By Lu Ann Staheli
Men are that they might have joy.” Nephi’s words are true, but as President Dieter F. Uchtdorf has said, “We know that sometimes it can be difficult to keep our heads above water. In fact, in our world of change, challenges, and checklists, sometimes it can seem nearly impossible to avoid feeling overwhelmed by emotions of suffering and sorrow.”
We’ve all had moments we thought our burdens have been too much to bear, so where do we find the joy? Elder Marlin K. Jensen says, “. . . within the family we experience most of life’s greatest joys.”

But family can also bring our greatest challenges. Over the past year I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with a family that has adopted the principle “Faith makes things possible, not easy” in their search for joy.

In October 2001, Erin Herrin was told the startling news that she was carrying conjoined twins. Already the mother of a toddler while she and her husband Jake considered a divorce, Erin had many decisions to make.

“They say that life changes when you least expect it. And I certainly never expected this news,” Erin says. “The doctors thought aborting the fetus was the best course of action, but I already saw these twins as my babies. I couldn’t do it, and Jake agreed.”

It was a difficult pregnancy at a difficult time, but Erin had learned to rely on the Lord, taking regular trips to the temple which brought a peace to her heart that ‘this too shall pass.’ “I learned to look for joy in the little things—to enjoy the time I spent alone with my daughter, Courtney, to date my husband again and see him with fresh eyes. Those months of pregnancy still weren’t easy, but I couldn’t let the worries stop me from enjoying what I already had and from discovering more about myself as a wife, mother, and woman.”

On February 26th, 2002, Kendra and Maliyah Herrin were born. Conjoined from mid-torso down, the girls were immediately rushed from the delivery room at the University of Utah Hospital to Primary Children’s Hospital, while Erin remained behind.

“The next few hours were agonizingly painful,” Erin says. “I wanted to see them, to touch them, to hold them. But I couldn’t. Their shared body was too fragile; their survival too tenuous. The research I had done told me that most conjoined twins who actually make it to birth die within forty-eight hours.”

Kendra and Maliyah did survive. A series of surgeries followed over the next several days, members of the Herrin family, along with their doctors, prayed for the girls, and by April the twins were strong enough to come home from the hospital.

With the support of extended family, Erin and Jake took over the full time job of caring for these precious little girls. But Erin sys, “the same question continued to haunt me—would my girls ever be separated?”

Eventually plans were underway for what would become a landmark surgery, the first time conjoined twins who shared a single functioning kidney would be separated. But there were still challenges to face. Erin, who was pegged to donate a kidney to daughter Maliyah, found out she was again pregnant—another set of twins, this time not conjoined. However, this birth came with problems of its own—a ruptured uterus almost took Erin’s life.

“On the way to the hospital, I was worried I was going to die,” Erin says. “I started singing I Am a Child of God to myself. The song was one I sang often to the twins, and it was among Courtney’s favorites. I learned afterwards that a fifteen minute delay and I would have been gone. I knew the Lord had been with me.”

Since that day, there have been many more trips to the hospital. Kendra and Maliyah were successfully separated; Maliyah received her mother’s kidney; and today they are being fitted for prosthetic legs that will allow them to walk. For every crisis the family has faced, there seems to have been a multitude of blessings that has come to them as well.

Erin says, “Happiness and joy can be found in the most heart-wrenching circumstances as long as we lean on our spouse, family, friends, and others. This network, combined with faith, helps us endure any trials that come our way because when hearts conjoin, miracles happen!”

As President Thomas S. Monson tells us, ““I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. . . find joy in the journey—now.”

And that’s just what the Herrin family has done.