My name is Deborah Louise Kenmir. I am the oldest of 6 children, we were all born in Stockton, California. I have been married 35 years to my husband Patrick. We have two daughters, Terra who will be 33 in December and Erica who is 26. Terra was born with several disabilities. She has cerebral palsy, microcephalic (I found out later she was missing the corpus collusm in her brain and a part of the fronal lobe) she is total dependent on a care giver, I took care of her until she was 25 and then she was put in a group home. Erica was diagnosed with ADHD and learning problems at a early age, I now believe she has asperger's syndrome, but she has never been diagnosed. I am proud of her because she has her certificate in child developement, is working toward her AA degree and works with toddlers at the college she goes to. Children that have special needs tend to be drawn to Erica. I had my hands filled with taking care of my two daughters for several years, it was a very difficult time in my life, extreemly stressful. As each year passed I gained more and more weight, I felt isolated and depressed.

In 2005 after 27 years I received my AA Degree, I was working toward my certificate in Human Services but I ended up in the hospital with a deformed foot (charcot foot) and had to have surgery. I ended up in the hospital 3 more times that year because of infection in the surgical area. I don't heal well because I am diabetic and I have neurophy in my feet, legs, and hands. I ended up having a central line put in so I could administer antibiotics to myself.  I just recently healed up from a diabetic ulcer. Diabeties runs in my family, my grandmother, mom, several aunt and uncles and 4 of my siblings are diabetic. My sister who is 48 had gestational diabetes but does not have diabetes 2 like the rest of us.

When my husband and I got married he was in the AF stationed in England. I enjoyed being in England,it was so beautiful there but I soon got bored and decided to join the AF myself. So I came back to the states to go to Basic Training in Texas and then Tech School in Colorado. After Tech School I rejoined my husband in England. Twelve months later we had my daughter Terra. Because of her problems I felt it would be better for me to stay home with her, so I was discharged from thje AF. We continued living in England for another year then my husband was restationed in Germany. It was nice being in Germany. A friend of mine came to visit me and we went on a five country tour, there is so much history there and I loved the county side. When I was a kid I remember reading Hiedi which takes place in Switzerland, I remember thinking I wanted to go ther some time. I was blessed to be able to do that. We were in Germany for about a year and were restationed to the United States on a hardship so Terra could get help and start early schooling. We ended up in Arizona for a couple years, very hot there. Then we were stationed in Northern California were my youngest daughter was born. We were also close to family for the first time in our marriage. We were restationed to Southern California when Erica was 14 months old. When we left that area Erica was 12 and Terra was 18. For the second time in our married life we lived close to family. It was not easy fitting in with family because we had been gone for over 20 years. Now I live in the foothills. It is pretty up here. We have 1 cat his name is screwball, we named him that because he was always doing crazy things. We have 3 goldfish one is very big and very animated, we enjoy watching them. My daugther has 2 rabbits upstairs, Tish and Sammy. Tish is a sweet heart and loves my daughter. Sammy is mad at the world. We also enjoy watching the deer outside. My husband feeds them. We have named some of them, they know their names and we have our favorites.

I am so grateful that I am a Christian and that I could go to the Lord for help. I don't think I could have made it thru all the trials I have been thru without Him. I have also had some wonderful family and friends over the years to help.