Loving London Lara

If you are on facebook, you have likely seen this photograph amongst many of your friends (especially if you have Lyme Disease).

This is a very good friend of mine Alisa Turner.  I have written about her before - Alisa & I share a bond that I don't just share with just anyone. I do make friends easily. I don't know a stranger, but when Alisa walked into our doctor's office and I looked into her soul I knew I had a friend for life.  I slouched in one chair while she slouched down in another.  We both looked how the other one felt.  Exhausted doesn't even begin to describe our physical and emotional demeanor on the day we met.  We were spent, both physically and emotionally.  I picked my head up off the back of the chair and looked her way.  I mustered up a smile and she smiled back.  We spoke few words that day, but I saw her soul and she saw mine.

This was about April of 2007.  Here we are 5 years and 8 months later and we are still friends.  She has since met and married the man of her dreams.  They moved away and we communicate on Facebook and via text messages occasionally.  Our souls are so intertwined that it is almost like we know when we need the other.  I'll be having a terrible day and I'll get a message from Alisa of encouragement and support. It lightens up my spirit.  It happens the other way around too.  I won't be able to get Alisa out of my mind so I'll send her a message and shortly after she'll respond back that I knew the words her heart needed to hear that day.

Back in May 2012, I felt a terrible urgency to get in touch with her.  I kept sending her messages and never really got a great response back.  I was worried.  You see, I have these dreams.  Some people know about them and some people don't.  I get these terribly realistic and sometimes prophetic dreams and I dreamed that something horrific happened to my friend, my best Lyme friend.

I went to her youtube channel and listened to her most recent vlog.  It had been posted at the end of April, but I didn't realize it.  You see, my friend Alisa is an artist. She writes and sings the most beautiful songs.  And this particular song - was called Faithful Til The End.  Faithful Til The End By Alisa Turner.  She called it "not her best song," but I disagreed.  It gave me goosebumps and her demeanor makes me cry.  It reminded me of the day I met her where we barely had the energy to muster a smile and yet she was able to produce such lovely sound and lyrics that it reduced me to tears very quickly.  Every time I hear it, I cry all over again. "He has never left me" gives me goose bumps and sounds so haunting.

I received very few correspondence from Alisa between May and August. It had me worried, but I just prayed for her.  I knew what ever she was going through was so unbelievably difficult that she just needed prayers.  I stayed quiet and every once in a while I'd send a message of encouragement.  Then in August, she shared with the world that she was pregnant.  A miracle baby.  You see a lot of Lymies have trouble getting pregnant and staying that way simple because most of our  hormones are so out of whack that pregnancy is near impossible.  Not to mention the physical stress on the body and the risks of transmitting the disease to your child -

In Alisa's case:  She had virtually zero of one of the hormones necessary to sustain a viable pregnancy, but God always provides.  Jaime & Alisa got the news in May that Alisa was pregnant.  She kept the pregnancy to herself because she was certain that she would have limited time with her precious tadpole.   They decided that after her ultrasound at the 12 week point they would share the news with close family if things were still looking good with their precious miracle's fluttering heartbeat. As she would share in her own facebook note in August, they received news that their precious miracle had a birth defect known as Anencephaly.

Here we are 20 weeks after receiving the news and Alisa is preparing to say hello and goodbye to her precious SON, London Daniel Lara.  She posted a facebook note with all of the specifics and I won't go into them all here, but Alisa & Jaime decided that they wanted as much time as possible with their son.   The time is coming to a close however because tomorrow - Alisa will be undergoing a c-section under general anesthesia at 32 weeks.    Her doctors have all agreed it is best for her health to have London at 32 weeks.  She recently posted a video about her pregnancy and Lyme

So today:  I come to you and ask for you to pray for my best Lyme friend Alisa & her husband Jaime.  I've read her birth plan and it is heart breaking and inspiring.   I wish she were close so that I could support her more.  I'm supporting her as much as I can from North Carolina and I ask that you support her too by praying that she will get to enjoy some moments with her son as she says hello and goodbye, particularly allowing her to "sleep" while her son London lays on her chest breathing.


Okay well I have tears falling down my cheeks now -
so I share with you something I've written for Alisa inspired by two of her songs:

Beacon of Hope

Even in your darkest hours

you are faithful to the 

One that holds the beacon of light.

Take that beacon of light

and shine it for the world to see

For through you, Jaime & London

People have found Jesus.

Souls have begun to pray repeatedly

Souls that have never prayed before

until they discovered you

at your darkest hour

being faithful til the end to the

One that holds the beacon of light,

the beacon of hope.

I love you with all of my heart

with all of my soul

with all of my spirit.

Your spirit shines through 

For all of us to see

Even in your darkest hour

where hope meets sadness.

Jennifer