Say a little prayer for Dad...

So I have it on good authority that Dad might be on Fox News TV (National) tomorrow (Friday, April 7th) talking about the Church's growth in the northeast...so keep him in your prayers so he doesn't "say or do anything stupid." (his words not mine). As I told him, I think that is HIGHLY unlikely :)

A Message from Marc and Anne

I just learned via an email from Marc Brown that Anne's father died last Friday. Although his death was not a surprise, I'm sure their family's feelings are very tender. Marc also shared the following with me. I thought you'd like to read it as well.

"Alex left for Louisiana this past Tuesday. He called us from the Airport on Tuesday morning. It was great to talk to him. I actually spoke with him briefly last Friday while he was in the MTC to advise him of Anne’s father’s death earlier that day. He took it pretty well and had said his goodbye to his grandfather before he left. We had the funeral service yesterday. It was a very nice service and we had a beautiful sunny day. He had been released as Bishop of his ward, just a week prior to his death. "I arrived at the chapel about an hour prior to the service to make sure everything was in order and to meet the funeral director. When I arrived there were three carloads of Cambodians there waiting. Anne’s parents had sponsored a couple of Cambodian refugee families back in the early 80’s. They asked me if this is where the service for Robert Karlinsey was to be held, and I advised them it was. They then related to me that they had driven from Texas and California to attend and how he had made it possible for them to start a new life with their families in the United States.

It is times like this that the plan of salvation takes on such real meaning."

Roger McOmber Update (from Becky)

Hi Y'all,

We are home from Roger's last treatment. What can I say except that he is one "tough man". It is such a difficult thing to handle and Roger did extremely well. I was talking to the doctor on Wednesday and he said that once in a blue moon a patient comes through that is like Roger. He was able to deal with the bio/chemotherapy incredibly well. He felt extremely sick, nauseated, weak, tired...basically like the flu but times it by a thousand!

A PET scan (it is a metabolic scan where he drinks radioactive glucose and it shows up where there is action...cancer cells are lazy and they will "run" to the sugar) was done before he went in for this treatment and it showed that the tumor is still shrinking. That helps in going through the treatments. His counts (white, red, platlets, etc.) are all extremely low right now and he doesn't feel much like eating but he will start improving a lot next week. He is very soft spoken and extremely tired.The way his hair was falling out in chunks after his second round I thought he would have a shiny head by now but he has held on to his hair. It is thin but if you didn't know him you wouldn't think he is a cancer victim.

Rog is scheduled for surgery on April 26. They are going to cut into the same 10 inch scar (from November) and remove all of the lymph nodes. We won't know what the next plan of action will be until we have the pathology reports. They need to figure out what the cancer is doing...whether it is all dead, barely there, etc. Melanoma is a scary cancer because it can move around the blood in a microscopic cell. I thought the bio/chemotherapy would kill it all especially if it is killing the big tumor. The doctor said in theory that seems right but it can't attach on to the one cell and kill it, therefore, melanoma isn't a cancer that you can say is gone if it hasn't shown up in five years. Not until a tumor starts can the chemo kill it. That is why the biotherapy is used..hopefully the body's own immune system will be able to take care of it. Lots of research and lots of good things happening with melanoma cancer.

Thanks for all of your support, faith, prayers, letters, phone calls, and visits. Roger is a fighter and we have been constantly blessed through this trial. We are growing a lot from this experience. We know we are loved, we know we are being watched, often times during each day we feel we are being carried. We are so blessed to have the gospel and the scriptures. They have been a life line. I'm so glad we have the tools to make it through trials. More than ever we are understanding the purpose of this life and the eternities. We love you all!

Love, Becky

Highlights from General Conference...

To help everyone get the idea of the "blog" I thought we could start up our first family conversation about the most recent General Conference. You can include your thoughts or favorite conference quote in the "comments" section.

My favorite quote (thus far, since I've only watched the Saturday sessions) was from Elder Eyring's talk on Saturday,

"The prophets of God have foreseen the times in which we live. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, 'This know also in the last days perilous times shall come.' Anyone with eyes to see the signs of the times and ears to hear the words of the prophets knows that the peril is great. The peril comes from the forces of wickedness, those forces are increasing, so it will become harder, not easier, to keep the covenants we must make to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is hope in the promise the Lord has given us of a place of safety in the storms ahead. Here is a word picture of that place; you have read about it in scripture, it has been repeatedly described by living prophets, a loving father told his sons about it in this way, as he tried to strengthen them against the storms of temptation. 'And now my sons remember remember that it is upon the rock of our redeemer of Christ who is the son of God, that you must build your foundation, that when the devil sends forth winds, yeah his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his storms shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down, to the gulf of misery and endless woe, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, whereon if men build they cannot fall.' It has never been more important than it is now, to understand how to build upon that sure foundation."

As we grow closer together as a family, and love and support one another, I know we are all on the right track to building on that sure foundation and returning to our Heavenly Father.

Allison & Rick's New Baby

For those of you who didn't know...Allison and Rick had their brand new baby boy Carson Tolbert last month.

Here are a few of the pictures of Baby Carson, his weight was 7 lb. 9 oz. length of 19.5 inches and was born at 2:39 PM on March 7. Approx. 15 hrs and 30 minutes of labor.

Welcome to the Smith Family Blog!

Welcome to the Smith Family blog!

This is the place for us to catch up regularly on the goings-on in each others' lives. We all get updates from Scotter regularly, but it would be nice to hear about the important things going on in everyone's lives, and any thoughts, on a more regular basis.




So...what I need from everyone is the following
- An email bi-weekly (first installment due by Friday, April 14th) that I will then post on the blog, and everyone is welcome to add comments. Such as, "so jessica, how many boyfriends do you have this week?"
- What to include in your email:
* Highlights from your week/work/church/friends
* Any family news
* Any recent pictures you want to share
* Any family/church advice (Dad this could be your specialty area)

I think this would be a good way to follow the general conference council to build up our family, and nurture and support all members on a regular basis...and it would be a good way for Dad to keep us posted on all the great talks he gives all over the East Coast.

The email would only need to be a few paragraphs, nothing major, and I can edit it for spelling/consistency/etc.

Here are some pics until I get more things posted....Enjoy!!