Hard things

Monday, July 5th

Certainly a different 4th of July weekend for us... Shannon is still struggling with the reality that all of this is not a nightmare. She focuses more on what she can't do and the fact that she dislikes Primary Childrens Hospital than what she needs to do to get better. One of the phases of brain injury patients is a period of time for anger. We were so pleased that in the hospital she hadn't seemed to have to deal with the anger. Dealing with so many that have gone through the "grieving process" I should have known that it is best for people to go through all the stages. There are two things that brighten her day always...visitors and Brian Regan. (Brian Regan is a comedian that we were introduced to recently and he has become a family favorite. Udell and Shannon will start in on one of his dialogues and laughter becomes an absolute!) How grateful we are that we were introduced to him, Kathie!
In our efforts to help Shannon through these tough times, Udell was talking to her about her Grandma who passed away a couple of years ago. Because of a family project, we ended up recording many quotes that belong to her. It was such a blessing to remember back to Grandma's strong testimony and love of the gospel. It was good to remember that she had suffered hard things. She died of leukemia even after several rounds of chemotherapy. We thought you might like to hear some of the ones that helped Shannon for a while that day.

"I hope my friends and family will be able to stand on my shoulders when they have to face hard things and know that we can do things that are hard."
"I know that after the trial of our faith come the blessings. If prayers don't seem to be answered,just wait patiently knowing that He loves you, hears you and will never leave you."
"I am grateful that I had the sense to not follow the whims of the day and choose false values. I think our children need to know that today."
"I always wanted my children to believe that I was deeply committed to the gospel, that they could always follow me--there was safety in that."

And the last one seem to be the most poignant for us:
"As Mom contemplated the treatments that she might undergo, (meaning the chemo) the pain and the suffering that that might cause, she indicated that she was willing to go through whatever it took if it would help any member of her family strengthen their faith and come closer to Christ."

We know that there are many people who have been blessed and have gained more faith because of what Shannon is going through. Knowing the depth of Shannon's love, devotion and compassion, I am sure that she agreed in our premortal life to go through this horrible experience so others' faith could grow. We are so grateful to have her as our daughter!
Pheobe