From My Heart to Yours

The other day my six year old son, Weston, came to me and said, "Mom, you left for China on a Wednesday and you came home from China on a Sunday." He paused and then continued, "That Wednesday when you left wasn't a good day for me at school."

As I think back to that Wednesday when we left (September 26th) I have a vivid picture in my mind of Travis (age 8) and Weston's faces as we said, "goodbye." They didn't cry. We were all trying to be strong -- knowing that we were saying "goodbye" for a very long time. How long? None of us knew. But I remember the look of sadness--almost fear on their faces. It was enough to break your heart.

I'm glad Weston reminded me of this. Remembering this moment speaks to my soul of the great faith exercised even by my little boys, Travis and Weston. For them to say, "goodbye" to both of their parents for a lengthy, indefinite period of time required more faith and courage of a 6 and 8 year old than I can even imagine.

And here again, this is where the Lord stepped in and took over. This is when His spirit settled over our home. He not only settled over our home, but He took Lon and me in His arms and carried us. I'd felt the impression to "trust" Him and so I did...going forward to a new chapter in my life that would impact everything that lies before me.

So many of you have contributed to my story. As I've thought about it, my story is not a story of illness or a story of medical procedures and treatment. My story is not even a story of traveling to China. No, instead my story is rather simple. It is a story of love...the love and devotion of my husband, the love of my family, the love of my friends, the love of my Savior, and the love of my Heavenly Father.

So many of you have fasted, prayed, and attended the temple in my behalf. So many of you have brought food for my family and watched over them. So many of you have sent loving, kind, and inspiring e-mails. There have been times when a word or a phrase from one of your e-mails has given me the strength I needed and has gotten me through a tough time. Your e-mails have lifted me with everything from sharing a slice of life to sharing memories of the past to sharing testimonies of the Lord's love for us to sharing spiritual experiences that strengthen my soul.

I feel such a debt of gratitude to each one of you that mere words are simply inadequate. If only I could communicate with my heart! If only our hearts could speak one to another, only then could I come close to expressing the joy and gratitude I feel for so many who have served our family and helped everything to go so smoothly. I feel as the Nephites, in 3rd Nephi 17:15-18 of the Book of Mormon, who were attempting to describe the prayer the Savior uttered when he was ministering to them. As such, my feelings of gratitude transcend the written word. Surely the Lord is the good shepherd watching over our family and each one of you has been an instrument in His hands to serve and love our family.

I hesitate to name names, but there are some who were daily on the front-lines and I am so grateful for their tremendous efforts. Shayna (Wardrop) Whiting and Estee Blatter were a great team and held everything together while we were away. Mark and Holly Brown, with their weekend duty, were a huge part of helping my little boys to feel happy and loved. Reserves who also served on the front-lines were Celeste Wardrop, Suzi Naylor, Tami Wardrop, Kari Wardrop, and Lon's parents, Glenn and Pauline Wardrop. Shannon Engle sent packages and love from afar. And my parents, David and MelRae Brown, called me everyday from New Zealand (!) while I was in the "box." And of course, many thanks to my brother, Mark Brown, who made this blog possible. We never imagined how far reaching this blog would become. The night before we left for China, Mark e-mailed me with the beginnings of the blog. I was so overwhelmed to think that he would do this for us. By word of mouth, news of the blog spread and we have heard from so many dear friends, some of whom we haven't heard from in years. Hearing from all of you by e-mail has blessed our lives in great abundance!

I know this e-mail is getting long but I feel there is more I want to share with you. I feel like this experience has been a time of the Spirit tutoring my soul. If you don't mind, I'd like to share with you some of the things that I've learned from this experience.

1. I have learned and felt of the MATCHLESS love that our Savior has for each one of us. I have also learned how very deeply I love Him and need for Him to guide my life every day.

2. I have learned about faith and how, at times, we need to let our feet meet the fear by stepping out into the unknown always remembering that our God will not fail us or forsake us. We must NOT doubt!

3. I have learned about personal revelation and how the Lord will give us a little here and a little there to guide us. By our faith and by casting our minds upon these little packets of pure inspiration we can move forward knowing that He is guiding us.

4. I have learned about hope; knowing that as I go forward in diligence that I am ever following the brightest of examples -- my Savior.

5. I have learned about the atonement and how through it ALL things may be made whole.

6. I have learned to pray from the depths of my soul - truly communicating with my Father who loves me!

7. I have learned patience to wait upon the Lord as truly our time table may not be His time table.

8. I have learned of the power of priesthood blessings and how the words spoken through them are truly the words our Father would have us receive.

9. I have learned what true charity is -- the pure love of Christ -- as I have felt it in action by the love, deeds, kindness, and service of family and friends who have been watching over and blessing our family.

10. I have learned how deeply I love Lon and how eternally grateful I am to him for his love and devotion to me and our family.

11. I have learned of the power that is in the scriptures and have a deep love and gratitude for prophets through the ages.

12. I have learned that trials are gifts which give us the opportunity to come to know God.

and finally,

13. I have learned that when the Lord speaks peace to the soul that there can be no greater comfort.

I want to close by expressing gratitude to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to have this time of trials and joys -- it is truly a sacred experience. And to all who read this I proclaim that God lives! Jesus is the Christ! We are of a divine heritage and we are loved! I also want to bear testimony that I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is alive and thriving on this earth. This Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was restored by the prophet, Joseph Smith, and is led today by a living prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. Of these things I know and bear witness.

I love you all so much and look forward to the day when I can see you again!

Love,

Sheryl

January 2008 Update

Dear Friends and Family:

What a wonderful experience being home with the family. That therapy alone is a miracle in itself. Hugging the children and reading to them is probably the best medicine that Sheryl could be taking.

Let me give all of you a look into the future for Sheryl for whom we all love and have been fasting, praying and serving. It will take all of our faith and prayers to have this miracle complete.

1st her normal skin color will start to come back. It will take a year.

2nd We will start seeing more blood veins. We have found 2!!

3rd Her skin will start to loosen up- again that will take a year to happen.

Right now she seems to have more energy- usually only 1 nap a day. Her white blood cell count has gone from 1.5 to 2.5. Normal range again is 4.5 to 11. The white blood cell count represents the immune system. Your immune system is what fights off colds, flu, and all forms of disease. That is why we have asked to have no visitors yet. When she gets up to the 4+ range we would love to have visitors if you are healthy. It will take some time for her body to heal from the disease that has plagued her for the last 19 months. It will be awhile before she can go out in public.

Dallin and Brandon, 16 and 14 bring her the sacrament each week. It is neat to have her own boys using their priesthood to serve their mother.

We have taken Travis and Weston out of school for the month of January. Elementary school classrooms seem to attract a lot of germs so I am taking them to ski school instead and Sheryl is doing math and reading with them daily. They both seem to enjoy ski school!

We are paying special attention to our eating habits. We have been extremely good in 2007 with exception to a few times in China eating at McDonalds and KFC. We know that eating right and exercising consistently is a must for full recovery and the best success.

Dr. Tom Dickinson has been incredible – not just as a friend but as the doctor who is overseeing Sheryl's care. We are blessed to have such a caring capable Doctor who is just down the street.

Thank you all for your prayers, fasting, service and love. I will do a blog once a month because so many of you have been asking. If any of you have any specific questions let me know and I will try to address them on my monthly blog.

I will continue to be Sheryl loving nurse. I have never enjoyed a job so much as being the "mom" of the family and being Sheryl's "go to man."

We love and appreciate all of you with all of our hearts.

Love your friend and brother, Lon

P.S. Our son, Jason, had an endoscopy and is on the slow recovery from the Dengue fever. He has been baptizing every month and also started a branch.

Christmas at Home

Yes, we are home- yes, even Sheryl is home in her own bed!!!! I had made two promises to Sheryl in April. #1 I would have her at a treatment center having the stem cell transplation in process before Thanksgiving. ( Not thinking much about it again nor even talking about it, the transplantation was done on Thanksgiving day. This was the day that the head Doctor in China picked - not knowing anything about Thanksgiving day in the USA. ) #2 I would have her home for Christmas. Yes, she still has her blood clots- yes, we went against the China Doctor's wishes- yes, I had to sign a paper saying that I take full responsibility for taking Sheryl out of the hospital at least 1 month before they wanted me to. But I had a very strong impression to get her home. I am confident we celebrated Joseph Smith's B-Day (12-23) longer than most people would ever celebrate someone's B-Day.

Well, after signing my life away I was then told that there was no way we would be getting out of Chengdu because the city had been fogged-in for the previous 4 days. They had shut most of the roads down which would not permit us to even leave the hospital. The airport was obviously shut down during this time! Well, I told the Doctors that I was the luckiest person on the planet and that the airport would be open and we would be able to leave for home. Truth be told (of which the Chinese had no understanding of) I knew that the Lord's will was to get us home without delay. Being home for Christmas was just a bonus- not the real reason! We left the hospital in faith and the clouds lifted and we made it to Shanghai. The Doctor's told us they expected to see us back later that morning. (Assuming that we wouldn't get out because of the fog.) In fact, 2 of the doctors took us to the airport because they knew of Sheryl's critical condition with the blood clots and of her having a very low immune system- not to mention her red blood cell count had dropped. But they were sure that the fog would prevail and we would be returning to the hospital. Well the rest is history and it went better then expected.

I was so excited to land in the USA-my only thoughts were probably simular to Lehi when he reached the promised land. I told Sheryl that now that we were in the USA we would have no more language issues. Unfortunately I was wrong! We hailed a cab to take us to Landmark Aviation (Where my good brother, Nathan Ricks, was waiting to fly us home to Provo in his private jet.) We soon found that our taxi driver was from Korea and spoke very little English! At that point I wondered if we were really in the good ole USA! Less than 2 hours later Nathan had delivered us to Provo and I had checked Sheryl in at Utah Valley Hospital (Kari my sister met us at the airport). At the hospital, another great friend, Tom Dickinson, had arranged for a whole battery of tests to be run on Sheryl with his able Doctor staff.

Yes, I broke the rules in China by sneaking out of the hospital as much as I could - well, I broke the rules in Provo too. On Christmas day I snuck Sheryl out of Utah Valley Hosptial and brought her home for a few hours. I got in a little trouble but Tom still likes me. I felt like a Doc- so I took the liberty of using my skills and bringing her home to the children.

No, not Santa nor even the children knew we were coming home. My parents were at my house and my mom started to cry and my dad did a tripple take and then would not stop hugging me and kissing me. Weston was the funniest- I snuck up behind him, picked him up and roared. He looked at me in a very calm voice and said, "Hi Dad". That was it- I have been gone for 3 months and all I get out of my youngest is that. Travis was mad because he thought I left his mom in China- he was so concerned about his mother being left alone- Then I broke the news and asked him if he wanted to go see his mom in the hospital.

Well, there's a lot to say but Sheryl is home with her family. We would love to see all of you and hug all of you but we are asking for just prayers and all of the great things you have been doing. Sheryl still does not have the energy to talk with anyone yet and we are asking no visitors - and that is no exceptions please. We are still in the woods. If you would like to communicate with Sheryl please do so by email to law1977@gmail.com We love all of you so much and appreciate all that has been done.

I will keep you posted each week.

Merry Christmas and have a great 2008

Lon