My blessing of the week.. :)

If this turns in to the world's longest blog.. I am sorry. It is close to my heart and too cool not too share. This weekend I was looking on a friends blog, Liz Tarrant (she just had twins, go look.. haha!) and I saw this lady who had left her a comment. I was just playing around on the internet so I clicked on her blog. I was browsing around her site I saw that her daughter had ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.. look it up if you don't know.. it's also called Lou Gehrig's disease). It immediately intrigued me because, as most of you know, I lost my mother to ALS in May 1999, almost ten years ago. As I kept looking, I was thinking this sounds all too familiar. Her name is Linda and her daughter, who has been battling ALS for over 15 years now, Marcie. So, I sent her an email and told her how I knew she would probably think I was crazy but I was wondering if she knew my mom and if she was part of the same research my mom had been a part of (it was a trial drug for the cure for ALS, it has seen been proven faulty and obviously did not work). She wrote back quickly and said no, her daughter was not part of the study but yes, she knew my mom and had met with my mom and grandmother back in 1994 or 1995 for lunch to talk and discuss about ALS and basically just get some support from someone going through the same thing. I immediately began crying. I knew that I knew them somehow. The names were familiar. ALS is a strange and brutal disease, to say the least, and most people are diagnosed in their 40's or 50's and often only live 3 to 5 years. Her daughter, Marcie, was diagnosed at 23 and has been battling for 15 years now. She is a miracle and has broken the mold, praise God! On Linda's blog she had the picture above "Never give up" and I commented to her that I remember we had this hanging in our house, in fact on my mom's mirror on her vanity, when I was a kid and she was battling ALS. She emailed me a copy and said maybe she had given it to my mom and indeed, she did. When I looked closer, I recognized the tiny numbers at the top. I have no idea what ever happened to my mom's copy but I now have one and plan on keeping it forever.

I love the internet in that it reconnects people in so strange ways. Linda and Marcie may never know how much they touched our lives in little ways. I find joy in knowing they were able to spend time with my amazing mother and my mother was able to spend time with them. Please spend time praying for Marcie, every day if you could, and for Linda and her family who work 24/7 taking care of Marcie. I watched my grandmother, in exhaustion, every single day taking care of my mother and believe me, it is an emotionally and physically draining job! This is Linda's blog.. go let her know you are praying for her and for Marcie. God is good and doesn't He really work in mysterious ways? I needed that and I am glad Linda and Marcie just "popped up" up on my computer screen. Thanks, Liz, for knowing them.. haha! You didn't even know you were helping me out! :) Hope this story encouraged yall a little, like it did me.

Be blessed this weekend!

This is the MDA website with the ALS division. Go read about ALS and this site has many ways you can help ALS research through MDA, even if you aren't rich and have tons of money to give away, there are ways to help. And, if you see an MDA Shamrock for sale anywhere (I know for sure they are at Lowe’s, Albertsons, Lawrence Brothers or Wes-T-Go Convenience Stores) be sure to give $1, that's all it takes. I emailed the lady in charge of MDA programs in the West Texas area and she sent me back some dates of ways to help or donate...

1) Firefighters Fill the Boot in Abilene/Dyess area is May 7-9 (you know they come by your car and want you to give a dollar in their stinky, old boot) Be on the lookout for them that weekend.

2) MDA Lock-Ups where community members are “locked-up” to serve time for all of Jerry’s “kids” in Abilene is June 10th.

3 ) And of course the Labor Day Telethon is Labor Day Weekend-September 6-7.. call and make any donation!