My amazing sister, Cheryl, flew in late on Monday night to visit and take care of me for a few days, and it was such a fantastic visit. Originally, she was supposed to get in earlier, but sadly she got stuck in the Seattle airport for an extra six hours!! Kevin picked her up in the night and they didn’t get back to our house until 1 am. Poor them!

Luckily, we had a wonderful morning planned on Tuesday. I usually don’t start feeling the full effect of the chemo infusion until late on the second day, and so I was feeling well enough to attend the temple. It was such a special experience! We had a sealing session scheduled, and not only was Kevin, Derek, Lily, Cheryl and my sister, Wendy, able to be there, but our Aunt Linda and Uncle Scott joined us as well. And the sealer for our session just happened to be Derek’s service mission advisor, Elder Baum. It was amazing and such a special way to start off Cheryl’s time with us.

When we got back from the temple, Wendy was able to stay for a bit before she had to head back to Austin, and it was so wonderful talking and laughing with my sisters.

The next two mornings, Cheryl was able to go out for my walk with me, and Kevin even joined us. It was fun showing her the area where I had walked a bunch of the times we chatted on the phone over the past few months.

Cheryl is truly an amazing person. She is the oldest of the seven kids in my family, and not only does she have seven grown children of her own, but is a fabulous grandma to their kids. In fact, right after she was leaving me, she was hosting five of her seven kids (and their families) for Thanksgiving, along with our sister Holly and our mom. The fact that she purposely carved out time to spend with me in the middle of all of the many demands on her time, was the most wonderful gift.

My favorite thing about her visit were the hours the two of us just talked – about anything and everything. We had so much to talk about, that we only watched one movie the whole time she was there, because we didn’t need/want to be pulled away from our conversations. She has always been such an example and role model to me and I am so grateful for her.

And because she always thinks ahead, she brought a puzzle with her that she could work on with Arthur and the other kids. It turned out to be the sweetest thing, and they loved it! It was such a great way for her to spend some time with them and talk with them, in the midst of their busyness. And they even got it finished before she had to leave and take it with her. Awesome!

While she was here, she also spent a day defrosting my garage freezer (which hadn’t been done in way too long) and addressed most of my Christmas cards. What a blessing! When it was time for her to leave, the whole family was so sad to see her go. Having Cheryl in our home was such and amazing gift and we will always treasure it.