Sue and I started this blog over two years ago as a way of keeping family and friends informed about Sue's serious (then serious) health problems. We titled the blog "Sue's Journey to Health," not knowing just where the journey might lead but filled with hope in the face of some dire circumstances. Sue has indeed journeyed back to health although not completely to wholeness. [Her recent problem, low sodium that caused flu-like symptoms, has been tied to her medication. With a change to a new drug, her sodium levels have returned to normal and she to feeling quite well again.]

Although healthy now, Sue's strange illness left her with limited use of her hands. Stem-cell research shows increasing promise for exactly this kind of an affliction, but it may be some time before the research delivers effective treatment. We personally know many people who suffer from ailments for which stem cell research holds great hope. Please join in the effort to change the political climate to free up monies for this valuable endeavor. We like to remember that once money started flowing into research for AIDS, it was a very short few years until AIDS became an illness one could live with rather than a death sentence.

All that said, we are changing the title of this blog to reflect more what it has become--a central place for posting information about far-flung family members. Right now we have five contributing editors, Sue, myself, Christopher (Sue's son), Catrina (Margaret and Norman's daughter), and most recently Stephanie (also Margaret and Norman's daughter). We would welcome more contributors, so if any Dear Reader wants to become a spokesperson and news channel for a branch of the family, just let us know. Any reader is invited to add comments by clicking on the "comment" icon. As always, we will post e-mails and photos that anyone wants to send us. We get valuable information that way, for example, Elaine's input about the early photo we posted where we had wrongly identified some of the people. [Brother Joe tells me he has found some parts of the 'Family Quiz' that need clarification and is preparing input on that.]

Stephanie tells me that she and Shelly are organizing photos and information gathered at the recent family reunion. They will be posting some of that material here.