Dearest Irene,

I can’t begin to tell you how shocked I was to learn of your illness.  It’s amazing how life when seems to be going well, it can bring such devastating circumstances and can change so much.  I realize that most circumstances that families may face, in comparison, don’t come close to the crisis you and your family are facing… I know that you are facing them with spiritual faith, with strength, grace and dignity, accompanied with a little humor, and a smile on your face, surrounded by the loving hands of your Father, a staff filled with His Spirit, your family and a multitude of friends who all love and admire you.  I am sending you a verse you can add to your list: Psalm 139.13-18.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

Before I close… Irene, I have to tell you that the entry Dave wrote about you is, without a doubt, the most beautiful acknowledgment a husband has ever written about his wife.  The most important part about it is that I know Dave meant every word of it, and that you deserved every word of it.  You have been pure in heart, mind and spirit…I must say, even with all the tribulations that accompany the enormous battle that you and your family are facing, you are still the envy of all women!

Sending you loving wishes and prayers to you, Dave and the girls,

Margie and Dennis Anderson