Tag Archives: special needs

Day 1491: You are invited to Jenna’s 21st Birthday Party

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“Don’t take your organs to heaven with you. Heaven knows we need them here.” – Author unknown, attributed to both Dan and Barbara Hladio and Thomas Boyadjis, Sr.

 

It’s 12 : 00 PM on day 1491 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Proverbs 29, publish my Disability of the Day feature,  feed myself peanut butter sandwiches and a banana for breakfast promote my Educate Generations campaign – no donations so far today but Anonymous  made a donation of $10 yesterday (thank you Anonymous your support means a lot to me) which brings my total raised to $268 only $2232 more to raise I knew God would show up for me through someone (thank you God for not making me look like a fool for believing in you much appreciated 🙂 )

 

This morning I came across Jenna Lowe’s story Jenna’s inviting everyone to her 21st birthday party hoping that if enough people sign up to be organ donors she will live to see her 21st birthday. Visit www.getmeto21.com/ to find out more about Jenna’s birthday party invitation or simply watch the video below:

Day 1488: Do you embrace change or avoid it?

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In life the only constant is change – that’s what I keep realizing.

 

It’s 1 : 00  PM on day 1488 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to  brush my teeth, pray, read Proverbs 26, publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, feed myself a peanut butter sandwich and a banana for breakfast,  promote my Educate Generations campaign – no donations so far today on the plus side I just found out that Malala shares the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Kailash Satyarthi (you can read more about it here) I am SO HAPPY for her she truly deserves this honour.

 

Recently my parents decided to renovate our bathroom and at first I wasn’t happy with the changes at all but now it’s kind of growing on me I figured things are going to change whether I want them to or not so I might as well make things easier on myself and embrace it. Do you embrace change or avoid it?

Day 1487: Integrity and Me

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Value your integrity above all else – that’s my message to the world.

 

It’s 1 : 27 PM on day 1487 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Proverbs 25, publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, feed myself All Bran Flakes with banana  for breakfast  and promote my Educate Generations campaign –  Madalina Cristea made a donation of $20 today (thank you Madalina your support means a lot to me) which brings my total raised to $258 only $2242 more to raise :)

 

Today I realized my integrity means more to me than anything else I don’t mind not being rich or famous but it would kill me not to keep my word to someone because I truly believe that if people can’t take you at your word you have nothing. Do you value integrity above all else or is it the last thing on your priority list?

Day 1485: Pursuing the Uncomfortable

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Do that which makes you most uncomfortable it helps you grow as a human being – that’s my message to the world.

 

It’s 12 : 23 PM on day 1485 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth, read Proverbs 23, publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, feed myself All Bran Flakes with banana  for breakfast and promote my Educate Generations campaign – no donations so far today but my friend, Meg Guegan,  made a donation of $10 yesterday (thank you Meg your support means a lot to me) which brings my total raised to $170 only $2330 more to raise :)

 

A couple of days ago I decided to record a video of myself telling the world about my Educate Generations campaign it was the most uncomfortable one minute and sixteen seconds of my life but now that the video is recorded and uploaded I live in the knowledge that if I can get past my fear of rejection I can do almost anything. Do you shy away from that which makes you uncomfortable or pursue it?

Day 1484: Cerebral Palsy – A Training Ground?

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Challenges are blessings in disguise– that’s what I keep realizing.

 

It’s 2 :  25  PM on day 1484 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth, read Proverbs 22, publish my Disability of the Day feature,   feed myself chickpea wraps and a banana for breakfast and promote my Educate Generations campaign – no donations so far today but my friend, Nancy Scott, made a  donation of $20 last night (thank you Nancy your support means the world to me) which brings my total raised to $160 only $2340 more to raise :)

 

Today I couldn’t help noticing that Cerebral Palsy taught me to tell people what I need, why I need it and what they can do to help me which are the very same skills I use as an aspiring philanthropist so it turns out having Cerebral Palsy trained me for this part of my life. Have the challenges you’ve faced in one aspect of life helped you in other aspects of life?

Day 1479: 3 Lessons Learned from Cerebral Palsy on World CP Day 2014

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“I have not been handicapped by my condition. I am physically challenged and differently able.” – Janet Barnes

 

It’s 1 : 42 PM on day 1479 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth, go back to bed, read Proverbs 17, publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, feed myself peanut butter sandwich and a banana  for breakfast and work on my upcoming campaign.

 

Today is World Cerebral Palsy Day and in honour of that I’m going to share with you 3 lessons that I learned from Cerebral Palsy. Take a look:

3 Lessons Learned from Cerebral Palsy

  1. NEVER give up – having the physical challenges that I have I figured out that as long as I didn’t quit I could do almost anything I set my mind to (sometimes I am unable to do things the way I pictured and when that happens I find other ways to do the exact same thing)
  2. All of us are more alike than we different – over the course of my life I’ve been fortunate enough to meet all sort of people and all of them have taught me that we are more alike than we different in that underneath all our labels all of us just want to know that we matter and that we are heard and understood
  3. There’s no shame in asking for help – on a day-to-day basis I need help from the moment I wake up to the time I go to sleep there was a time when I used to feel really bad about it but I have come to realize that all of us (differently-abled or not) need help throughout our lives

 

Day 1478: 7 Life Lessons I Learned from the Bible

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There are so many life lessons to be learned from the Bible – that’s what I keep realizing.

 

It’s 1 : 10 PM on day 1478 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth, read Proverbs 15, publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, feed myself All Bran Flakes with banana  for breakfast, work on my upcoming campaign – I am trying to think of crowd-funding ideas that will not do any lasting damage to my health so far I’ve got starve myself (kids don’t try that), go without water (don’t try that either) or go bald if you guys have any other ideas please share them in the comments section below because I’m honestly stumped.

 

As you may know I read the Bible every day it has taught me so many life lessons some of which I took the liberty of writing down. Take a look:

7 Life Lessons I Learned from the Bible

  1. Take the high road – “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” (Romans 12: 14) (Note: I haven’t gotten to Romans in the Bible yet but I’ve read this particular verse a few times and repeated it to myself many more times)
  2. Embrace correction – “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
    but whoever hates correction is stupid.” (Proverbs 12:1)
  3. Work hard – “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” (Proverbs 14:23)
  4. Create wealth the right way – “Dishonest money dwindles away,
    but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” (Proverbs 13:11)
  5. Surround yourself with good people – “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” (Proverbs 13:20)
  6. Think before you speak – “Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;
    he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.” (Proverbs 13:3)
  7. In the end all of us will get what we deserve – “The Lord works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.” (Proverbs 16:4)

 

Day 1477: He’s Not Scary, He’s a Little Boy

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“As a mother of a child who looks different, this is my plea to you:

 

If you are the parent whose child says another child looks funny or scary, don’t simply say, “That isn’t a nice thing to say.” While you are right, it’s not nice, simply saying that and walking away still isolates my child. The next time follow that statement up and tell your child, “I’m sure he’s a very nice boy, let’s go meet him.” Please, come introduce yourself and ask my child’s name. I assure you, we don’t bite! My child is just like yours; he can be sweet, loving, throw temper tantrums, and be a handful. And I assure you, I am just like you; I am a parent learning my way through this.

 

If your child is curious and doesn’t say anything mean but still notices he looks different, please, introduce yourself to us, ask us our names! Include my child in your world. I promise you, he’s not scary, he’s just a little boy.”

– AliceAnn Meyer, He’s Not Scary, He’s a Little Boy

 

It’s 1 : 43 PM on day 1477 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth, read Proverbs 15, publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, feed myself All Bran Flakes with banana  for breakfast, work on my upcoming campaign and help my sister practice for her Xhosa oral test via Skype – I love Skype because of it I was able to help my sister practice for her Xhosa oral test (I learned Xhosa when I was in boarding school living with Xhosa speaking kids).

 

Yesterday I read He’s Not Scary, He’s a Little Boy – a blog post in which a mother pleads with the world to see and treat her differently-abled son as they would any other little boy – I really felt for the boy and his mother when I was younger it hurt when I was singled out as being different and it must have hurt my mother to see me hurt thankfully I now see people’s curiosity as an opportunity to educate them about Cerebral Palsy and because I’m okay with being different my mother is starting to be okay with it as well.

Day 1476: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

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“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip,” Jonathan would say, other times, “is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.” ― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

 

 

It’s 12 : 40 PM on day 1476 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Proverbs 14, publish my Disability of the Day feature, publish my Kid of the Week feature, feed myself egg with bread and a banana  for breakfast,  work on my upcoming campaign and tweet with people – the thing I love about Twitter is that I get to interact with people from different walks of life and different countries it will never be a substitute for actual human interaction but still it’s a unique experience.

 

 

Yesterday afternoon I finished reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull – a fable by Richard Bach about a seagull who dreams of flying and teaching others to fly – the most powerful lesson I learned from this book was that all of us are perfect and unlimited in the things that we can do.

Day 1475: Grow Up World

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We as the people of the world need to grow up – that’s what I keep realizing.

 

It’s 12 : 45 PM on day 1475 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth, read Proverbs 13, publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself egg with bread and a banana  for breakfast and hang out with family – my parents are both high school teachers so all four of us are home every weekend the noise level in the house is exponentially higher during the weekend but that’s okay I love my family (most of the time LOL).

 

Yesterday something happened that made me realize we as the people of the world need to grow up people ask me to do the most childish and unproductive things and the whole time I’m thinking I don’t have time for this we’re either going to spend our time un-friending people on Facebook or we’re going to spend our time making our mark on the world and I choose to spend my time making my mark on the world.