"Beating" Cancer

I couldn't help but think of my mom today when I heard about the death of Patrick Swayze. It's funny how much of a bond you can feel with someone you don't even know. He fought a cancer similar to my mother's. Both of them are virtually impossible to survive once they have spread and neither gives the person much time. I have been impressed with the way he has handled his cancer since I first heard of his diagnosis. He kept on going. Like my mom. My mom served in the temple until she could hardly walk. She hoped against hope to the end. I think she knew that she probably didn't have much time, but she didn't let that take control of her life. I love her for so many things and I love her for that. It's been bugging me that all the papers are saying that Patrick Swayze lost his battle with cancer. He didn't and neither did my mom or anyone has who died of cancer. Patrick Swayze said, "I'm not winning the battle against cancer. What's winning to me is never giving up." I think it takes an extraordinary amount of strength to fight a battle to the death that you know you won't "win". My mom won the battle, so did Patrick, and so did so many others who didn't give up.

Present help!

It's been a while since my last post. I've been busy. I'm still trying to figure out how to balance school, my family, and my church calling. Not to mention the vocal performance program has been intense to say the least. I am loving school, though. Anyway, since I really don't even have the time to blog right now, I'll make this quick. What should I get Makenna for her bithday? I seriously have no idea. Let me preface this by saying that Barbies, jewlery, nail polish and stuff like that are out for me. I'm funny about wanting Makenna to stay as far away from that super girlie stuff for as long as possible. I want her to be my little baby girl and I figure that those images of what makes you "pretty" will bombard her enough as she gets older. That's just my thing, totally OK if it's not yours. I also don't want just another run of the mill toy that will be broken or lost in a few weeks. Can anyone think of a fun gift that doesn't fall into those catergories? HELP!