Operation Make A Difference

This is a heart warming story that I hope will move you to make a small contribution. The story comes from 11Alive here in the greater Atlanta area. So read the story, watch the video and then go to Operation Gracyn and make a difference.

LOGANVILLE, Ga. -- In the town of Loganville, so many in the community have reached out to help a four-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.

The girl is Gracyn Rhodes, and she was born at just 2 lbs., 6 oz. eleven weeks ahead of schedule. Her mother, Brandi, says doctors told her that night Gracyn would be "lucky to make it through the night."

Gracyn made it through the night, but she was developmentally slow and two years later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The two years since have been filled with therapy, injections, and braces -- even though Gracyn has learned to walk relatively well without them.

But she still struggles and falls frequently. Her family believes they have found the answer in a rare surgery called SDR; it helps with the spasticity and only applies a few CP patients.

But Gracyn falls into that group.

The surgery costs $40,000 and is best done in St. Louis; insurance won't cover out-of-state surgery, so the family has turned to the community in Loganville.

And the community has responded.

In less than a month, the people of Loganville have contributed roughly $14,000 to Gracyn. But, of course, that's not nearly enough, and Gracyn's parents are hoping to have raised the full $40,000 before their daughter's surgery in October.

Please go to www.operationgracyn.com to find out more and donate to the cause.

(Click to play the add...then click play again to see the news story)

Sick

Apologies, had a stomach virus that put me down for the day. But I'm back on Friday for certain.

The Good Life

Do we already have what we want or need in life?



It is a great day, enjoy a good life.
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Contentment Right Here

"It's alright. Wherever you are right now, I tell you it's alright. That's where you're supposed to be now." -311

Soon I will have the annual celebration each of us have, which is a birthday. That ritual we perform to mark the successful completion of another year in this great life. It will be different this time around as my mother will not be here this time. She passed away last October from Pancreatic Cancer and each of us miss her. My sister passed away back in the late 1980s and there are those days in which I would love to have her here.

But my faith in God and understanding of life in general gives me contentment. Where I am in life right now, "it's alright." I don't share the passing of my mother to garner sympathy, but to note that each of us have our pain and joys in life. Not having loved ones to share this day with me can be sad, but I'll choose to have the memory of them with me. Joy will fill my heart in knowing "it's alright."

The picture you see is of my mother and sister many years ago. It is a picture that I found somewhat interesting in that you can see others in the mirror. Those people are my father and a couple of siblings. But why so interesting? It is as if I am getting a glimpse of them together from the other side. And those in the living mirror are what my mother and sister get to watch everyday.

It gives me that contentment I spoke about, that I'm right where I'm supposed to be. That it is alright both for me and for them. It makes me believe that if you can realize this contentment, your own life will be much better. It will allow you to feel the joy that life really is meant to be.

Find your joy in this life. Know that "it's alright" and experience that joy.
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