Thankful hearts

As I sit here thinking about our life over the past 3 months, I am overcome with gratitude for all of the people who have helped us.

The response of kindness and service to our family has been overwhelming and Jake and I daily kneel in prayer to thank Heavenly Father for the things people do to help us and show us love.

We know that there is no way that we could survive this without help.

I usually try to write thank you notes when people do something nice for me. That is not possible now, but in some small way I hope those of you who have been so good to us will read this, and know that we are more grateful for your help than we can even hope to express.This list is in no way exhaustive, but in a small way reflects the help, service, and love we've received.

Our parents have been our first resource and came to our rescue in the middle of the night and over the intervening weeks and months that followed. They are, and have always been, there for us and our children.

The bishop of our ward has gone above the call to visit, encourage, bless, counsel, call and support us in any way possible. We are so grateful to him and his family.

Our next door neighbor has completely taken over our yard work.  His wife waters my plants, delivers fresh eggs, and watches the kids.

We get packages hand delivered and in the mail full of thoughtful things for us and our children. Food, books, activities, crayons, toys, treats, gift cards, money, movies and all sorts of things have just arrived on our doorstep. Many have come from people we have never met.

I've had fresh flowers on my table for the last two months thanks to the deliveries that seem to come just when the current flowers start to wilt.

Women from our church come every Monday morning to our home to help me clean. They donate their time to scrub our floors and bathrooms and help me keep order in our home and have time to care for our family.

The young women in our church made us freezer meals, an extended family member took my dirty van and brought it back clean, and my dear friend and her family have opened up their home for me to teach my music class during the last 6 weeks.

For the duration of Jacob's chemotherapy, friends have brought us dinner several times a week so I can focus on making Jacob's meal and still have dinner for our children.  Their meals have been delicious and plentiful and given us food for days at a time.

People have reached out to us through blog comments, email, letters and cards, facebook messages, texts, phone calls, and visits to let us know of their love, to send uplifting messages, and to express their sympathy. These notes have been an especially beneficial source of strength for me and I am so grateful for every minute people have taken to communicate with us.

I received over 100 stories from friends and family members about memories they have of Jacob. He loved reading every one, and I appreciate the time and effort so many people took to send them in to me.

Several friends and family members have put us in touch with many important people to guide us in this process. Other cancer patients, doctors, dietitians, and new friends who have given us resources and information that has proved critical to Jacob's treatment and would have taken us much longer to find on our own. 

We also know that our names are continually on the prayer rolls of many temples. Individual names are are prayed for collectively by those people in attendance at the temple that day and we have felt of the uplifting and strengthening power of these prayers.

We have been the beneficiaries of countless hours of babysitting. I couldn't even begin to calculate the hours that family and friends have been willing to watch our children to help us attend appointments, meetings, the temple, get extra sleep, and even go on dates.

Our siblings and their families have made special visits to our home, call, and keep in touch with us to let us know of their continuing support. It brings tears to my eyes to hear of our many nieces and nephews who pray for their Uncle Jacob and I know that every one of those prayers is heard.

Thank you, thank you all. We could not do this alone.