Our “Causes” Close to Our Hearts…

Today we are breaking from our regular topics like decorating, DIY’ing and entertaining to talk more seriously about a new feature we have added to our sidebar here at Magnolia Lane.

At some point, We plan to write out a post about how our blog began, but for now I can just say 11 Magnolia Lane was originally “born” as a place on the internet to gain a following and launch a charity to support the causes we are writing about today. Long story, but for now you will have to take my word for it and I promise to share the whole story soon. Obviously, blogging together has brought the three of us to places way beyond where we could have envisioned, and now we feel like we need to return for a day to give back what we can.

Last Friday morning, I happened to see this post at one of my favorite blogs,  A Thoughtful Place. An hour later I was still at my computer, {in my pj’s!} working on adding this sweet charity‘s button to our lower sidebar, just totally unable to comprehend the challenges the family Courtney wrote about faces each day.

I too, have a family member with juvenile, or Type 1, diabetes, thankfully not one as young as the son in Courtney’s story, and my two cousins suffer from it as well.  New technologies are making treating diabetes easier, but at the end of the day, constant blood sugar monitoring is the only way to ensure healthy insulin levels. That means finger stick after stick, a nightmare for a young child and constant diligence for the parents. Blood sugar fluctuations can be scary, we have had many sleep-deprived nights in our house and more then a few close calls.

Diabetes is a confusing disease. Popular “diabetics” like Paula Dean suffer from Type 2–known as adult onset, which can often be managed by medication and healthy lifestyle changes. Type 1 occurs when a child’s body ceases to produce insulin, and therefore must have their blood sugar levels continually checked and regulated by synthetic insulin–for the rest of their life.

So after speaking with Christy and Terry and we’ve each decided to showcase our chosen charity here, in separate posts.  While we’ve each been supporting our personal charities, we will be dedicating a portion of the revenue we receive from participating in the BlogHer network among these organizations we feel are deserving, the ones closest to our hearts.

Thank you for listening to my story, I like many others, hope and pray for a day when there is a cure for diabetes. “The goal of JDRF research is to improve the lives of all people affected by Type 1 Diabetes by accelerating progress on the most promising opportunities for curing, better treating, and preventing Type 1 Diabetes”. Thank you for supporting us by visiting our site and in a small way helping JDRF in the fight to end Type 1 Diabetes forever.

Christy will be back with her post this afternoon about the organization closest to her heart.

Thanks for stopping by!