The Care Project: A Beacon of Hope

This weekend, we had the opportunity to attend a workshop with professionals and parents of children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

It was called The Care Project. Quoted from their website, what it is all about.

"Undeniably, life’s journey is full of challenges. Arriving with those hurdles are different emotions, dependent upon circumstances. An individual facing the challenge of hearing loss needs to be able to rely on a strong support system within the family and community. The CARE Project has a number of components designed to bring families and professionals together for sharing and processing emotions, with the ultimate goal being acceptance and advocating for the best life possible."

I really love this idea on so many levels.

I think having workshops for parents about grief and helping them accept and cope with hearing loss is wonderful. I believe Johnnie Sexton, the developer is really onto something. I wish every parent and professional could have a workshop like this geared for their child who is dealing with a disease or disability.

I find from living with cystic fibrosis and now being a parent of a child with some disabilities; support for understanding, accepting, and coping with daily difficulties is essential. Without it, life would be very challenging and depressing.

Parents want emotional support. Parents need emotional support. This is vital for the special needs community. If you have experienced any kind of disability or disease, you remember clearly when you heard the news for the first time. Your daughter has a genetic lung disease called cystic fibrosis. You have cancer. Your son is deaf. Your child has autism. Your husband is paralyzed.

Accepting this information comes with it, grief. This will come in all different forms, and it will come and go with everyone experiencing it. Grief leaves no one behind. How we deal with it, is up to us. We watched video of parents and children, speaking about how they have dealt with their hearing loss. What it means to them. How they have moved on and learned from it. We watched a video of a professional talk about the lesson she has learned in her lifetime. It was all so moving, very touching. It taught me so much about the hard of hearing and deaf community. It gave me an appreciation for those who have been where we have been. What lessons they have learned, and what they can teach us. This is what makes the world go round.

My husband and I were also able to meet a family within our community who have children who are also hard of hearing. This meant the world to me, to be able to connect with other families. I have a wonderful connection with so many people who are like me, with cystic fibrosis. These connections are very meaningful and full of blessing. But the hard of hearing world is new to us. Gwyneth was just diagnosed 1 year ago. Before this meeting, we hadn't met one other deaf or hard of hearing young family within our community. Now we have, and I feel excited to know we are not the only ones out there.

So, thank you to people like Johnnie who have a vision of how to help others and for starting such an innovative idea like The Care Project!

The Care Project

check these out

These spark my interest:

free compliments: to place on your fridge or your local library

the anatomy of swinging: a special needs article I can really relate to

make time for family dinners: reminding families how to use our fork in changing the world

pistachio cake: what I made this week, it smelled so good!

Toy Story 3: Lovebug is in love with Woody these days.


Lastly, I will leave you with this happy thought. I love it. Source.

Gluten Be Gone

Once upon a time there was a happily married couple who enjoyed their lives. They especially enjoyed their mealtimes together. They took pleasure in each others company, delightful conversation about the day, but most of all, the food. Cooking became a favorite hobby.

Until one day, the Duke of Nags Head was getting sick each time the Dutchess made him a hearty meal. This would happen fairly often with gluten full foods. Such as pasta, bread, and basically anything that included flour. Baking cookies, cakes, and pies sadly became a past time. Gluten full foods became forbidden in the household.

This saddened the couple, but they did the best with what they had. It changed their lives. The way they shopped, the method for finding recipes, and of course their meal time. The Dutchess researched and found some great gluten be gone selections for dinner. Gluten (Latin for glue): Is a protein composite found in cereal grains, especially the prolamins in wheat, rye, barley.
They had to find special blogs devoted to gluten be gone meals, since the foodnetworkdotcom was just not cutting it. One of which was http://glutenfreegirl.com One of their favorites! Great website, pictures, resources, information, and of course meals.

They continued on this path of healthy eating and began consuming a lot of rice and potatoes with their meals instead of biscuits or french bread. Blah.

Later on, the Duke began getting sick again. And it wasn't the Dutchess' cooking this time. It was his stomach. His gallbladder to be specific.

It seemed like magic after his stomach fairy took care of him, he began to feel like a new man. He even tried to eat some of the forbidden gluten be full foods. His stomach would normally treat him very badly after such consumptions. But now...

NOTHING happened.

Really, nothing, nada, zilch.

He began eating some of this



and perhaps some of this


and he was elated, NO, over the moon thrilled beyond pieces to eat this again...




and the couple lived happily ever after!


The END

***It was this week that we found out Mr. L was not indeed gluten intolerant as we had suspected for over a year now. He just had a poorly functioning gallbladder.
***{Thank you to the following for sharing your food pictures: www.appalachianfestival.net, www.nytimes.com, glutendoctors.blogspot.com and restaurantrecipesbook.com. They have now made me hungry.}

Sacred

This post says it so well, cfhusband.blogspot.com

It speaks about the fragile and precious first few days of my daughter's life. She was born at 24 weeks old. At the beginning, it was not recommended for me to continue my pregnancy, but I held onto God's promises. I held on with all my strength to my faith.

A beautiful "blessed white rose" was born. Our one pound, six ounce miracle is a great witness to God's faithfulness and protection over the life of the unborn. Even in the most precarious of situations, she was protected and survived her 24 week arrival. Life is sacred.

iphoto memories

I was glancing through my iphoto. I came upon these pictures. Then I chuckled.

What is worst?

That I did this to my child?



Or that I then, proceeded to do the same to my dog?

lessons of love

Tonight, I was greatly encouraged. Our foster child has been such a blessing to us. God is teaching us so much through her. Tonight, it was a simple lesson about prayer.

After praying for over a month now for our foster daughter's pets to be happy, safe and sound; her prayers have been answered. A lady who recognized her today, at the ymca, told her she has been giving her cats treats and soft cat food almost every day.

God does care about our every heart's desire. This reminds me of God's promise in:

Matthew 6:26
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

God cares about the beautiful life and living things he made on the first several days of creation. But He saved His best and most favorite part of creation for last. He made man and woman. And how much more valuable are we in His eyes, than all of the rest of his beautiful works of art?

*This exquisite picture above was taken by the talented Ray Matthews. This scene of flying gulls is one of my favorites, and was given to us as a wedding present from his family. It hangs proudly in our home. These birds of air will forever remind me of this moment of answered prayer.

THREE

My Ladybug is THREE today.

She is fun. She loves to jump and sing and smile.

She is very loving. She will blow just about anyone a kiss. Sometimes she kisses strangers' cars.

She is very energetic. She moves all the time. When her body isn't moving, her head it.

She is tough. Tougher than anyone I know. Perhaps it is because she is missing nerve ending. We are not sure. But it takes ALOT to make her cry.

She is determined. She has her difficulties. With hearing and vision loss, mild cerebral palsy, and balance/coordination. But these things do not hold her back. She is a very determined little lady.

She is small. She is teeny. She was small at birth. (1 lb. 6 oz.) She is a tiny 3. (24 lbs.) But well proportioned for her delicate little features.

She is stubborn. She highly dislikes eating just about everything except for cheese, nuts, yogurt, and peanut butter.

She is cute. Yes, I am bias, because I am her mother. But my petite, blond haired, blue eyed, pink glasses and hearing aid wearing daughter who walks to the beat of her own drummer... I believe is adorable. I try to gobble her up each and every day.

She is a miracle. In every way. I believe God has a great things in store for her life. She was a wonder at birth. She amazes me now. I just know He has wonderful plans for her future.

And that's my three year old in a nut shell.

For the love of CHEESE

I would love to see an event like this going down Jockey's Ridge!

What people do for the love of cheese...

Jo Stafford

Chasing cheese at Cooper's Hill, Richings Park, England

Mike Rugel/Trazzler

Anyone who can chase a wheel of cheese up or down a hill is welcome to compete at the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling. There are five downhill cheese races (one is for ladies) and four uphill races (boys under 12, girls under 12, men's open and women's open). At the top of the hill, competitors (any number from two to a maximum of about 20) sit in a line and wait. The master of ceremonies escorts an invited guest to the start line and helps him/her to sit on the precipitous slope, holding an eight-pound wheel of Double Gloucester. The guest "roller" releases the cheese, which proceeds to roll down the hill at great speed. The MC gives the racers the signal, and the competitors hurl themselves down the slope after the runaway dairy product. The first person to arrive at the foot of the hill wins the cheese.

{http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/01/02/trazzler_slide_show_cheese/slideshow.html}