Announcement    Welcome to my shop – Artsea Heart. My passion is to create one-of-a-kind “heart-work” to bless, encourage, celebrate and inspire your heart. All of my designs feature unique hand-lettering and genuine sea glass and/or heart-shaped rocks I have collected from the Connecticut shoreline during our visits for specialized medical treatment. A friend once said, “Out of our pain comes our passion, comes our purpose” – that is where our “heart” story begins.

Twenty-nine years ago I married my college sweetheart, Jim, an awesome trumpet player at Walt Disney World. Shortly after our first anniversary, the “in sickness” part of our wedding vows began as I became very ill with a lot of seemingly unconnected issues. No diagnosis was ever made, but I began treatment for all of the separate issues and our “in health” vows returned – or so we thought.

Fast forward fifteen years and two kids later – we were back “in sickness” only it was not just me fighting a mystery illness. Our 13 year old daughter and 8 year old son were terribly sick and steadily declining. Their bizarre symptoms puzzled and frustrated every doctor and Emergency room we went to for help. Before long, we were on our own.

At that point, we started testing our kids for everything – things that were not even endemic to our area - and amazingly, tests started to come back positive. We had a diagnosis! However, our joy was short-lived. Although the mystery illness had a name, there was no one in our area knowledgeable or willing to treat the kids and me. We would have to seek care out of state.

Thankfully, one such doctor did exist in Connecticut and within a few weeks our family of four began traveling to New Haven from Orlando, Florida to meet with this amazing specialist. That trip was the beginning of a new chapter in our lives – one that continues to this day.

Since 2006, our family has traveled to Connecticut at least thirty-six times for continued testing and updated treatment protocols. Traveling was and still is extremely challenging. Because we were always so sick, our time in Connecticut became a welcome break from life at home – sure we still had IV meds, lots of oral meds, wheelchairs and pain – but it was different and different was good.

While we spent most of our time in the hotel room too sick to go anywhere but the doctor’s office, there were times we managed to explore a stretch of shoreline close to where we were staying. There I discovered sea glass and heart rocks; something not found along our shell-filled beaches at home. What sweet gifts from the Lord.

As I stood there holding the soft, opaque piece of glass, another piece caught my eye - only it was clear with jagged edges. Two pieces from the same place yet extremely different. All it once it hit me, I wanted my life to reflect the beauty of pain like the smooth piece of sea glass – that all of the pain of our illness and all the trials that came with it, would wear down the sharp edges so I could be a blessing to others who were hurting.

In the fall of 2013, the tossing and tumbling of my life’s sea glass increased dramatically. As our son’s condition declined, we found it necessary to extend his treatment in Connecticut for two months. The kids and I lived in a hotel while my husband returned to Florida to continue working. So many people reached out to help us – folks from home as well as strangers in our new home-away-from-home.

I began creating artwork to give to the many wonderful people God provided to walk along side us while we were away from home. Using my ever-increasing supply of sea glass and heart rocks, my artwork featured hand-lettering of the phrase: “Out of our pain comes our passion; comes our purpose”. The response was both overwhelming and encouraging.

It has been almost five years since our extended, extensive medical trip and the kids and I continue to make progress, albeit slow. However, I am truly blessed to have found my passion and purpose through this painful illness. I get to share that blessing by creating special pieces of artwork using my hand-lettering and pieces of sea glass and heart rocks from my collection. I am grateful to share my blessings with you. – Debbie Derrick