Dance Even In The Rain: Day five: Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a very teeny tiny baby born. Her name was Madison. She was very sick and remained in the hospital for a long time. Finally the day came to take Madison home. Everyone was happy especially her twin brother,he had missed her so much. Madison grew and grew. Like any other baby she went to Elementary, Middle School, and High School.Now she is in College and will be graduating next year. She has had her struggles, but overcame them with God's grace. If youlike Madison have a disability don't worry just trust in God and surround yourself with positive people. Have fun in the journey.

Dance Even In The Rain: Day Four: Silver Linings

What unexpected joys, lessons, experiences, or blessings have you found in caring for someone else? Just knowing that you've helped someone to become the best they can be is life changing whether they have a disability or not. I told my daughter once that "We all have a disability whether we realize it or not." Some road trips to the doctors and ER were fun because I made them that way. I have a way of just making things better in hard times. It is a time to build our relationship and really get to know one another as a person and not just a patient. When we started many years ago, Madison was very young. It wasn't to bad going to the doctor, we just did what we had to do to survive. As she got older she realized how hard it was going week after week. She really learned to appreciate what I was doing for her. The lessons I have learn is don't ever give up on someone. Sometimes you are the only hope that child or adult has.

Day Three of Advocating For Another Carnival

Caregiving isn’t all sunshine and ice cream. We have days just like anybody else, lots of days that most people would never know we struggled. When I first got started caring for my child the main struggles I had was, how do I juggle being a parent, friend, and caregiver. One thing I can say it was trial and error. You learn as you go. I had to be firm beccause I was the parent so I just let my daughter be who she was. We had struggles everyday. She wore braces when she started walking and that was like a nightmare for me and her. Finding shoes that fit was very difficult, but we learned what would work. There are lots of things that come your way, but with God's wisdom we have been able to overcome so much. As for the friend part, well that had to be gained. Madison and I are strong willed people so we had some issues in our early years. Just like all children, Madison wanted her way a lot of times and didn't think I knew what I was doing. As time went by she has grown to respect me and I respect her. You have to have a mutual understanding. She had to realize that I had her best interest at heart. I taught both my children that they could always come to me and we would talk through things whatever it may be. When you do that as a friend and a parent it is so rewarding to know that they come to you and not some stranger that doesn't know anything about their life or what they've been through. Like anything else a relationship as to be honed. Just a little peek inside of our lives.

Advocating For Another-Day Two

These are A Few of My Favorite Things Post My daughter is that she has always been a fighter. Doctors thought Madison would be blind and not be able to speak, but she can see and she can speak. The doctors said she has a mild brain bleed which did affect her walking. With God's help we are overcoming every obstacle. There is always someone worse off than you. So we stay positive in every situation. My daughter is writer and expresses her feelings on paper to get her point across. "Everyone has something to tell" she said. Madison loves learning and I motivate her to strive to do her best. Over a year ago Eli, (Madison's twin brother had a son, she became an Aunt and she loves every minute of it. The joy that little boy has brought into her life is priceless. This just scratches the surface of the uniqueness she has to offer.

Advocating for Another: My Prospective as a Caregiver

My daughter is in her last year of college. When she graduates she will be a Corporate Communication major. Madison always strives for excellence in everything she does. I remember telling her to always do the best you can and you will go far in life. She loves God with all her heart and as a parent I love this. As a caregiver and her mother I had to focus on what she could do, not what she could not do. Madison is my best friend and I love her. I love seeing how she has grown into the woman she is today and look forward to the adventures in the future.

Going for the Gold

Manteo Mitchell said, “I felt it break. I heard it. I even put out a little war cry, but the crowd was so loud you couldn't hear it. I wanted to just lie down. It felt like somebody literally just snapped my leg in half.” "I knew if I finished strong we could still get it around. I saw (teammate) Josh Mance motioning me in for me to hand it off to him, which lifted me. I didn't want to let those three guys down or the team down, so I just ran on it. It hurt so bad. I'm pretty amazed that I still split 45 seconds on a broken leg." Just like the Olympian we have the race of a lifetime in front of us. We have our company of believers cheering us on, plus a cloud of witnesses. ~Hebrews 12:1 (AMP) Like the Olympians we too must push past our pain and continue our race. We have people that work alongside of us to get God’s word into the earth. It’s not a one man show; we all have a part to play. When I’m weak and haven’t prayed much, then I know that I can count on people in the body to encourage me. I have been at a place personally that has been dry. I’ve been in pain physically, but the enemy was trying even harder to stop me in the spirit. He wants to get me focused on my circumstances. I know I can’t quit. I have somewhere to go in the spirit, and it’s not just for me. It’s for other people. One difference between Christians and Olympians is that we don’t have a huge crowd cheering us on. We have to know that we are pleasing God and one day we will get a reward that will not rust. I don’t have to have a medal all I need to hear is well done thy good and faithful servant.

Myths about some Lettuce

All this time and I thought I was eating good. Making changes to my diet. Then all of a sudden I hear someone say lettuce has no nutritional value. Talking about letting the air out of my tire. Ouch is all I can say. Go to this site and you will see for yourself. http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/lettuce_info.htm This site says it all. I was so disappointed. Can't you tell. Don't always believe everything people tell you that is suppose to be good for you. Romaine lettuce has lots of nutrients, I think I'll switch.

Hugo

Just finished watching Hugo the movie. If you ever had a dream and let it die, well this is the movie to stir up those dreams again. There will be all kinds of obstacles that will try to kill your dreams. Don't let them! Keep dreaming those dreams. Someone has to dream it for it to come into being. One thing about this movie was it took one boy and also others who believed in him. That's the same way it is with us, we also must have those people in our lives.

The King's Speech

I watched the King's speech and thought it was an awesome movie. I usually don't watch those kind of movies with King George and queens in it. I do like a true story and this movie was right on. One thing I noticed in this movie was the man had someone who believed in him and like us we also need someone to believe in us. So I could relate to this. Even when King George could not see what other people seen there was still a leader on the inside of him. If you haven't watched this give it a try and you may get inspired to do something different.

Lies

In general some people think having a family and raising kids is like this big fairy tale. Like the ones you see on t.v. You know what I mean the perfect house, car, children,dogs, and the list goes on and on. I'm here to tell you it's all a lie. No where in the Bible does it say that you will have a perfect life.It does say that if you marry, you will have trouble. But and if thou marry , thou hast not sinned ; and if a virgin marry , she hath not sinned . Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you. 1 Corinthians 7:28 Being married is hard work and raising children is just as hard. One thing my mom always told me was" raising children is hard work." I can testify to that. I have grown children now that are in their early twenties. Even now they need my guidance and one day if I've trained them in the way they should go,I will have done my job as a parent well. So, for all of you who are just starting out. It's hard work, but it's well worth all the time and effort you put into your marriage and your children.

Little Things

It’s natural for us to see the big things in life and say, “Oh, I missed it here.” When it comes to the small things in our lives we miss the mark badly at times and don’t even know it until later. Take for instance when you first get your learner’s license and you do all the right things like stopping at the stop sign and putting your blinker on. I know you can remember those days. As time goes by we get lax at doing what we know to do. Sometimes we forget the blinker or even forget to stop at the posted sign. You get the picture. We get comfortable and familiar with our surroundings, so we just start to slip a little here and there. Until one day we run the stop sign and a patrolman just happens to be sitting out of sight. Next thing you know the blue lights come on, we get a citation, and now we are held accountable for what we should’ve done and didn’t do. Going back to the message Apostle David preached Sunday night,” Back to the Basics.” We have to grow to a place for God to move. One way we do this is to walk by faith. In the Bible it says, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man drawback, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” ~ Hebrews 10:38 Faith requires action on our part. We have to believe that God’s word is for us today. Then we should meditate and stand on what God’s word says about our situation until we see the manifestation of what we believe for. As we do this, our faith will grow and so will the corporate anointing. “But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].” ~Hebrews 11:6 (AMP) We should keep pressing into God for it is producing faith in us.

Around the Bend

Went on a road trip to the mountains. My Mom's family had a reunion and so off we go. As we were coming back we found two or three falls on the way back home. They were beautiful. When I was a kid I had to go all the time to see my grandparents and I hated every minute of it. I didn't like the curves. Of course you have to look at the age I was then too. Now I really appreciate the beauty when I go. I have memories that I never would have had if I hadn't of gone. I thought it would be nice to share and if you're ever up in North Carolina just take a about a seven mile ride through this beautiful country. Also there is another place on this same road that is called Bridal Veil Falls, and you can even drive under it. So awesome.

http://www.ncwaterfalls.com/cull1.htm