For each of us, there is a point in time when the course of our actions taken will change or firmly seal the direction of our life. For fifty-five-year-old Allyson Gregory, her defining moment was when she was eighteen and a college freshman. Because of a brief fool-hearted relationship, she had become pregnant. When the boyfriend quickly fled town, her twin sister, Jackie, and their roommate, Bets, rallied around a frightened, brokenhearted Allyson to help her face that nightmare together.

Every year, on August 8, Allyson relives the memory of the birth of her baby boy and then the painful time that followed when she gave him up for adoption.

Because of her Christian upbringing, abortion was never an option. Adoption was the only avenue for the young Allyson. As the years passed, Allyson graduated college, met and married Kyle Gregory, and they had a daughter, Shelley Ann. Starting and building a pottery business with her sister, Jackie, gave her life enrichment with her family. Throughout all the events of those busy years, deep in the recesses of her heart and mind lingered the shadow of her baby boy. What has his life been like? Was he loved and cared for? Did he hate her for giving him up? She could not rest her thoughts on the all-important question: Was he all right?

Often it is in the midst of difficulty that we find our greatest opportunities to experience God's love. We know that our trials are a part of our spiritual journey and that our Lord will mature us through the suffering as we submit to His will. I wanted to write a story about just such a woman, Allyson Gregory, facing and dealing with devastating loss.

In Allyson's Journey, Backward, we meet the baby boy, Matthew Williamson, now a grown man and suffering from leukemia. Because of the urgency of this life-or-death situation, he is able to obtain his adoption papers to find his birth parents' information. He is humbled that she is anxious to help him through the bone marrow transplant process. Allyson gave him life once, and now she wants to help restore that life to good health. As the various characters weave themselves throughout the story, Allyson and Matthew rebuild their own lives with a renewed strength and pride.

I hope you will be interested in reading the fictional story, Allyson's Journey, Backward, as I believe that the issue of teen pregnancy, abortion, and adoption is relevant to today's circumstances.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.