would recommend that everyone who goes to Disneyland plans on buying at least one meal a day there. My parents bought us dinner every night (love them!) and I did bring sandwiches one day for lunch, but we never ate them. Eating the food there is part of the experience. Although it is expensive, you did get a lot of food and I was never hungry. While there we had Cajun, Mexican, Chinese, and American. I learned the hard way not to buy kid's meals. After the first day the kids basically ate off of our plates because there was so much food. 

Day 2

Today was spent in the California Adventure park. This was a day of divide and conquer. We split up a lot more this day so that everyone would have a chance to do what they wanted to do. It was SO nice having so many adults there so that we could switch off watching the kids. I honestly think that I will never want to go with just our little family while we have babies because then I would never get to ride any of the big rides with my hubby. One of us would always be watching them. That would be lame! Having Grandma and Grandpa there was also tons of fun for the kids.

Shad and I volunteered to get everyone "fast passes" for the "Radiator Springs Racer" ride right as we got into the park while the rest went to ride another ride and then we would switch. We heard they go fast and boy were they right! We were there when the park opened and the fast pass time was all the way until 5:00 pm! (I'll talk a little more about that ride later) Once we got the passes we headed to Bug land. Jack liked the little rides in this area.

We also saw a show in bug land on the third day as a family. It was an 3D interactive show where you actually feel like there are bugs around you. Kind of creepy. This is the only time that I can remember hanging out with just our little family. We maybe should have done that more, but I enjoyed the company of my siblings as well. 

In the bug cave waiting for the show to start.
We had 3D bug glasses on.

We didn't get a lot of signatures because that really wasn't what the kids wanted to do (thank heavens!) but we did get a few that were easy to catch. When Jack met Minnie he was excited at first, but then had second thoughts when we got close. It was all we could do to get him to at least hold her hand for the picture (at the top of this post).

We saw the Pixar parade down the streets of California adventure this night. We weren't really planning on it, but everyone started lining the streets, so I found a place and marked our territory while I waited for the kids to get off of a ride. I think they really enjoyed the parade so I'm glad that we made time for it. 

Radiator Springs was probably my favorite part of California Adventure. It was SO well done. It looked exactly like the movie. It was like we were walking right into Radiator Springs. I was especially impressed with the mountain scenery they had created for the background. It looked completely real and huge.  

The Radiator Springs Racers ride put a bit of a wrench in our evening. We went back for our fast pass time (which was a genius idea, because the wait time was 90 minutes) only to find that the ride was having issues. They told us to come back later and they would honor our fast passes. Once they got the ride working we hopped into the line and everything looked great, until we were almost on. It looked like it was going to be a revisit to our experience last night with the Matterhorn (which I never got to ride) where it broke down just a few people in front of us. Radiator Springs had issues off and on for the next 45 minutes but we finally got on. I'm glad we weren't the ones in the line with the two hour wait behind us. It was worth the 45 minute wait for sure. It really is an awesome ride! They take you all through the movie and then there is a surprise at the end. I wish we could have gone on it again, but there just wasn't time. 

This is the only picture that I got of my parents. I know it is kind of lame, but we saw them sitting there. alone. eating dinner. I just thought that it was so cute that they were having a little date there on their own. They were hardly ever together on this trip. My dad was usually the one who volunteered to sit with the babies while the rest of the adults went on every ride. He really gave up a lot of riding to see everyone happy. 

That night a few of us stayed and watched the "World of Color" show. Shad took the babies back to the hotel and Haken stayed with me. I enjoyed being with my little guy and not have other kids to worry about. He really got a lot of moments of one-on-one attention that the other kids didn't get and I think he really like it. He was willing to go on EVERY SINGLE ride, even the one that he was 1/2" too short for. Shad LOVED having such a brave little kid to hang out with.

On the tower of terror. 

Day 3

The last day we spent in both parks going on what we missed. We had one day of early entry into Disneyland that came with our pass. I was exhausted after two days of nonstop going. Disneyland is fun with kids, but also so much more exhausting than I thought it would be. Sometimes I wished I could sit in their stroller and have someone push me around the park! 

Which totally didn't happen by the way....

So, I stayed and took my time getting ready with the baby while Shad took the boys. Or actually, I should say, while Shad took Haken, and Auntie Meggie and Uncle B took Jack. I was going to keep him with me, but Megan said that she would love to take him. 

She told me later that that morning of her alone with Jack was one of the highlights of her trip. They rode the Buzz lightyear ride over and over and shot all of the "bad guys." Also a big shout out to uncle B who made his shoulders numb so that Haken could see the "World of Color" show. That kid is not light. I am so glad that my kids have such great aunts and uncles. 

Pretty much my favorite picture from the trip

Shad and Haken got a lot of riding in going early that morning. They hopped right on every ride, including the Matterhorn, which was broken when we tried to go on it earlier.

Haken said he was really going to try hard
to smile in this picture

I met up with them later and rode on Splash Mountain with them. It was their third time in a row. They were pretty wet, but Haken loved it. The Grizzly run water ride in California adventure was also one of his favorites. The last night he convinced the adults that stayed late to ride that one twice in a row, even though it was cold and dark. 

Listening to the BYU game on the go.

My princess

This picture is one of my favorites. It perfectly describes Jack for the last day. He was obsessed with the Disneyland map. He folded it up and put it in his little zipper pouch around his neck. When we would stop he would pull it out and let us know where we should be going. 

And last of all is the Carousel. I don't even know how many times we rode that carousel, but definitely more than any other ride in either of the parks. Looks like we didn't need to even go all the way to California to find happiness. We had to pry her little fingers off the handlebars every. single. time. the ride stopped. She would cry as we carried her away and walked right back into the line and then the process would start all over again. I think I went on it at least 6 times in a row just for her. 

This is what Disneyland is all about...