What's Next?

What's Next?  I hear you asking...But I'm asking the question too.  Now that my life doesn't revolve around when my next chemo treatment is, I wonder what is next in my life.  After the last unplanned 5 months I want to know what is next, where will I be in the next 5 years, what will I be doing and when will I settle down someplace and call it my home again.

Last week I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants 45:61-62 and came upon two highlighted verses which read "...That ye may be prepared for the things to come.  For verily I say unto you, that great things await you." Of course the Lord was talking to Joseph Smith in these verses, but I felt they totally applied to me in my situation at this very moment and was the answer to the questions that I had voiced earlier that day.  I know without a doubt that the Lord has prepared me for the past 5 months and He is preparing me for great things in my future.  What a beautiful verse of scripture these are, which give me hope in the future.

It is humbling to me to know that the Lord has guided me thus far and I know He will continue to do so in His time.  My focus needs to be in His time and not mine.  I feel like I want to rush through the next several months so that I might know what is ahead.  But I also feel like I need to relish in the moment and enjoy the time I have to continue doing what I have been doing to heal and make myself well.  And of course to have fun and celebrate all I have accomplished over the past 5 months.  I feel like the next year needs to be about celebrating this crazy journey!

The next 2 months will come and go so quickly and I am so excited for the things which will take place.  I even will give you an outline:

*My dear friend Pam and her daughter Morgan are coming to visit tomorrow from Washington DC.  They are the ones I visited when I was in Florida earlier this year.  Pams husband is doing training in DC until the first of the year and then they will move to Kansas.  Oh the joys of being in the military.  I am excited to see Pam and to be in the kitchen with her.  We always come up with good meals when we are together.  I think we would rather cook than go out.  Pam loves food just as much as I do!  I met Pam when I lived in Kentucky.  She was already a PA.  We met at church, I did a rotation with her and then lived with her for a short time during my ER rotation.  We have fun memories together.  My mom counts her as her other daughter.  We love Pam.
*Next week I have scans and blood work Tuesday and then a meeting with Dr. Dan for the results Wednesday.  Hoping for the all clear!
*November 16 is our Super Saturday for church which I am in charge of.  We have so many cute fun things planned that day!
*November 19-25 Mom and I are going to NYC for a few reasons:  to get away (as I really need my airplane fix), I have a medical conference which I know will be great, and to see my friends the McConkies and our cousins Taylor and Kyrie!  I am so excited to go back to NYC.  I love the people I will see, the food, sights and sounds of NYC.
*I get to celebrate my Birthday Nov. 22 in NYC!
* I have a pre-op appointment with Dr. C Tuesday after we get home and then we will do Thanksgiving Day Shopping.
*Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the day we try to prepare everything we can for Thanksgiving Day.  I love this day that we spend in the kitchen together.
*Thanksgiving morning I am doing my first 5K with some of my siblings and cousins and mom.  So throughout this month I will of course be training for it.  Yesterday at church someone noted that I was "booking" it when they saw me jogging on Saturday; trust me I wasn't booking it.  I actually felt rather slow, but it felt oh so good!
* Thanksgiving weekend will be filled with lots of fun activities with the family, not including shopping...I don't do black Friday, maybe cyber Monday, but really I about have my Christmas Shopping done.
*I will go back to SLC with Tenielle Sunday after Thanksgiving so that I can fly out to Charlotte Tuesday afternoon and will be there until December 11.  There is an Ovarian Cancer Luncheon that I will be attending while I am there.  I am so excited to see my friends there and to meet others who have been through what I have been through over the past 5 months.
*I will return late December 11 to Boise and we will have our Christmas Relief Society Meeting which I am in charge of on December 12.
*December 13 I am scheduled for my ileostomy reversal!  So can't wait for this!  I will hopefully only be down for a week and then the Christmas festivities will be upon us!  Maybe some hot guy will grace us with his presence for Christmas. Now that would be something to look forward too!
*January 5-12 we are going on a cruise.
And you thought I was joking about be busy the next few months!  I'm sure my time to go back to work will come all to soon.  My goal is March 3, but I'm thinking I might move it up 2 weeks.  The problem is flu season and my immune system...I am getting quite the cabin fever these days.  So there you have What's Next at least for the next little while!