PKU Awareness

Since today is the last day of PKU Awareness Month, I wanted to do a blog post and share it on facebook to remind everyone I know and just get the word out about this rare occurence and how it affects real people...people you know. If you have time please be sure to read as many of my posts about PKU as you can, as well as the description on the right side of the page. Even if you've already read it, read it again. Everyone who cares for my Carson or anyone else with PKU needs a reminder once in a while.

I want to reflect for just a moment on the purpose of this blog. When I first started writing on this blog a few years ago, I was desperate for a connection, to find anyone out there with whom I could relate because I felt like we were so alone. That was a successful endeavor. I have happened upon several blogs of people and families who also deal with PKU. One of the first people to send me a message was Shane Austerman. He and his wife and son live in Iowa, many miles from my home here in Alabama, and their son, only 4 months younger than Carson, also has PKU. I have connected with this family, with Jackee, I follow their blog, we have communicated by email and send Christmas cards each year. For that, I am so thankful. To have other people's experiences to read and to share means so much to me.

Ten Years...One Amazing Life

Ten years ago today I met the man of my dreams. God heard my prayers and my pleas from heaven and He finally saw fit to send me my heart's greatest desire. This time ten years ago I was taking charge of my life and evaluating what I really wanted. I was in a relationship that was not what God wanted for me. It was not what anybody wanted for me. I knew it already, it just took courage for me to finally admit it. At that point I began searching my soul for what it truly wanted. I wrote a beautiful journal entry all about it. I wrote out on paper exactly what I wanted in a man. I had begun reading a book God lead me to at the bookstore called "Boy Meets Girl". I cannot find that book anywhere in my stuff! It was written by the same author who wrote "I Kissed Dating Goodbye". Ironically I did not agree with the first book at the time it was written. Just like the author, God changed my heart. That book helped me see inside myself and realize what I wanted. And on this date ten years ago He saw fit to send that precious gift into my life.

This anniversary is even more special to me than will be our tenth wedding anniversary next year, for when we got married I already had what I wanted. This date, May 11th, is the most special day that changed my life forever. This date always reminds me of God's faithfulness to answer prayers and grant our heart's desires and reminds me how much I have to be thankful for. God orchestrated this part of my life so perfectly there was no doubt it was meant to happen this way. Neither one of us had a clue what life had in store for us that day.

About a week before this date ten years ago I was sitting in the parking lot at a gas station waiting to go in to visit an old friend. I was on the phone with my girlfriend Kara, informing her that I had ended my previous relationship. I had been in this relationship for 3 years and we were engaged to be married. It was a pretty serious deal. Yet she already was trying to set me up! Before we hung up she told me she and her granny had somebody they wanted me to go out with, someone I didn't even know existed. I told her I did not want to be set up and it was too soon and I just needed some time to be single and find myself again. She was disappointed. On May 11, 2002, I called her while I was in town again and asked her what she was doing. We had no plans together and had not talked. She said she was in Walmart doing some shopping for Mother's Day. Ironically, I was in the parking lot at Walmart myself! We agreed to meet inside and make plans from there. As we were leaving the store, she saw someone waving at her from across the parking lot. She said to me, "Hey Jennifer, that's the guy I told you we wanted you to meet! Let's go talk to him!" I was furious and declined. I did not want to be set up. She argued with me that we couldn't be rude because he had already seen us and waved, so we had to go talk to him. She was right, of course. We walked across the parking lot toward him and the rest, as they say, is history. His name was Marty Rice, and he is the man I married. That night we ate at Buena Vista with him and some friends, then we went bowling. He and I even went back into Walmart later to get his mother a gift. When I got home that night, I wrote the last entry into my diary that God had given me hope that there were good people left in this world. That was all I needed to say. I thought he didn't exist, and yet there he was! The reason I shared this story is so everyone would know it wasn't planned by us, it was a divine accident, divine intervention. God meant for it to happen. It was His perfect answer in His perfect plan in His perfect time.

I'm not saying everything is perfect or ever was, but he was and is perfect for me. When I look back over these last ten years I have more to be thankful for than I ever imagined possible. God has truly blessed us with ONE AMAZING LIFE together.

Together, Marty and I have been on TEN cruises! Traveling has been one of our favorite memories of our life together. It is our favorite hobby.
2002: Bahamas
2003: Honeymoon in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados
2004: from New Orleans to Jamaica and Cozumel
2005: Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Labadee
2006: Spring: Western Caribbean again
Fall: HAWAII!
2007: March: Southern Caribbean, including St. Kitts
October: SPAIN, FRANCE, AND ITALY!!
2008: Bahamas, our farewell to the ship where it all began, Sovereign of the Seas
2011: Alaska

We got married on September 27, 2003, at 7:00pm, the perfect date.

Together, we built our house and moved in on February 29, 2004. Leap day! Which occurred again this year.

We've also lost together. We've lost loved ones. We've lost a baby. We've lost jobs. We've lost pets. We've survived snow, hurricanes, and tornadoes. We've faced the challenges life has thrown us together.

Together, we have created two amazingly beautiful babies! Carson Allen was born August 16, 2009. Maggie Amelia was born March 16, 2012.

Marty found a new job. I finally realized my dream of graduating from college.

So far, we've made it through a lot together.

Together, we're going to experience much more. I am looking forward to it. I am so unbelievably grateful for my husband. I can never look back and doubt that I made the right decision for my life partner. God basically made the decision for me by handing him to me so obviously! I love God for doing that for me. Without Marty, I would not have the wonderful life I have today. This has been the most amazing ten years of my life. I hope they keep getting even more amazing from here. Thank you God and thank you Marty for the last Ten Years, and our most unbelievably, inexplicably, undeniably, breathtakingly wonderful AMAZING LIFE! I love you! Happy Anniversary of the day we met!