ML woman releases devotional book based on life experiences, faith in God

By RYAN LANCASTER

Staff Reporter

There have been periods in the life of first-time author Barbara Sybil that provided rich fodder for her devotional book “Strengthening Through Trials.”

“We all have different trials in our lives,” Sybil said. “Death, divorce, job loss, even boredom and heartache; regardless of what we personally face, our trials can help us relate to each other.”

Through the 30 stories and poems that make up her book, Sybil said she strives to encourage others to get through hard times by realizing the lessons inherent in struggle and by finding strength and hope through God and others. “I get hope through my daughter. For me, my daughter is my lifeline,” she said. “Others may have a different lifeline; sometimes the lifeline is thin and sometimes it's visible.”

In 2006, shortly after moving back to Medical Lake after seven years living in Illinois, a messy divorce left Sybil alone to care for her disabled daughter, Annah, in a town she no longer knew. Annah, now 23, was born with cerebral palsy and gastroschisis, a defect in which a newborn's intestines are on the outside of the body.

Numerous health complications have led to some close calls for Annah over the years, most recently this past March when she was rushed into emergency surgery to remove scar tissue only to emerge with a high heart rate and low oxygen levels. After spending three weeks in the hospital, two in intensive care, Sybil was told her daughter had just days, maybe a few weeks, to live.

Annah will celebrate her 24th birthday on Dec. 1, although she still undergoes treatments every three hours to help her breathe. “She had a touch of bronchitis in July but overall is doing very well,” Sybil said, adding that her daughter is non-verbal but facially expressive, which helps them communicate.

Sybil, 45, said she receives funding through the state's Division of Developmental Disabilities, enabling her to act as her daughter's full-time caregiver. “It allows me not to have to worry about work because sometimes she can get sick quickly and is susceptible to viruses from the outside,” she said. “When she's in the hospital, that's where I am.”

Nearby family, including her parents and her three boys, also help care for Annah on occasion, but Sybil is quick to clarify, “Annah is no burden; she's a joy and helps me remember that life is fragile; nobody knows when we'll go.”

Sybil's book, printed through an online publisher this summer, contains stories about herself, but also about her daughter. “We're together all the time…It can't just be about me, we do so much together and I'm her voice.”

Sybil calls the book an “act of love” which many friends helped her complete. One friend, who lives in Athens, helped her format and proof the manuscript via the Internet and is in the process of translating it into Greek for publication there. Another friend took the cover photo, an image of the Spokane River running at it's highest point last spring, which Sybil calls “fitting” for the content.

“Being my first time publishing it isn't easy to get it out there,” said Sybil, adding that, though she's sold few copies so far, she hopes a Dec. 3 book signing at Spokane's Aunties Bookstore will help with exposure. She said she looks forward to talking with people about their struggles and introducing them to her daughter, who will join her at the signing.

Sybil recalls discussing Annah's condition with the parent of a child who suffered from seizures, after which both said with a headshake that they could never deal with the other's situation. “I've learned that what I have in my life is what I can handle,” she said. “I don't see my life as any harder than anyone else's, it's just different. I just want to sympathize with people and say that there is always hope.”

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].