“The Light still shines in the darkness and the darkness has NEVER extinguished it.”
- John 1: five-
Merry Christmas family & friends!
As we approach this beautiful season of celebrating the birth of our precious Savior, I am truly in awe of God’s sweet mercy to meet us each new day. While this past year has been incredibly difficult, I see everyday the truth of Psalm 27: “I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”.
It is impossible for me not to get choked up with tears when I think of your precious faithfulness of walking this incredibly long journey with me. Some of you have been walking this journey with me for the past seven and half years and have courageously loved me each day. After the diagnosis’ of Lyme and Cancer came you were the first to rally and say that I would beat this. While I understand that have I have a huge fight and a very LONG road in front of me I feel confident that after so many years of going downhill we have not only laid a foundation to truly start the healing process, but am starting to move forward.
This is simply because YOU have faithfully walked this road with me, blessed me with emotional support, given of yourselves, given abundant financial gifts that humble me, and for all of your countless support in hundreds of different ways. I am honored to call you friends. You have never claimed to be so but you truly are my heroes. To those of you that have contributed money specifically for treatment I can't begin to express my humble gratitude. You truly provided the means to help me obtain treatment and fight for my life. Without you this would not be possible! Your sacrificial gifts have reminded me that the Lord provides everyday and are a beautiful reminder that He will continue to provide each day in the upcoming year. To those of you that have listened as I have expressed so many feelings in the past and have been incredibly kind with your words and encouragement I am so grateful. Your conversations and your words have truly touched my heart. What a BLESSING you are! To my precious blog readers and those who have connected with me through my books, your words have truly been a beautiful encouragement as I share my heart here on the blog and in my books. You have been a beautiful blessing this past year and I look forward to connecting with you more in the upcoming year!
Through tears I have questioned the Lord as to why this journey is so long. Truthfully, I have not heard an answer to my many questions. Instead the Lord beautifully wipes my tears away and promises that He would never leave me and He has faithfully kept that promise. Truly, "wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And HOPE. And LIGHT. And... even beauty." (Joni Erickson Tada) I read a phrase recently that has truly spoken to me: “no matter the circumstance we are still under the same auspice”. How beautifully true. Even in the times that we think that the Lord has forsaken or forgotten us we can rest assured that our precious Lord has NOT and He has us engraved on the palms of His hands! (Is. 49:14-16). As I close out this letter I want you to know that no matter the circumstances sweet friends we are still under the same auspice. Hold fast to Him. Rest in His Him. May you be abundantly blessed by His love, His Joy, His Comfort, & HIS peace this season & in the year to come!
With lots of love,
"Nic the PICC" celebrated his 8 week "birthday" this week, and I celebrated 8 weeks closer to healing!
"I have no fear! What is in store for me shall find me self-reliant, undismayed. God grant my only cowardice may be: Afraid to be afraid!"
I received so many messages yesterday regarding what aired on Real Housewives with one of Yolanda Foster's co-stars questioning "how sick" she is and if Lyme Disease is real and went as far as to say that "it seems strange that she's like "happy selfie, sick selfie, happy selfie, sick selfie..." (in regards to her Instagram feed). I was told by people that they couldn't believe that this happened & surely this is an exaggeration made for reality TV. Maybe it was but what bothers me is that this is a part of the battle for those fighting Lyme Disease: the questions regarding this disease & the questions on the length of time to get better.
As some of you know & are aware I saw more than 273 doctors before I was correctly & accurately diagnosed with Advanced Late Stage Lyme Disease. I have had numerous doctors (including some of the "top specialists" in the country) tell me that Lyme Disease "doesn't exist". And after I received a correct diagnosis the journey didn't end... it had just begun.
I have had Instagram & blog followers question my decision to share "happy times" along with the struggle of fighting a serious & deadly illness. I have had people who I thought were my closest and best friends walk away because the journey was "too long". I have had people say insensitive and rude comments including: "Well at least its not Cancer" (which I am also fighting), and "I wish that I could stay in bed all day and didn't have to work", and "Wow... you have gained a lot of weight for someone who is supposedly so sick" (thank you certain medications!) and "You aren't better yet? Are you sure you have the right diagnosis?" and "what is the disease that you are fighting again? Lame Disease?".
Here is the thing: Lyme patients are fighting for their health, their lives, and for their future. The road to healing is a long and winding journey that takes everything you have to get better (physically, emotionally, financially, etc) and everyday is different and a battle. This doesn't change the fact that Lyme Disease is real, but instead makes me pray for a world that will stop with the judgments & spend that energy to find a cure.
Questioning a disease because you don't understand it doesn't fix or help anyone, it just spreads ignorance. Questioning a disease because your medical training doesn't know how to treat it doesn't help a patient, it simply means we need better training. Questioning a disease because we don't have a cure doesn't make it go away, it just prolongs the suffering of those who are fighting it.
I want to say a special "thank you" to Bravo TV for airing this part of your episode. While I personally have never watched RHOBH before your willingness to share this might have been only for good TV, but you have shed light on a bigger issue in the United States. I hope that this brings about a greater discussion for not only patients, but for the medical community at large. Yolanda, thank you for sharing your story with all of us & being a voice for so many. To those co-stars who support Yolanda Foster you are a welcome blessing for each Lyme Warrior. And to those who choose to spend time questioning I urge you to use your energy & influence to change the course of history by helping us find a cure.
"In the fullness of time, the mainstream handling of Chronic Lyme Disease will be viewed as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of medicine because elements of academic medicine, elements of government and virtually the entire insurance industry have colluded to deny a disease."
-Dr. Kenneth Liegner-
Lyme Warriors- you are heard, you are not alone, and we will never give up.
On our 5th full day of cruising we arrived in St. John and had a delightful time exploring the city which I shared about HERE. After exploring the quaint city of St. John in the morning we boarded a bus for one of the excursions that Carnival Cruise offered entitled, "St.Martin and the Bay of Fundy".
Our drive out to St. Martin's was a bit of a drive that allowed us plenty of time to see the beautiful Canadian countryside.
The Canadian land against the grey skies was truly a beautiful site to behold.
The drive to St.Martin's took about an hour and 20 minutes to get to from our cruise ship.
The drive into St. Martin's allowed us some close up views of some of the homes that have been in existence for many decades and allowed us closer views of the sea.
As we drove into the quiet fishing village of St. Martin's our tour guide shared with us how the tide changes radically throughout the day.
One of the things that St.Martin's "boasts" as a tourist attraction is that this is the only place in the world where you can take a photograph with two covered bridges in one picture. Our tour guide built this up so much that there was a big group of us that wanted to take this picture. As a photographer I love having a little bit of time to capture a memory of what I am seeing but that is definitely not what happened here! Before our tour guide let us off the bus she made the announcement that we had exactly 15 minutes in St. Martin's and then she would ring her cow bell and if we weren't on the bus she was leaving us. I am giggling as I am writing this remembering how a whole group of us was running around like crazy people trying to snap this "important" picture and then all looking at each other like "wait, is this all that it is?" and sure enough the cow bell started to ring so we all ran back as fast our legs would carry us! hahaha!
After our quick stop in St. Martin's we drove out to the St. Martin's Sea Caves.
The Sea Caves were beautiful to see!
I had a lovely time picking up rocks along the coast collecting them for us and some friends and family members. As we collected I suggested that we spend some time praying for each of the people we were collecting them for and for our trip that was such a lovely adventure!
I know that some of you reading this many be curious if I would recommend this particular excursion. This excursion was approximately 3 and a half hours and since we purchased it ahead of time it cost us $65. Honestly, I think that there is a reason for the mixed reviews that you will find on the website. While I loved seeing parts of Canada that I might not have seen otherwise, I really don't feel that I could recommend this excursion as much as the one from Portland that I talked about HERE. In the other excursion we had a fantastic tour guide, felt that we were able to see a lot of Maine and learn a lot along the way and have some adequate time at each of the spots that we stopped in. Unfortunately this was not the case with this excursion. Our tour guide unfortunately portrayed a very strange attitude as she talked down to those of us on the tour, wouldn't speak loudly enough for some of the people in the back of the bus to hear her (or would literally scream when someone asked her to talk loudly) and seemed to pride herself on sharing about her house (which she pointed out to us and kept talking about) and about her daughter's book (which she kept mentioning as the thing to purchase at the small gift shop). Neither of these things are bad but combined with our other experiences with her it definitely gave a strange vibe as it made it seem like she was more interested in sharing her life instead of the tour information. Unlike other tour guides that I have had in my travels this one was definitely the exception and it definitely affected my review. Most of the excursion was spent riding in the bus to St. Martin's and the time at both St. Martin's and the Sea Caves totaled approximately 35 minutes. After we left the Sea Caves (where the tour guide threatened to leave Michelle behind and I was literally standing in the doorway to prevent this from happening as she kept ringing her cow bell in my ear!!hahaha!) we drove back to our cruise ship. The definite positive part was seeing some of the Canadian countryside but the negative was that there was such little time where we were at and the tour guide.
At the end of the day though I truly believe every experience is what you make of it and my favorite part of any trip is having the opportunity to spend it with friends and loved ones! I had so much fun laughing through this tour and had a blast because we chose to make it fun!
Have y'all visited the Bay of Fundy before? I would love to hear your suggestions of places to see if you have!
Happy Saturday friends! There are only 3 more days to order from my shop and use the coupon "christmasjoy" for 15% off your order! My shop will be closing for a month starting on December 15th so you will want to get your orders in quickly!! THANK YOU so much to all of y'all who have ordered from my shop and supported this adventure throughout this past year! You are truly a blessing!!
Also- I added a few new items to the shop that you might want to check out that would make wonderful Christmas gifts including:
a pre-designed "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" altered journal,
an adorable mini-altered journal that would be perfect for the traveler in your life,
a couple of orange and green altered journals with special covers, and
a couple of these lovely "believe" journals that are perfect for this time of the year!
Don't forget: Only 3 more days to use the coupon "christmasjoy" with your order! Head on over to the shop by clicking HERE!
Merry Christmas friends!
Y'all I am so humbled and excited to share some comments that people have been saying about my book, "When Light Dawns" on social media! I am so touched, humbled, and overwhelmed by the kind words that some people have said:
"Super excited to start my new Advent book just for people with Lyme. It is not an easy season right now and I was so thankful to see that there is a book just for this season."
"I started mine last night and it was so so good! I caught up from Nov 27 to Dec 2- I couldn't put it down!"
These words meant so very much to my little heart because this is such an answer to my prayers!! THANK YOU so much to ALL of you that have purchased the book, have sent me encouraging emails, and have passed this book on to others fighting Lyme Disease. If you have read the book would you mind writing a review and sharing it on Amazon? As a new author this type of thing helps spread the word to others! Thank you so much!!
Most importantly, my prayer is that every person reading this book will be drawn closer to the heart of God. Would you please join me in that prayer? Thank you again! If you are looking to purchase the book you can buy it where books are sold and find it on Amazon HERE.
Thank you again! Happy Wednesday Friends!
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned."
-Isaiah 9:2-
I have always loved the month of December! *smiles* It is filled with the HOPE of Christmas and the birth of a baby who is everything. There are so many beautiful things to ponder: days filled with family and friends, delightful sunsets and sunrises, precious quiet, laughter, and beautiful snow. But more than any circumstances there is the opportunity to step back and remember once again the most precious gift of the season does not come wrapped in a gift but in God's great love. Truly we who walk in darkness due to earthly pain are reminded of the beautiful light that has dawned, our baby King and Savior.
Praying that you have a wonderful December dear friends, reminded everyday of the beautiful light that has dawned and the hope that has come!
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