Back in North Carolina, every once in a blue moon - just after the first good cold spell - somebody's pig would die under mysterious circumstances. There'd be a burial of course, and some folks would come and sit up all night with the family, sharing memories, telling stories - and keeping a fire lit under that pig! By the next afternoon, when he was good and roasted, friends and neighbors were coming with covered dishes and homemade desserts, and what had begun as a sad and solemn ocassion became what folks back home call an old-fashioned pig pickin'.

So anyway, our pig died...

And that's how it all began, after a long hard summer when the roof literally fell in, and life seemed to suddenly take on the appearance of an ugly ogre out to get us. Our faith was shaken, our hearts broken. And it wasn't until the change of seasons--when the scorching days of summer finally relented to the cool autumn nights--that we, too, underwent a change. Even without its luster, life was still good. We had survived! And then one morning we woke up with a great desire to celebrate life.

We hope your life always holds reason to celebrate. And we hope that, should the ugly ogre ever start dogging your heels, you have the courage to turn and face it, and wipe the sleep from your eyes, and recognize it for the mere shadow it really is.