Sam and Penny on September 6th, one year after Sam was diagnosed with cancer.
September 26th: We had a little get-together today in honor of Sam. Her family put up some decorations and they came to our home to celebrate.
From Sam:
My mom and sister asked me the other day to pick one word that I would use to describe my last year. As I brainstormed with Daniel, the following words came to mind:
mercy
gratitude
trial
tears
refinement
miracles
humbling
stressful
heart-wrenching
unexpected
life-changing
prayers
healing
trying
frustrating
peaceful
refocus
support
stretching
testing
repentance
joy
growth
I finally settled on the last word—growth. This last year has been a tremendous year of growth for me. As I thought about all these words it seemed to me that all the tears, the miracles, the prayers, the frustrations, the support, the testing, the peace, the unexpectedness, the joy, and so on, all have caused me to grow. Grow in my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Grow in my love for my dear husband, grow in love for my children and other family relationships, grow in understanding about my life’s purpose, grow in improved physical health, grow in discipline in how I choose to use my time, and grow in gratitude for each day of life—not just to live, but to become the person Father in Heaven would have me become.
Grandpa Coombs (Sam's father), Spencer (Sam's brother), Douglas, Jori (Spencer's wife), Sam, Schofield (son of Spencer and Jori), Taylor (Sam's sister), Penny, Kate (Sam's sister), Grandma Coombs (Sam's mother), and Diana
From Sam:
What Having Cancer Has Taught Me:
God can be trusted.
One need not suffer alone—Jesus Christ is willing and able to carry our burdens (Matthew 11:28-30).
It is a wise thing to ask for help when you need it and be willing to allow others to help you.
God is compensatory.
Life is too fleeting to be distracted by things (and sometimes certain relationships) that do not help us to reach our divine potential and to get on, and stay on the covenant path to God. Do not waste time climbing the ladder next to the wrong building.
Miracles happen—not just once in a while—but ALL the time. God is truly in the details of our lives.
Keep a journal—it helps you to remember all the miracles and see the progress you have made in your life.
God does hear and answer our prayers.
Increased spiritual strength, clarity of mind, healing, and peace are some of the results that come when people unite their faith in prayer and fasting in behalf of another person. I have been the beneficiary of such prayers and fasting and have felt that power. It is real. A small sacrifice by one can bring great blessings to another.
Hard is good—it makes us stronger, refines our priorities, forces soul-searching and course correction, and makes more room for joy in our lives.
Douglas asked for the "W" portion of the dessert, and he's about to put his finger in the frosting to test it out.
Diana - she's a happy and healthy one-year-old in part due to the mothers who donated milk while Sam was doing her treatments, and many others who donated time and attention to Sam and the children.
Douglas is playing soccer again this year. He's on a team called the Lemon Lightning Bolts. This past Saturday the coach wasn't able to attend, so Sam substituted. Douglas chose the number 6 for his jersey "because I am six years old." He loves being out there on the field. We think he enjoys the social aspect more than the actual competition.
Kate (Sam's sister) came to see Douglas play. She got this video of Penny cheering for Douglas.
Another example of our picky eater. Douglas will eat the outer edges of the cucumber slices, but he will not allow those cucumber seeds to enter his mouth.
We can now attend church in person twice each month, with up to 150 people in attendance each meeting. There are still plenty of precautions in place, but life is slowly returning to normal. It's wonderful to be back worshiping in person with our friends and neighbors. Grandma Coombs made the masks for the children.
"Look, I'm wearing a mask." The mask came off a few seconds later, but at least I got the photo.
This is one of Diana's cute laughs.
Diana and Penny playing in the wagon.
Last week we started what will hopefully become a tradition of one-on-one dates with Mom or Dad. I took Penny to the Station Park fountain to play and watch the fountain and listen to the music that accompanies the fountain. We had a great time. We danced, chased each other around, and sat by the fire.
Tonight I took Douglas on his date. He, too, wanted to go to the Station Park fountain. We spent the first 20 minutes of our date in the van when Douglas got one of his frequent nose bleeds. It didn't bother him. We laughed and joked while he stuffed tissues up his nose and we waited for his red waterfall to stop. He was thrilled when I pulled Uno cards out of my pocket. For the rest of our date (over an hour!) we played round after round of Uno while we watched people and the fountain. Every hour there is a fun song that accompanies the fountain, played over the loudspeakers. I told Douglas we could listen to the 8:00pm song and then we would need to leave. It happened to be the YMCA song, which we both love. We danced, ran around, and made the YMCA letters with our arms. Twas a great evening.
We spent a wonderful week in California at the home of my sister (Lizzie) and her husband (Dan) and their six boys (Soren, Anders, Karsten, Oskar, Jesper, and Magnus, aka "Paggy").
Diana spent quite a bit of time on one of their two swings. All of the kids loved the swings.
Diana fell asleep during one of her times on the swing.
Penny on the other swing.
Ari (my other sister's oldest child) came with us to California. He had a great time playing with his cousins. Here he is playing chess with Dan while Anders does some homework.
Ari helped Lizzie cover one of their veggie boxes.
Early-morning family scripture study.
Having a meal together.
Here I am reading to Diana and Paggy.
We spent a day at Oceanside Harbor.
Diana and Sam
Anders, Soren, and Ari . . . and a photo-bomber behind them.
Dan had to work, so he brought his work to the beach.
Anders, Jesper, Paggy
Oskar showing off his sandball.
Douglas loved being in the water.
Daniel, Lizzie, Sam
Diana, Anders, Soren
Diana helped me do some laundry.
I made crepes a couple of times during our stay. I had to 10x the recipe each time and the young people gobbled them up.
Mmmm, crepes. I suppose I should say "Mmmm, crepe toppings," because Diana liked the toppings more than the actual crepes.
They went through two containers of Nutella.
Paggy made sure nothing from this container was wasted.
Diana loved it when Lizzie did "This little piggy went to the market . . . " with her.
Diana also loved it when anyone would do "Hands" with her.
Sam tried out one of the little bikes.
Oskar, Ari, Karsten, and Jesper playing a card game. I'm going to venture a guess that those kids (and we adults, too) played literally hundreds of rounds of card games and other games during our week there.
Looking at family photos with Jesper, Diana, and Penny.
Look at that happy breakfast smile on Diana's face.
Taylor (Sam's sister) is currently residing and working in California. Sam and I drove north with the kids to visit Taylor on her birthday and we all went to Huntington Beach to play. Both of our beach days in California were far too cold and windy for me (not to mention the smoke from the fires), but the kids had a great time.
I dug little bathtubs for Penny and Diana.
Sam and Taylor on the boogie boards.
Taylor brought two kites and Penny absolutely loved hers. She held on to that thing for over an hour while she played. The windy conditions were perfect for kite flying.
Taylor's friend, Nick, joined us for a little birthday celebration.
Lizzie is really into homesteading these days. They acquired three feral cats to become mouse hunters for their property.
This is Gimli (named after the redheaded dwarf from the Lord of the Rings movies).
Dan and the boys making a chickshaw (a mobile chicken coop). Unfortunately for us, their 22 chicks arrived the morning after we left. They also ordered two Chinese geese to protect their chickens from predators in the area. See, the Chinese really do make everything, even geese.
The finished product.
All 22 chicks arrived safely.
Paggy holding a chick.
Jesper holding a chick.
Soren and Anders holding chicks. Dan watches the fun.
The day after we left, they also started babysitting (ducksitting?) four ducklings for their friends, who left town for five days.
One of the ducklings. Oskar in the background.
On an early-morning walk with Lizzie and Dan.
They received another shipment of wood to make additional garden boxes.
Paggy and Douglas hauling wood into the garage.
Penny helping to move some wood.
Karsten reading to Diana. Jesper watches.
Playing another card game with the boys.
Lizzie got out the kinetic sand for the kids so that the adults could play together as well.
Diana: "Would someone please tell Penny to stop touching me?" Trust me, little Diana, we have told Penny over 1000 times to stop touching you.
Lizzie babysat our three children one evening so that Sam and I could visit our favorite San Diego-area sushi restaurant (Harney Sushi).
Penny and Diana checking out the cats.
Look at that happy face!
Lizzie's six boys have ukuleles. Here Soren gives a quick lesson to Douglas.
Paggy and Douglas trying to hold me up to do the wheelbarrow.
Diana playing with Sam.
Showing off their outdoor feet.
This is Diana's routine whenever she changes into her pajamas before bedtime. She runs around showing everyone her partially-removed shirt.
We gave each other lots of hugs the night before we left, because the next morning we began our 10-hour drive back home well before dawn.
To Lizzie, Dan, and the boys (and Taylor!), a huge THANK YOU for giving us a fantastic week in California. We are already looking forward to coming back next year.
Bonus video for anyone who made it to the end of this LONG blog post:
Lizzie sent this funny video out yesterday. Soren and Anders try to collect the geese to put them to bed. They named the geese Thor and Sif after the Norse god and his warrior wife.
