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Did you ever witness something so beautiful that it went round and round in your head and you just had to tell someone or write it down or something? I really should have titled this "God's Miracles".

The story starts when we were planning a sister "slumber party" at my house. There are four of us, me, Fran, Dottie and Carolyn and we do this every time Dottie who lives in Georgia comes for a visit. Carolyn is the only one not retired so we have to do it on a weekend.

It was early Friday afternoon and we had time to do a little shopping before Carolyn got off work. While in the store Dottie's phone rang which was a surprise because it hadn't been working. It was Carolyn. She had left work early for a doctor's appointment and needed directions. We were only a mile or so away so we told her to stay "put" and we'd be right there for her to follow us to my house. In the five or six minutes it took us to get there her Doctor called and told her to get to the hospital immediately. The tests he had taken earlier showed her kidneys had failed.

When Jesus was on earth he touched people and they were healed. So many unusual circumstances were happening this day that we began to realize He was down here on earth working miracles. First Dottie's phone worked just this once. We were only a mile or so away. Fran was with us and since Carolyn thought of her as a second mother this was the person she needed most right now to go to the hospital with her. Actually, the very first miracle this day was what her Doctor did. She had cancelled her appointment for lack of money but he told her to come on in and he would not charge.

At the hospitalk, surgery was performed to put a temporary "port' (a dialysis catheter in the blood) in her neck and the first of Carolyn's dialysis began. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for four hours after work she went for this life-saving treatment. There were about 40 people getting dialysis at this same time waiting for a transplant. . One had been there for 7 years, six or seven died and only one person in two years had received a kidney. These dialysis centers are all over town and this one in use all day. Way too many people need a kidney.

I can't imagine how hopeless this time was for her. Sometimes she couldn't take the full four hours, the surgery for a more permanent "port" failed and they had to start all over in the other arm. To even get on the kidney transplant list her teeth had to be extracted, the film on her eyes removed and tests and more tests taken to find out what else needed to be done. She managed to go to work and to different family celebrations but she looked so sick.

Several of us offered her a kidney. It turns out her siblings were too old and her children couldn't because of different health problem. A donor has to be in excellent health, never having had cancer, thyroid problems or any past health problems.

A little background: our parents were young when they had their first five children. Mother was 17 years old when I was born and 25 when she had the fifth baby. As we grew up we began to leave home about as fast as we were born into it. Our dad loved his kids and talked our mother, when she was 37 years old, into having another baby.. This baby was our sister Carolyn. When she was almost 3 years old the grandchildren started coming and kept coming and kept coming...her words...and tearing up her things.

One of those pesky grandkids named Carla checked with her Doctor to see if she could be a donor and it turned out that she was healthy and a perfect match. At first Carolyn resisted. "What if you need that kidney down the road. What if the surgery doesn't go well, etc etc ". Carla wouldn't take no for an answer and proceeded to do everything necessary to make it happen.

The transplant surgery was scheduled. They each thought they would color their hair to look pretty and found out in the nick of time that the surgery would have been postponed if they had done that..,.another intervention from God. They checked in at the hospital and were put in rooms across from each other. Carla went first and Carolyn said it was only when she saw them take her out of the room did she let herself believe it was really going to happen. She had been on dialysis for 2 years.

And happen, it did very successfully. It's been six months and it's fun to watch the bond Carla and Carolyn have and the good-natured ribbing between them. They both work downtown and take long walks on their lunch hour. Carolyn says Carla is trying to kill her and Carla says she's just taking care of both her kidneys. It's beautiful to see Carolyn healthy again and Carla did this with no worry, no fear, no doubts, more like "no big deal". Even though Jesus isn't physically on earth He was working His miracles in this whole process and I am so thankful to Him for loving us and always being with us.