Santa came early this year

It is true, Santa decided to come early this year to The Sward house. Dec 15th to be exact. I reported to my Endocronologist who is also been serving as my cancer doctor. I went for a follow up visit from my last thyroid surgery and she happened to have my new pathology reports in. The way she read it off was like a Juror reading the verdict in a court room. She went through the list of tests they ran and all I heard was benign, benign, benign. What a way to turn my frown upside down. It was better than hearing the last report.. Cancer, Cancer, Cancer. It was officially announced that day that I was a cancer free girl. The only thing I have left to do now is radiation treatment, which to me, will be a piece of cake compared to the last few months of pure stress and worry, and 2 battles with surgery. Our prayers had been answered. It has not been an easy journey at all but with the support of our family and friends we were able to get through it. We had our friends from church offer prayers, blessings and meals. It was a huge blessing to us all. We are so thrilled that this journey is almost towards an end now, so we can move forward with our lives. Thanks to everyone who helped us through these hard times, it made things so much easier for us. I can officially say I am a cancer survivor, and that I have been there, done that, and got the T-shirt. My future plans are to attend Thyroid Cancer Awareness seminars, and confrences to help promote education about Thyroid Cancer. Here are a few recent pictures of my journey and if you notice the bear, his name is Mr. Beans. Mr Beans has been with me through my whole journey. Ryan brought home Mr Beans the day I had an ultrasound on my neck. Since Ryan could not be with me for all my upcoming Doctors appointments and biopsies he wanted to make sure I had someone to comfort me. Mr Beans was with me when I was scared and alone, he was a pillow to many of my tears. He comforted me every time I was sad. We all love Mr Beans!

The day of my 2nd surgery.. The day I won my battle

6:30 am my brother, me and Ryan, and of course Mr Beans

Just getting back in from surgery

My staplesThe healing

The Jacket My mom got me for Christmas.. I earned it!!

And they lived Happily Ever After...6 year Anniversary

It all started in high school.. I had a huge future planned out for myself. I was on the path to Art School in Seattle as a photographer. My dream was to always live in Seattle, go to little clubs on the weekends to see the hippest punk shows Seattle had to offer, and perfecting my pictures of the Space Needle. I never thought I would get married, it was never in the plans. I was one of those girls who just wanted to be independant and spend my time with friends...Until the summer of June 1999, I met the missionaries. A few discussions later we were talking about The Temple, eternal life, eternal marriage, and eternal family. A year after I was baptized I did get to be little miss independant I moved to Salt Lake City to get the whole Mormon experience. I loved it, but I was prompted to move back to KY as soon as possible. I decided to follow the prompting and moved back home within a week of deciding. Coming back home was great, I made new friends in the singles ward, got a group of girls together and became roomates. Then I decided in my heart that I wanted to serve a mission. I started mission prep, got my paper work, had enough money for financing, my mom took me shopping for clothes and shoes. I was READY! I thought, This is it!!

Until... June of 2002, I set up an appointment with my bishop to discuss my mission. As I sat there in excitement, he sits there and said.. I'm sorry, but I think you should stay here and take marriage prep classes and parenting classes. I was thinking WHAT!? Are you serious? I politely said, I have dated quite a few people in the ward and I know none of them are for me. He told me to start the marriage prep classes then we would discuss the mission afterwards. I agreed.

The next few days came and my roomate and I were riding around town, and just talking in conversation, when she asked me how my interview with Bishop went about the mission. We pulled up to a stop light, and I started to explain what he told me about marriage prep. As soon as I said that, I blurted out... I think I am going to meet my future husband in October. She said WHAT? I had no idea where that came from it just came flying out. - October is the month I would have been leaving for my mission. - October was also the month Ryan came home from his mission... If I had left for my mission, I would have missed out on all these blessings that were in store for me.

Ryan and I met at the temple before his mission and before I moved to Salt lake. I drove the sisters to the temple and he drove the elders. We were both standing around in the parking lot waiting. We realized we were in the same ward, we talked about him going to Nebraska, and I talked about Salt Lake.. When Ryan came to the singles ward in December he sat behind me in church, it was the first time I had seen him since he came home in Oct. I was sitting with my friend and turned around and saw him and wrote him a note on the back of a tithing slip asking if he remembered me. I had Jill pass the note back to him. After sacrament He stood up and said of course I remember you Jennifer. A few weeks later we went on our first date, the chemistry was akward because we had nothing in common, we were night and day from one another. We had a hard time communicating, but that night I knew we were going to be married. I had never had that feeling before in my life. I was just sitting there while he was talking, the feeling hit out of no where, the spirit told me. I immediatly got nervous and that made things even harder for me. I went home and told my mom that the guy I just went on a date with was going to be my husband one day 11months later on December 20th, 2003 we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Louisville, KY temple. Today we are celebrating our 6 years of marriage. I tease and say, 6 down eternity to go! Ryan is my best friend and supports me in everything I do. We have truly been blessed with the gift of marriage. I am so grateful that he was a part of Gods plan for me. We are blessed! Here are a few pics we collected over the years...


The Dating Days

The Engagement
Our wedding day

The First Year of Marriage