I think it is about time I started blogging again. It has been awhile and I need to learn all the new trick and familiarize myself with the new formats. To catch everyone up on the Waller's adventure, I will give a brief over view of the last few years.
Following the death of Gran ( which was very hard) we decided we needed to get out of the house. So we put in our application to serve a mission here in Boise. We went in to the Idaho Boise Mission office and talked to President Kent Cannon. He was very excited to have us want to serve and promised us that we would be called to his mission. We received our call to serve for 1 year in the Idaho Boise Mission office. I was made the car Czar and Sharon was put over referrals and baptism tracking, along with other office duties. We began our service with Elder and Sister Knott, who also live here in Meridian.
Mel and Marlene are from the Sacramento area transplanted up here to Meridian. They are originally from Wyoming. We could not have asked for a more fun couple to work with every day. They were great! It made a treat to go to the office daily, and serve with them and the Elders and sisters of the mission. It at times was a little stressful when there was an accident or mishap, but I weathered the storm. It is always fun to be around the missionaries and see them grow and develop, unfortunately we had to send them home.
The Knott's were released about 4 months before us ( we ended up serving 18 months) and were replace by the Osbourne's . They were also fun to work with and we enjoyed the short time we had in the office with them. We were released in March of 2013 and soon began feeling the need to go and serve again. So in April we started the paperwork. We began our medical evaluation and hit a road bump.
Sharon was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was caught very early and we had a choice of lumpectomy of mastectomy. We decided to go ahead a do a bilateral mastectomy as we felt that being proactive was the best choice. We then headed off for a June vacation back East.
We first went to Jacksonville, NC and met up with my brother Danny and his wife Di. Di had previously been through breast cancer and this gave us a chance to go through all the treatment options she dealt with. We traveled with them up the coast to Palmyra, NY. Along the way we visited Mt Vernon, Cornell glass museum, Hersey chocolate factory. It was along drive but it was fun. We enjoyed touring around Palmyra and the sacred grove, as well as the hill Cumorah. We then traveled to Niagara Falls. The falls were impressive but not quite as impressive as Foz De Iguaco in Brazil.
We then traveled down lake Erie to Cleveland area and visited Kirtland, Ohio. It was impressive and inspiring to visit these sites. The Temple was wonderful!! Johnson Farm also was great! We then headed south and stopped at the Longaberger Basket factory in central Ohio; enjoying visiting and making a basket. It was then time to head south back to North Carolina. We arrived just in time to go through a tropical storm and talk about rain!! We don't see rain like that out west.
It was fun to kick off our shoes and relax for a few days in Jacksonville with Danny and Di. Sharon and I enjoyed playing golf and enjoyed some great seafood in Snead's Ferry. After about 5 days we headed south to Lancaster, South Carolina to visit with Brian and Bonnie. We got to visit a few sites there Kings Mountain and then a day trip up to the Smoky Mountains. Mike had come up from Florida to be with us and it was fun to have four brother together.
We then headed south for a visit with Mike and Lucy in Crystal river, Florida. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit much with Lucy as her mother was ill and ended up being hospitalized while we were visiting. Mike took care of us and we played golf a number of times. Mike sure knows how to scare the squirrels! Soon our vacation was over and time to head home and face the cancer treatments.
In July Sharon underwent bilateral mastectomies and started reconstruction. Her physcian was Dr. Prier a general surgeon who specialized in Breast cancer and Dr. Wigod a plastic surgeon. The fall of 2013 was spent caring for Sharon and helping her recover. She did excellent!! In December she had her final reconstructive surgery. The surgery was curative in that all the cancer was removed with no spreading to lymph nodes on either side. So this meant no need for chem or radiation therapy. She would only be taking a hormone inhibitor for the next 5 years. What a blessing this has been. We feel our desire to serve another mission lead us to an early detection and cure. She is now coming up on a year from the original diagnosis. So we have decided we now need to serve another mission.
So we started our paper work again after getting the Doctors approval. They did recommend that we try to serve in the US where she can still be monitored. We have requested top serve at the Family History Center in Salt Lake. This had been a trying but in the end rewarding experience. We feel the Lord has been watching over us and directing our path. With that in mind we feel it is only right that we get busy and serve our 5th mission.
So that is a brief synopsis of our last few years. I hope to be better about recording our happy adventures in the future.
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