As I was worshiping God this morning All You've Ever Wanted by Casting Crowns came on.  

I was chasing healing when I'd been made well

I was fighting battles when You conquered hell

Living free but from a prison cell

Lord, I lay it down today

So I'll stop living off of how I feel

And start standing on Your truth revealed

Jesus is my strength, my shield

And He will never fail me

No more chains, I've been set free

No more fighting battles You've won for me

Now in Christ, I stand complete

I needed to hear these words today.  I refuse to be that broken little girl who waisted way to many years bound to the pains of my past.  Today I take a stand, I refuse to get caught up in life's challenges, fighting a battle that God has already won for me.  A price that an innocent man paid for me, for my sins, for my freedom.  God graciously gave his life so that I could live life abundantly, and I will honor his life and mine by doing so!  My prayer today is that those who have not gained that understanding will one day feel God's warm embrace as I have. 

I will not dwell on the past, nor focus on my current circumstance.  I can't afford to focus on anything but Jesus and the blood he shed for me.  I choose to get back up however many times necessary and live my life as a testament of God's faithfulness and grace.

Many blessing to you and yours this CHRISTmas!

    Our first Christmas, where our journey began!

                                

Sometimes the most difficult part of this season for me is making the conscious decision to focus on the amazing blessing we do have, and not the things that have not yet be placed in our life.  It is extremely difficult to make that choice when my hearts longs to have the typical traditional Christmas.  A Holiday filled with family, health, and peace.   I am wishing I had at least my parents to share CHRISTmas with, but that is just not what life is for us right now.  At the moment I am holding on to the memory of my dad and the random 3 minute phone calls I get from my mom from prison.   It can make this month an extremely lonely time, but I know I have been blessed with the best kid a mom could ask for, a great church,  a spectacular life, and the opportunity to allow God to fill the void in my life!





This year CHRISTmas has come and gone and I have struggled to find time to breath and take it all in.  We will not be spending the Holidays the way I anticipated we would, but will be doing things exactly how God had planned!  David and I have decided to stay in for the Holidays. No travels, no outings, no running away from life. David is coming down with a cold and this paranoid mommy rather spend Christmas eve at home caring for him then end up having to spend Christmas day in the Hospital. We are going to have some Jesus Rehab while enjoying hot coco and Vitamin C.

I am so thankful for all the many blessings in our lives! Even the situations that did not or do not always feel so magical at times. Each one of those situations has led David and I right to where we are, and that is exactly where God wants us to be. 

Always remember that although life hurts sometimes and things happen that are beyond our understanding and/or control, one thing we can control is the choices we make to embrace every single opportunity granted to us.  Today I choose to focus on the extraordinary ways God has transformed our lives through the disappointments.  I will focus on the understanding that somethings are not meant to be understood, they are meant to help us grow into the person God intended us to be.  

May God richly bless you and yours with a clear understanding of how majestical he is and may you spend your Holidays reminded of the true reason for the season. 

 Our 18th Christmas, where our journey continues!

I am excited to announce that David will be participating in Arizona Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on January 18^th.  I would love for all of our Team David fans and supporters to share in this extraordinary event with us.

David is going to have the opportunity to run/roll with a partner runner. There's an organization of people who have decided to sponsor a child to share their legs with.  ;)   The thought of David having the opportunity to participate in a marathon is fun and exciting, but more than anything else the mere thought of watching my child roll past the finish line brings tears of joy to my eyes. 

As David has transitioned in to adulthood I have had to come to terms with the fact that there are some dreams I have had for us that need to be laid to rest.  It has been an extremely emotional process that has been difficult for most people to understand.   Every mother naturally wants to watch their child walk or hit milestones that they watch all of their friends children hit. At some point as the mother of a special needs child, you learn to set those disappointments aside so that you can embrace the journey you have been chosen for. 

That being said, it does not make the process any less heart wrenching for a mother.   You eventually learn to focus on all the amazing things your child can do.  But there are some dreams that are hard to let go of, so you tuck those ones far away so that they don’t haunt you.  Watching David miss out on typical experiences has been the hardest part of this process for me.  As his mother I want nothing more than to give my bright eyed, courageous, hero all the opportunities that children with out medical challenges have, but some days I don’t feel too successful. 

There are some experiences you don’t think you'll be afforded the opportunity to see here on this earth.  Surprisingly sometimes you are!  To me this experience is God gently whispering to me that he hears the cries of my heart. God is reminding me that although reaching our dreams might not look as though I thought they would, God is still granting us our dreams in a different form.  Watching my child participate in a marathon and roll past a finish line will be a dream come true for us!!!!

THANK YOU RUNNERS AND BEST BUDDIES!!!!!   Thank you for giving us a gift that money could never buy, an opportunity to see my child do something that I never thought I'd get to see him do. Thank you for putting a smile on this mommies face.  When you have to go without you learn to appreciate the little things.  In the process you gain an understanding of the true value of such cherished experiences.  A cherished gift from you to us!  THANK YOU ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjI9nMAFylc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAw35xPqbMs

David got served!!!  Lol  Our guardianship hearing will be on January 29th.