Hello!

May 11, 2011.  It is a date that changed my life and I am thankful to tell the story.  Who would have known that as of my last post, my health would have been so compromised?  Within 4 days of the last post back in May, I had turned completely yellow and could hardly lift my legs to walk.  When Dr. Marion first saw me he immediately sent me to specialists and my first diagnosis was pancreatic cancer.  However, even though cancer cells were spotted and I developed pancreatitis, which resulted in a 3 day hospital stay,  it was discovered after a series of biopsies in Columbia and then at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, that the cells were benign and I had an autoimmune disease where my own body was attacking my liver.  I have spent the last six months trying to adjust to medications and a lifestyle that must always bear in mind that the disease will never go away and I will simply have to live "a new kind of normal" as described by a wonderful Christian speaker, Carol Kent.  The best way to describe my disease is to compare it to Lupus, only because they are so closely related; one dealing specifically with the liver (my disease), and one dealing with anything from the kidneys, heart, skin, etc., (Lupus) - they are sister diseases because they both deal with the body attacking its own organs.  No one knows how the diseases are contracted, nor is there a cure.  That is not to say God can not choose to heal...we know He can and He does...He is the Great Physician, after all.  Here is a link that explains what it's like to deal with this disease on a daily basis...written in a very clever manner http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory-written-by-christine-miserandino/.  My friends who have read this link often ask, "How many spoons do you have today?".  Well, enough of that...life certainly goes on and I am thankful to have such a full, rich and vibrant life despite the ongoing battle within.  The picture below is of a group of friends who gathered around me after I was released from the hospital to love and encourage me. 

Today, well technically "yesterday" since I'm writing so late, is/was my daughter, Anne's, 30th birthday.

Do you think your children ever know how much you love them? Well, I honor her today because she is one of the bravest, most beautful of all women. The pictures following are of me on my 30th birthday and a few more of Garry and I and the girls my 30th year. We love because He first loved us...thank you Lord for Anne...for giving me 30 years of knowing this precious woman/daughter/friend.