The Passing of a Parent

My daddy passed away on September 28, 2009. I have felt the peace and comfort the restored gospel of Jesus Christ brings but I am still very sad. I will miss my dear father so much. He was the best man and the best father. I hope to honor his memory by the way I live. He was worthy to meet his maker when he passed away. Now it is my responsibility to live worthy to meet him again. Here is a quote from Joseph Fielding Smith that has brought me comfort.

"And may I say for the consolation of those who mourn, and for the comfort and guidance of all of us, that no righteous man is ever taken before his time. In the case of the faithful Saints, they are simply transferred to other fields of labor. The Lord’s work goes on in this life, in the world of spirits, and in the kingdoms of glory where men go after their resurrection."

It has been a wonderful summer! Mark and I have done so many fun things. I went to Europe. Mark took the MCAT

A friend gave me a book to read. it is called "Fertile in our Faith". It is meant to be a support to women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who struggle with infertility. I would strong recommend it to anyone burdened with this trial. It even has ideas for family and friends of people like me who struggle with this :) One of my favorite chapters so far is about nurturing a family of two. The chapter begins with a poem by William Blake (1757-1827):

"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives it ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair"

I love my dear sweet husband. I love working to make our home a heaven and even though we don't have any children right now I know that in the Lord's due time we will have children. The Lord has witnessed to me in prayer that I will one day have children. I simply have to be patient and lean upon the Lord.

I guess I am still trying to figure out this blogging thing! Here is what has been going on in the Bailey family. Mark and I are still working on our undergraduate degrees. Mark will be finished in December and I will be finished in April. The time has flown by. I can't believe my time at BYU is nearly at an end. It has been such a wonderful experience. Earlier this summer I went on tour with BYU Singers to England, Ireland, and Wales. It was absolutely remarkable. I loved (nearly) every minute. I missed Mark terribly. Those were the minutes I didn't love :) Right now Mark is applying to medical school. We are really crossing our fingers that he will be getting some secondary applications soon. We are hoping to go to Arizona for medical school but know that wherever the Lord may take us will be the right place for us. On a more somber note my dad, who was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer a year ago, is now in stage 4. We don't know how long he has left. It could be a long time or a shorter amount of time. Talking to my mom has really helped me put it in perspective. The only difference between my dad and the rest of us is that he has a time frame for the rest of his life and we don't. I sure love him though. He is the best dad in the world. I could not have asked for a better one.

The semester is nearly finished! I have only two more finals and then I am done for the semester. Mark has three. We are both really looking forward to a great summer. I am going to the UK for three weeks on tour with BYU Singers. For more info you can go to singers.byu.edu. It is going to be fantastic. The only down side is that Mark does not get to come with me! I will really be looking forward to seeing him when I get back. Not long after that we are going to the Bailey Family reunion. Mark is really excited to hike the Grand Canyon. I am not so excited... I have not had five minutes to exercise so I am feeling really out of shape. I have gone running and done stairs a couple of times but defeinitely not a enough. Maybe I'll climb the bus stairs a lot for exercise in England. I'll post some pictures as soon as I figure out how to do it :)

I am still trying to figure out this blogging thing. What sorts of things do you write? News? Well there is no news from this quarter :) Mark and I are still in school. We plan on graduating in April 2010. After that we are hoping to get into Medical School in Arizona. Mark is working so hard to get into med school. I am so proud of him! My dad is still healing from his surgery. It is hard to watch him go through such a difficult time. Parents are really special people. I hope that I can be as good to my kids as my parents were to me.