Sunshine=Happy Kandice

The past few days I have heard or read a few quotes that have had a profound impact on me. 2 of them were at my cousin Raema’s funeral. They were in a talk given by her sweet husband. The other one I just happened to read somewhere…..so I will share.

The first one is:

“Trials and Tribulation are necessary in this life, but Misery is not….” (some church manual I was reading)

The next one is:

"No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse. (Apr 2007 Gen Conf)"
— Jeffrey R. Holland

And Finally:

"If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will
almost surely miss the beautiful flower or cool stream provided by the
loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy
than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God's
goodness. Joy in the gospel is not something that begins only in the
next life. It is our privilege now, this very day. We must never allow
our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more
blessings than burdens--even if some days it doesn't seem so. Jesus
said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly." Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and
always will be."
— Jeffrey R. Holland

So even though my trials and tribulations have been real…they have been hard….and I can’t go back and change the miserable way I have felt and dealt with them…..I can try harder the next time I am faced with adversity. That is all I will say about that.

Moving on. My little Gavin is SO funny. He came home in a panic from school Monday. He told me he HAD to wear Green today since it was Abraham Lincoln day and the kids at school told him if he didn't some little midgets would come and beat him up. I asked him if he was sure they didn't say it was St. Patrick’s Day and that he would get pinched by Leprechauns if he didn't wear green??? He said...."Oh yah, that was it, sorry I get confused Mom." He is SO gullible, cute, and innocent!

I did get one bit of news from his Dr., and I am not quite sure how I feel about it. Going into this testing….I had mixed feelings. I didn’t want them to find anything major…because that would mean surgery or treatment that would be hard on him. But-after 6 years of testing, poking, prodding, testing, waiting….and him not getting any better from the diarrhea and low weight gain, I almost just wanted to find something, treat it, and get this over with.

The scan did not find any huge masses of tumors that could be removed-not even in his appendix, which they had hoped for because it is an easy fix. It had the same results as the CT scan back in February. It found lots of teeny tiny tumors spread all throughout his intestinal track. That is wonderful news, because it means no surgery. It is not so wonderful news because there is no way to treat it. They did diagnose him with another possible condition to pair with the Serotonin Secreting Tumors that was diagnosed back in January. It is Carcinoid Tumor Syndrome. There is a good article here about it….if you are that bored and want to read! http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/986050-overview

So anyways, his Dr. is awesome. She had noticed he had lost weight according to the scales at Primary Children’s, and that really worried her. She said she was NOT giving up until he is a chubby, thriving, healthy little boy with NO diarrhea. She called me yesterday to talk, and I just barely got off the phone with her again today. She said she has put phone calls in to several different types of Dr.'s, and will call me back ASAP with any finding. It feels so good to have her fighting for us!

Here are some cute pictures of the kids from today. They all look a little groggy since it was bright and early before they got on the bus. I love holidays, and any reason to dress my kids cute or have a day out of the ordinary is fun to me. Notice Hallie’s super cute metallic extensions. My friend Casey Bell did them for her. She does a great job. They stay in for close to a month if she is careful, and it is only $5 for her whole head (We got them free though—did a trade):