Still here...

Yes, we are still here. Life is busy with three. Probably everyone who reads this blog already knows about this, but I thought I would post it here just in case.

Jamie, Wendy, Me, Rocio, Austin, Melissa-Christmas Eve 2010

My friend and neighbor, Wendy Mack, age 32 suddenly passed away on April 30 of this year. She was 8 months pregnant. They delivered the baby via c-section and kept her alive for 2 short days. Maylee Wendy passed away on May 2 of this year. It has been devastating to our little street. We are all very close, and so are our kids. Wendy has 3 little ones. Dallin is six he is Logan's best friend, Kenna is four and is Dylan's good friend, and Evan is two. Wendy was the breadwinner for their family. She worked part time as a mom and baby nurse because her husband Denny has been preparing to take the MCAT. They found out the day before she passed away that he had been accepted to medical school in Arizona. They were planning to move in July and start a whole new adventure. Denny is still planning on attending medical school as hard as it may be. He and Wendy were very prayerful about it, and they knew that it was what their family was supposed to do. Since that sad day in April I have felt very consumed by this whole thing. I think about it all the time, and miss her every day. She was such an awesome woman and I really looked up to her. My neighbors and I have been able to mourn together which has been really helpful. It is nice to go through something like this with close friends. Denny lives a couple houses down from us, and I have been able to tend kids and do meals. It is really hard to sit on the sidelines and watch, so any type of service is really therapeutic for me. I wish I could do more. I am so thankful that God has a plan. I thought I had a testimony about the plan of salvation before all of this, but it has grown ten fold. I know there is life after death. I am thankful to know that because it helps you move forward. If there wasn't a plan I would be really angry that her and Maylee's lives were cut so short. Dallin bore his testimony on Sunday, it was so sweet and perfect. He told 2 truths, first he said he was thankful for his house because it provided him shade from the hot sun, then in the same breath he said he knew his mom was in heaven and that he would see her again someday. Such a simple but profound testimony. Wendy's kids are doing really great, so is Denny for that matter. You can read more about their story at dennyandwendy.blogspot.com. Be prepared with some kleenex. It is a tear jerker. But a testimony builder. Keith and I have fallen in love a little more because we are so grateful that we are blessed with more time together. It has put a lot of things into perspective. Wendy and Denny were married the week before us in 2003. Our families are very close in age. So it seems so strange to think their time together on this earth was cut so short.

I have been busy working on the logo and website for a fundraiser for the Mack family that we are putting on. It is going to be July 9, 2011 at Harvest Hills Park in Saratoga Springs. There is more information on the website. You can also register for the 5k and donate if you like. It has been nice to have something to focus on so we can all talk about Wendy with a smile on our face. We miss her, and hope that this fundraiser will help relieve some of the burden that has been placed on their family.

If you would like to help me advertise for this event please copy and paste this logo and link to your blog with the following code.

Copy and paste this code to your HTML/Java Script:

<a href="http://www.mackfamilyfund.com/"><img src="http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii39/keithandshasta/logo.png">

Or checkout the facebook event page.