Check This Out

First of all, we came through Hanna without even losing power -- which is really amazing. About half of our neighborhood lost power due to a huge oak tree that fell on the power lines, but we are not on that grid. Fortunately they had power by late afternoon yesterday. We are thankful as we know Hanna was not so kind to Haiti.

I have to tell you about a site I have followed for a while. The link is www.caringbridge.org/ga/marin. Marin is a teenager who now lives in Seattle. Her family was in GA, and Marin was a part of a very competitive year round swim team there. She was really good and had hoped to compete in Beijing in '08. At 15, in 2005, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor/cancer. She had 3 surgeries in short succession, and she was left with right side paralysis. At some point during this battle, her father's job relocated to WA and the family moved. I can't imagine changing doctors or leaving a support system of friends in the middle of something like that, but they did. Anyway, she NEEDED to swim and found a way to make it happen. She is currently in Beijing at the Paralympics. This has been a very difficult year for Marin, and as recent as a month ago, she was in hospice care. It is amazing she was able to make the trip. Another amazing thing about this young girl is when the Make-a-Wish foundation heard about her desire to go to Beijing, they asked if she would like that to be her wish. She said no thank you. She was going to make it there on her own. Anyway, there is a post on her site today that is just amazing. I encourage you to go visit it and leave a note. I'm sure her family would appreciate it along with prayers for safety during their time in China and the return trip home. I just wish I could see some of this on TV! It's much more inspiring that the political squirmishes we get to hear about right now.