When Robin was pregnant with each of our three kids her tiny frame meant she had a giant belly. She was one of those women who was all belly. We were pretty excited and we joked a lot. I remember struggling to climb out of our water bed. I joked about wanting a foam harpoon. One of my favorite pictures was of her standing knee-deep in the Saco river with a string of middle school students hanging off her in the current. I laughed hearing one of them yell, “Quick! Swim to the raft!” He, I think it was Ralph, declared my round little Robin, “the raft.”

In the final weeks her turkey timer would pop. Her innie belly button became an outie. My sweetie was an awesome preggo. How many women do you know who would have taken a canoe trip with a group of teenagers on a canoe trip two weeks before delivery? We joked about naming our firstborn Hiram Fryeburg Linscott if he had been been born on the Saco River somewhere between Hiram and Fryeburg. Just think, we’d have no Joshua Abram today.

I’m pretty sure I’m not pregnant but liver disease has made my innie an outie as ascites fluid keeps leaking into my gut. My timer has popped. My belly is giant. I’ve got no baby to deliver though. No one is going to bring me little Red Sox onesies or Vermont Teddy Bears. My timer has popped because I have a diseased, scarred, pitted liver. The pictures are downright nasty.

My first two days at Lahey Transplant clinic went very well … and then I came home and caught a bug. My next appointment had to be rescheduled because of the nausea, pain and misery from a stupid little cold that anyone else would have easily fought off. Did you know your liver plays a role in your immune system kinda like putting up the shields on the Starship Enterprise? When the shields go down, the Klingon attack hits full force. Every shot is felt.

Now, instead of having my final status and answer from Lahey on Jan. 20, I have to wait until Jan. 31. This Friday I will head to Burlington again for an EKG with a stress test. That should be fun. How am I going to handle a treadmill when a walk from the parking lot already pushes me to the limit?

This morning a coughing spell woke me at 3:30 AM. I came downstairs and made a cup of tea with honey and lemon, brushed out the pellet stove, packed a box of something I sold on Ebay and then blogged.

This liver disease thing sucks but it’s my life right now. Why? I don’t know. Why do children die? Why does the healthy dad drop dead from an annuerism leaving his family behind? Is it God’s fault? I don’t believe it is. My faith gives me strength to face the aches and pains of life. It gives me purpose and hope. I don’t believe my Jesus makes quarterbacks win, empower beauty queens or celebrates Golden Globe or Academy Awards. He is pumped about people who invite Him to help them navigate life’s challenges. He is pumped about us truly loving others.

Gas up the car, Hiram! Ragtime concert Jan 29

Fill-your-freezer raffle tickets $5 each, $10 for 3, $35 book of ten

The ancient book I like to read boils down to two things Jesus said:

1. Love God
2. Love Others

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they thought up a fresh question of their own to ask him. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:34-40 NLT