It's hard to believe that someone this small can change a world this big, but he does!  😍 Being David's mom is the best job in the world!

Well I am glad to be home and recuperating from a very exciting, but physically demanding adventure with my little hero.  Being away from our world is very eye opening and puts things in perspective.  In our own environment it is much easier to compensate and forget how challenging it can be to interact in a world not made for disabilities.

David and I live a typical life and often times I forget that we are "different".  Being outside of our own environment made the struggle real and obvious.  It also made me appreciate all the people in our lives who accept us and embrace our lives just the way they are.

I want to thank my amazing niece Sierra and BFF Carmen who not only embrace our no limit attitudes but assist in helping David experience opportunities must children in his condition could not.  No questions asked they helped me carry David and tug the wheelchair up mountains, on boats, and through sand to ensure that he did not miss out.

Most children can return from summer break with stories about the sports programs they participated in or other opportunities that David's disabilities limit him from, so I have always prided myself on making sure that David has opportunities that are unique and just as spectacular.  As he has gotten older and heavier these adventures have become more challenging for me.   I am truly thankful that we have friends and family that not only love us, but support me in making the most of our lives just as they are!  Watching David light up and laugh for 10 days straight made every ounce of effort worth wild.

It was such an honor to be recognized by the Council For Exceptional Children as an Outstanding Special Education Teacher. 

I could have never been the teacher or person I am today if it was not for David who truly has been the wind beneath my wings!

My tribute is a little unique in the sense that instead of honoring just one special woman in my life I have chosen to pay tribute to all the inspiring and incredible mothers who parent special needs children. 

Parenting a special needs child requires countless sacrifices, creativity, resilience, and strength beyond measure. 

As hard as it can be it is also one of the most important and rewarding role that one can have the opportunity to experience.

So for all the Mommas holding your head high while you courageously except the challenges of raising a special-needs child here's to you!!!

Thank you for graciously embarking on a journey you never intended to travel. Thank you for all the sacrifices you make day in and day out. For all the times you go misunderstood because most of the world can’t understand me. 

Thank you for your dreams, for dreaming for me, dreaming that I could walk, talk, read, or have an extraordinary life just as I am.

Thank you for all the tears you shed on my behalf.

Thank you for celebrating what seems to the rest of the world as small accomplishments.

Thank you for all the battles you fight just so I can have the same opportunities as everyone else. 

Thank you for believing in me and understanding my value. 

Thank you for being the super you that makes me able to be a super me.

Instead of purchasing a card this year I donated $5 to helping hands for single moms. This organization has supported David and I through my educational journey. I encourage you to create a MOMMApplause video and do the same at Helpsinglemoms.org

Please share and honor all of the special needs momma’s and/or caretakers you know by tagging them.

#MOMMApplaus #Helpinghandsforsinglemoms #Hissmilekeepsmegoing

Another spectacular memory in the making as David takes on his 3rd run, thanks to Best Buddies Arizona!  A precious reminder of how beautiful life is!  Pat Tillman Run 2015

The biggest success stories aren't measured by test scores! 

Those moments when it feels like all your hard work and dedication pay off. Thank you for everyone who made this happen. This moment will go down in Conchos history books and is most definitely one of the many highlights in my teaching career! I love to love what I do!

Today's HopeMinute- 1Mission

Exactly one week ago, we took a team of HopeKids families down to Mexico to build a home for a family through an organization called 1Mission. The weekend was a tremendous blessing not only for the family who benefited from the new home, but also for our HopeKids families who served. Today’s HopeMinute is written by Michelle Campuzano who is one of our HopeKids moms that attended the mission trip with us. We pray you will be blessed by her encouraging words today! 

I am still soaking in this weekend's once-in-a-lifetime experience. Only those who were there can truly understand how life changing a three-day construction project could be. It was as if God hand selected those to serve on this trip and the family he wanted to be blessed by our service.

Every single person played a vital role in God’s plan, from the little ones who have overcome cancer, the people who laid the foundation of the home we built, to the team members who walked the local children through the sinner’s prayer. God was absolutely there with us. He was building in the midst of us, he spoke to children's hearts through us, and he answered a family's prayers with us. 

If just one person had rejected God's call to participate in this mission’s trip, the dynamics of the team and the outcome would have not been the same. God calls us to be his hands and feet, to be one body of Christ. This calling requires us to listen and act even when it is not convenient. Sometimes he calls us to serve others in the midst of our own personal crisis. It’s easy to get wrapped up in our own circumstances but sometimes the best remedy to our own crisis is to focus on serving others. I have found that in my own walk, when I choose to be obedient and focus on God instead of the sorrow in my life, God meets me there and comforts my soul.

Maybe your calling does not require you to cross a border. Your calling might be to serve in your own community. Each and every one of our HopeKids families is called. You are valuable to the Kingdom of God and have an inspiring story that deserves to be shared. Don't let your busy life, your brokenness, cancer or any other obstacles stand in the way of you fulfilling God’s calling on your life. 

Our purpose is so much bigger than the here and now, bigger than the temporary obstacles placed in our way here on this earth. Our purpose is about the kingdom. One day we will reunite with our Lord and Savior in a pain-free place with no suffering. When my day comes and I have the opportunity to stand before God I long to hear those words "well done my good and faithful servant”.

The HopeKids family volunteers entered this project as strangers, but we left the project as life long friends. Who would have thought that a 3-day service project would turn into a life changing adventure? I encourage you all to step outside of yourself and take the time to serve others. You never know, God just might meet you there. 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

1Mission + Hopekids = A much needed new home for the Jimenez Family

I am still in aww of all of the incredible opportunities God has provided me with. The home build required A LOT of sweat and hard work, but handing over the keys to the Jiminez family made it worth every ounce of effort. What made the experience even greater was sharing it with other Hope families. Jason the founder of 1Mission said it so perfectly. Giving when you bucket is full is great, but watching families facing their own obstacles put there worries aside to meet the needs of a family they don't even know, that it an example of true sacrificial giving. It shows what kind of people Hopekids is made up of. Some of the most courageous and kind people I have ever met. It was such an honor to serve with you all!

Almost three years ago David and I were blessed with a home makeover.  We were basically given a new home. All the burdens of our homes current condition, that weighed so heavy on my shoulders were lifted.  I could never repay all of our friends, strangers, and the companies that came together to make an accessible burden free home happen for us, but I did promise myself that I would one day find a way to pay those kind deeds forward.

In two days I will have the opportunity to be part of a team who is building a home for a family in Mexico.    The opportunity to make a difference in any life is special, but for me this Mission will be extremely meaningful!  I know and understand what it is like to struggle and I also know how exceptional it is to have a community of people support you and help make the dreams that seam out of your reach a reality.   Being part of this mission is an honor.  Thank you Bridget for your precious soul, kind heart, and your willingness to share this opportunity with myself and the other families.  I know that the end result will be life changing, not just for the family receiving the home but, also for the participants who are building it.

http://1mission.org

Learning To Love Yourself Is A Very Valuable Lesson!

The last year and a half has been extremely challenging for me.  I have faced my biggest fears, overcome heartbreaking trials, and as a result I was forced to reevaluate every idea and dream that I had spent the last 20 years creating.   It made me question my identity, value, and sometimes even my purpose.  At times I felt as if the storms would never end, which also made me question what would be left of me when and if the storm passed.   Through all of this, I learned the most valuable life lesson I could have ever learned.

That is...  Our trials, accomplishments, physical appearance, and/or our status mean nothing without God.  I had to face loosing anything and everything that I thought made me, to realize that God made me and that is all that matters.   I had to learn to love myself with or without  a partner, babies, a bigger house, a large savings account, a perfect body, or the approval of others.

For a period of time it seemed as if everything I had invested my life into was being ripped away from me in an instant.  I could not understand why the God I love and serve would allow this to happen in my life.  Now I know that God indeed had a purpose for my struggles.  He was developing a foundation that was not reliant on outside factors.  He was developing my faith and character while teaching me the most valuable lesson I had yet to learn.  The end result is the successful victory over a battle I have fought to overcome for as long as I can remember (a battle to love myself).   In my brokenness I had to rely on God and dig deep within my soul to find the value in me, to survive and overcome.  That I did.

I can not explain how incredible it feels to be at a place in my life that I can finally LOVE ME. I love me despite of me, no matter what I have, or who else approves of me.  I love me because the word of God says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I feel like I am running a race and I am almost to my finish line.  I am so close that I can feel and even taste the success, but when you have been running for so long that last stretch is the hardest.  I will not focus on how tired I am I will focus on how close I am to being where I have worked so hard to get.  Please keep my family in your prayers as we run our home stretch. 

No matter how beautiful people present themselves to be in public, God knows the truth of ones heart and that truth will eventually reveal itself.  It means nothing if you fool me because you can't fool my Lord and Savior and his vengeance is far greater than mine. I am not blind I just choose to let God fight my battles.

When you live your life this way, it can make it difficult to understand those who don't. Don't try and get on their level to understand.  Their lives will speak for themselves, all we can do is do our best to be our best. I strive for the acceptance of one person (JESUS) and I already have that.

It is amazing what happens when you quit chasing change and start chasing God!

I am beginning to notice that every time I go through a trial in my life the end result is a better ME. Through my brokenness and trials I have learned to cherish life and be content with what God has already given me.

For many years the burden of David’s health has plagued me.  I wanted more than anything in the world for my son to be healthy.  Naturally I longed for that but, after almost losing him three years ago I realized that I have a perfect child and our purpose on this earth is being fulfilled with our lives just as they are. 

As I have gotten older I have longed to be young again. There are days that lifting David and caring for him takes all the energy I have.  Recently after a cancer scare I realized how truly blessed I am that I even have the ability and strength to do what I do.  Everyday now, I count my blessings and thank God that he has given me strength and resilience to persevere. 

Once I hit my 30’s I felt this pressure of what my life should look like and be.  I had pursued an education and accomplished that, I own a home, have a great career, yet still felt inadequate because in my mind my fairytale ending included a prince charming and babies.   I was not allowing myself to enjoy the incredible life and accomplishments I had been blessed to experience due to the fact that I was placing my value in my marital status among other things. 

It is remarkable how God teaches me some of the most crucial life lessons through brokenness and situations far from ideal.  After an unfortunate experience with someone I thought could be a potential life partner I realized that my error was expecting anything or anyone but God to increase my value.   In this case I found that when I got what I thought I wanted and needed it felt as if my value was decreasing. 

I realized I was chasing my dreams and not Gods dreams for me.   Through my shattered dreams I realized that I don’t need health, youth, a partner, or anything temporary on this earth to complete me.  God has promised that “He who started a good work will be faithful to complete it” and I will stand on his promises. 

For the first time ever in my life the only thing I am chasing is Jesus.  Instead of seeking a partner or perfection,  I  now seek the Lord.  As a result I can now clearly see how God has abundantly blessed us.  How he has protected us and allowed unfortunate circumstances and encounters to build character and instill faith in our lives.   I am no longer driven by my desire for more.  I am learning to love myself and be content with who God has created me to be.  I am discovering how to love life just as it is, in the moment, regardless of the obstacles in our path. 

So often I would become frustrated with life when it seemed to take me down a road I did not plan on traveling.  Through God’s perfect understanding I now see that some of those roads were necessary to get me to my final destination.  A place of peace, comfort, healing, and the best of all…  The presence of my Lord and Savior!

Embrace the challenges in your life because if you allow them to, they can make you a better you. 

Another sweet reminder of how faithful God has been to us!!!  Although this was the start of what would be one of the most trying times of our lives, this was also the last time David ever had a seizure. He is been seizure free for three years today!