Beauty through Challenges

August 16, 2015

It has been a busy busy month or so for me, part of the reason for my lack in posting. It started out with vacation bible school at my church. This year I took on a larger role running vacation bible school at my church. This was the first time since the onset of my depression that I had taken on a big project that involved many people and at times many stressful situations. I have been shying away from them for the last four years in fear of failing or falling apart. But I decided back in January that it was time I break out of my scared shell and took this on. I had an amazing time leading the team that I was working with and an even better time working with the kids that walked through the door every morning the week of. I realized in the moments of our worship celebration during church on Sunday morning that I am doing exactly what I was meant to do. Teach kids, love kids, and do my very best to give them everything I've got. It was an amazingly rewarding experience and helped me to realize that I can take on bigger projects and I am capable of more then I give myself credit for.

Following vacation bible school I went on a 14 day cross country trip with my parents starting in Seattle, Washington and ending back here on the east coast. Traveling is one of my favorite things to do and I love traveling with my family and seeing the many sites and new things along the way. My entire life I have grown up going on vacations around the United States. Over the years traveling has become much more difficult for my family. We no longer can just hop in a car and take off with clothing and the other essentials most would take on a vacation. We now are faced with all of that plus a wheelchair, oxygen concentrators, nebulizing equipment, medications, and a flurry of other medical devices, items, and medications. It becomes are planned and orchestrated event now. Traveling through airports is always and interesting event. We face many challenges when we travel always coming across spaces and places that aren't handicap friendly. But in spite of all the challenges and sometimes highly emotional aspects of traveling with people who face challenges, disabilities, and handicaps we had a great time. We refuse as a family to let the new challenges we face stop us from traveling and doing the many things we love to do as a family. No matter how many looks we get, comments are made, or people who don't understand or have compassion for any of the challenges we face we continue forward making the best of the time, blessings, and opportunities we have. I sometimes have a really hard time shaking off the looks, comments, and the limitations that we now face. I take many of the misunderstanding looks and comments to heart and want to correct people for their lack of compassion and understanding. It raises a high level of anxiety for me to be able to keep my mouth shut and keep going. It isn't so much that I am angry or upset at these people that make their uneducated looks and remarks but its more of my wish to educate them on the many disabilities and challenges thousands of people face each day. Amongst the many challenges we faced we had an amazing time and saw some of the beautiful features of this country. Below you will find pictures from many of the places we finished.