The Sweet and The Salty

Today, I Cried Hard. And it Felt SO Good.

By Jo Lynn May 1, 2013 6 Comments

When I got the call today that the continuation of Champion’s feeding therapy had been denied, I cried really hard. I cried while the messenger told me the news, I cried while I left messages for his therapists, doctor, and insurance. I cried in my car driving home, and I cried while my husband was leaving for work.

I just cried, and it felt really really good to do.

Learning about the denial for Champion’s feeding therapy (which we are appealing) was what started me on my crying spree, but it wasn’t really the root.

I was crying for what feeding therapy means to our family and what the lack of it means as well.

Champion is fed by a tube going into his stomach, called a g-tube. He got it when he was 4 mos old, after his open heart surgery.

Right now he gets 12 g tube feeds a day, every single day. He is on a blenderized diet that we blend for him every single day, rain or shine.

As soon as he wakes up he’s attached to the tube and throughout the day he receives the 12 feeds, some water feeds and some food feeds to make up the 12. He’s pretty much attached to the tube the whole entire day.

In between 7:30pm and 8:30pm he falls asleep in my arms on the couch, where I sit with him, holding him upright until he finishes the last of his feeds around midnight, and then once I’ve held him upright for about 45 minutes after the feed is done, him and I lay down in what has become our bed and go to sleep.

I am up with him several times through the night, as he wakes up in discomfort from acid reflux. Husband is in what has become his bed in what has become his room.

This is our routine day in and day out and has been for over three years. Which also means it has been over three years since I have slept in the same bed with my husband.

Crying, Special Needs, Insurance

I cried so hard today when the feeding therapy was denied.

Champion has always been in some type of feeding therapy through our state therapy program. It wasn’t till three months ago when he started this particular feeding therapy, in an acute hospital setting with a specialized feeding therapy program that is well-known for their success at getting kids off their gtubes, that we began to see real progress and had therapists working with Champion who truly believed with us that he could become an oral eater.

Seeing him make progress, be able to swallow and enjoy food, and have therapists who truly believed in his feeding ability made the therapy a dream for me, something I looked forward to taking him to twice a week.

And it gave me hope that I would get a full night’s sleep again, that I would sleep in the bed with my husband again, and that Champion would not spend all his days and half way into the night attached to a tube.

But now, for now, in a mess of insurance confusion and bureaucracy that therapy is gone. And just for a while today with it went my hopes for what life would be like without the tube, for us and for Champion.

It felt so good today to allow myself to just cry and not care who knew I was breaking down.

It felt good to taste the salty bitter tears I had been keeping inside, thinking keeping them there was somehow preserving me and making me stronger as I fight for the best for my Champion.

It felt good to have my crying heard by people who love and care about Champion and want to help him. It felt good to hear them say, “We hear your cries and we’re going to do what we can to help get this fixed.”

Crying didn’t get appeals written or services back in place. Crying won’t change the fact that tonight I’m still holding Champion upright late into the night, or that my husband and I haven’t slept in the same bed in literally years, or that as soon as morning comes Champion will be reattached to his tube.

Crying won’t change the fact that it will take a lot of work, time, and energy that I don’t have to get the services started again.

But crying did accomplish something today. And that is that it simply made me feel good.

Let’s Talk: Ever had a time where even though crying didn’t fix it, it just felt good?

Photo Credit: memekode,

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Advocacy, Life, Marriage, Services 6 Comments

Taking Care of Ourselves: A Must, Not An Option

By Jo Lynn April 25, 2013 2 Comments

Tonight I took a bath and read a good book while Husband spent time with Champion. Last week I took a long walk by myself, while Champion’s respite worker was here. Next week I’m going to start attending a ladies only small group at church.

As a mom to a child with special needs, it is VERY easy for one to forget to take care of themselves, to forget who they are, to not take any time to be rejuvenated, recharged, and refreshed.

Special Needs Parenting, Take care of You, Special Needs Mom

The minute Champion was born, life changed drastically for us. As with any newborn we needed to adjust to his schedule, be sure we met his needs, and provide him the care he needed.

However, normally as time goes on, babies become older and slowly more independent. When a child has special needs, that independence can take a very long time to come, if it comes at all.

Therefore the demands on the parents doesn’t naturally let up, as it does in a “typical” situation. Finding relief from those demands can be extremely challenging for the special needs parent.

When Champion was younger the guilt I felt for taking time for myself was overwhelming. I felt so bad stepping away for a bit to regroup that when I did, it did me no good.

I would think how instead of being away I needed to spend this time doing x,y, and z with Champion, because if I don’t then he will never ______(fill in the blank with whatever skill we’re focusing on at that moment.) So I didn’t really take breaks, and if I did, I spent the time feeling very guilty.

Fast forward a couple of years and continuing like that got me on an aspirin regimen for risk of heart attack and stroke, extremely sleep deprived, a messed up thyroid and depressed.

And on top of that my time with Champion wasn’t being spent the best it could. My energy level sucked, my motivation to work with him was disappearing, and I just plain wasn’t happy.

Maybe this sounds familiar to you. Maybe you’ve been doing like I was and not caring for yourself the way you need to.

If you’re the parent of a child with special needs, or in any type of situation that places extremes demands on you, you know one of the hardest things to do is to make sure you are taking care of yourself. For some reason its our nature as women and especially as Mommas to put ourselves last.

But I’ve slowly learned that doing this actually does more harm than good. We think we’re doing good by trying to do it all, but the long-term effects show that we’re not. And it actually models the wrong thing for our children. We want them to learn to hopefully take good care of themselves and if they don’t see us doing it, they’re not learning it.

So I’ve started taking care of myself. I’ve come to the conclusion in my heart that it’s not selfish to take time away, to do what I enjoy, to participate in activities that refresh me.

I realized that the more I do this, take time to take care of myself, the better I am for my family when I am with them.

Making it a priority to take care of myself is making a big difference for me and for those that I love most.

I want to encourage you, if you are reading this and you are struggling in this area like I have, please do what you need to do to take care of you.

Even if it’s just something simple, like a walk or a bath or a coffee outside by yourself, please find a way to make it happen regularly. I’ve found even the littlest efforts I make to take care of myself go a long way.

By taking the time to take care of ourselves, we can each be the best that we can be, for the people in our lives who desperately need us so much.

Let’s Talk: Are you struggling with taking care of YOU? What’s one thing you are going to do this week that will refresh and rejuvenate you? If you are doing good taking care of yourself, please share some tips to help others get there too!

Photo Credit for both photos : return the sun

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Life, Parenting, Taking Care of You, Tips 2 Comments

When Love, Life, Death, and Hope Collide: Gavin Leong

By Jo Lynn April 19, 2013 4 Comments

As I sit here I still can’t believe the events of this past week.

For quite some time I have been following the story of an amazing little boy named Gavin. I stumbled upon his mom, Kate’s, blog Chasing Rainbows through Love That Max and was hooked from the beginning. Gavin inspired me so much with all the obstacles he overcame in miraculous ways.

Image from Chasing Rainbows

His mom’s love and dedication to him was awe inspiring to me. Through her words, her stories, her advocating, and her love for her family she taught me so much.

The week started off normally with a great story of Gavin’s visit to the dentist and then helping his mom drop off his grandfather’s wheelchair and donate it to the hospital that helped Gavin so much.

The very next day his mom put out a call for prayer, letting us all know that Gavin had stopped breathing and was in cardiac arrest.

In his mom’s style of strength and grace she shared updates on his progress, and finally shared that Gavin would be taken off of life support and his organs donated.

She shared that he would be leaving this earth and going to live in “Heaven’s House”, as his little brother Brian calls it, where he would be reunited with his twin, his sister Darcy and his other brothers and sisters who had returned to heaven before birth.

Gavin’s life touched so many people.

He was a fighter.

His mom is a fighter. His dad and his brother are fighters.

As she chronicled her daily life with him, it was full of fun times, like them dancing in the kitchen, or her love bombing him.

She went above and beyond for him, even getting the state representatives office involved when the school wouldn’t allow their beloved helper Miss Sara accompany Gavin to school. Kate stopped at nothing to help her amazing son, and in turn has inspired thousands with her love for her son.

Gavin was wheelchair bound for most of his life and then just seemingly out of nowhere started walking on his own. He was healed miraculously of a hearing impairment. He survived many many illnesses that tried to take him out in his early years of life. His life is one full of miracles.

He taught so many people so much about life and love, without ever uttering a word.

The loss of Gavin is one that is felt deeply.

His smile, his determination, his strength to overcome obstacle after obstacle touched the hearts and lives of so many.

I can’t believe he is gone from here. But he is.

He is in heaven just like his mom said, reunited with loved ones who have gone before him. Even though he is not physically here with us, he still lives on.

Gavin lives on in the hearts of so many of us by the words so lovingly written by his mom over the years of his life.

He lives on in the community that banned together and prayed furiously for this miraculous soul.

He lives on in the souls of all of us who have been inspired and touched to the very core of our being by his life, and also when he left this earth.

There was so much love and hope in both, his life and his death.

He will forever be missed and will never be forgotten.

Please join in helping Gavin to live on. Please help to keep his legacy and the lessons he taught so many continue.

Gavin passed on his mom’s birthday, of which she wrote:

“Our sweet son was officially pronounced dead at 9:53 this evening. Today was the hardest, most heart wrenching day of our lives. It was also a wonderful birthday gift to me – to know that I could birth this beautiful soul from my body on his birthday… only to usher him into Heaven on mine.”

The word strength does Kate no justice.

In the same post, she asked for others to do good in honor of Gavin, that day, the next day, or in the coming years. The outpouring of good done in honor of Gavin has been something to see. My own Champion was one of thirty kids who received a free app, Speak for Yourself, normally $200 dollars in honor of Gavin. A gift that is beyond words, in honor of a boy who changed the world, never speaking a word.

A visit to her facebook page, where she asked people to post what they’ve done, will leave you inspired.

If you have been inspired by the life of Gavin and would like a button for your site that links back to Kate’s blog, Chasing Rainbows, here is one. Please paste on the sidebar of your blog, so that when readers come to your site they too can be inspired by the life of Gavin David Leong.

A superhero who continues to live on, changing lives as he does.

Grab a Button for Gavin

To get the button for your site, see “A Superhero Lives on” on my sidebar. Choose the size of the button you want, then copy the code from the box under the button (be sure to scroll all the way down the box to get the whole code) and then copy and paste it on the sidebar of your site. When people click on it they will be taken automatically to Kate’s blog.

Let’s keep Gavin in our hearts and our memories. Let’s help him live on.

More posts in honor of Gavin can be found at Love That Max here.

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Advocacy, Faith, Inspiration, Life, Parenting 4 Comments

Enjoying This Gift I Have Been Given

By Jo Lynn April 8, 2013 6 Comments

I love Champion’s smile, how he squeals in delight over the littlest things, how he kicks his legs in excitement when he sees me pick up his backpack with his feeding pump in it, knowing he’s next.

He is so appropriate with his smile, always ready to give one to anyone willing to receive it.

I sometimes see him smiling at people while we’re out, and he keeps smiling at them even as they look past him.

He doesn’t get discouraged by rejection though, the next person he sees he’s ready to offer them his joy filled smile, seemingly unaware that not everyone is loving life the way he is.

I hear this from so many parents of children with special needs, that their children truly enjoy the little things in life, have an unexplainable joy, and are inspiring in the way they approach life.

It is amazing to me that so many children born with extreme challenges are the ones who teach us so much about loving and living.

In the beginning, after we found out about Champion’s diagnosis, I would ask God “Why?” a lot from a place of heartbreak and anger.

I cried a lot. I slammed doors and lashed out at family and friends.

It was a really tough time.

But in the midst of this journey, somewhere deep in my soul a shift happened.

I am so grateful to be Champion’s mom now, even with all the challenges and time commitment the role requires of me.

Enjoying This Gift I Have Been Given: Special Needs Parenting www.thesweetandthesalty.com

Being around him day in and day out, observing his reactions to situations, to people, to us, and to the challenges he faces has made my life so much more meaningful.

Sometimes, my eyes will fill with tears and I find myself asking God “Why?” but it is from a totally different place than at the beginning of this journey.

I now ask from a place of gratitude and amazement.

I am so in awe that God has allowed me to be this little boy’s mommy.

To witness this fiercely determined little miracle in the making take place before my eyes.

To be on the receiving end of these overwhelmingly joyous smiles.

To be given the gift of nurturing this uniquely special soul.

And to be a part of a a community of amazing mommys and daddys being totally transformed by their children who need a little bit extra.

I finally find myself at a place where I can exhale, and say that I am finding myself more and more content versus heartbroken and angry. This is so much better than the inner destructive turmoil I found myself in for the first several years.

Even though there are still many challenges we face, I feel like I can breathe again and I feel like I am truly enjoying this gift of a son I have been given.

Let’s Talk! What unexpected Gifts are you enjoying? Please share in the comments, I’d love to hear about them.

Linked at: Pour Your Heart Out

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Champion's Corner, Life, Newly Diagnosed 6 Comments

A Faith In Need of Healing

By Jo Lynn April 2, 2013 14 Comments

“Please don’t let it happen again. Please, Lord. Please have mercy on me. Please have mercy on my body. Please, Lord, please just don’t let this happen. I beg you, Lord. Please God.”

I cried out to God, everything within me involved in the prayer.

I prayed fervently, wholeheartedly, hoping against all hope my prayer was being heard, that it would be answered, and there would be a stop to what I could tell was coming.

I shifted uncomfortably, willing the pain in my lower back to cease. I tricked my mind into believing it was normal pain, that it was different than what I had felt before.

I told myself not to worry about it, not to think the worst.

“God I believe things are going to be different this time. I believe you are hearing my prayers and you are answering them. I know you are answering them.”

My prayers increased in intensity with the same fervor that the pain increased in intensity. I tried to push away the fear and dread that were trying to consume me. My heart was breaking.

All explanations I could come up with to ease my anxiety were fading away as the experience grew more and more like it had been before.

“Lord I believe I am going to find that what I’m thinking is not true. That it is just fear trying to trick me into thinking the worst. God, it has to be different this time. It has to. I can’t take this. Father God, please I beg you one more time, please have mercy on me. Please God. Please. Don’t. Let. This. Happen. Please.”

With a sliver of hope, a small mustard seed of faith, I went to see if the life we had prayed and hoped for, the life we had planned for, the life we had been rejoicing over, was still with me.

As the red evidence confirmed that the end of that life was in process, the hope I was clinging to, the belief that my cries were heard, the mustard seed of faith I was clutching slipped from my heart the same way the life we had been looking forward to slipped from my body.

This is the second time in a row that I have miscarried a child.

As I write this my heart is still raw and wrought with open wounds from the loss.

As we seek answers from doctors, my heart is seeking answers from the one place I have always ran in times of heartache and pain, the place I always turned when I needed to be comforted, when I needed peace and reassurance.

I find myself grieving in more ways than one this time. Not just for the child we lost, but also for the blind faith that I once had. The faith that has slowly over the past few years been chipped away at.

I find my heart hanging in a balance. I desperately want to believe like I used to.

I desperately want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that words like these words ”I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, plans for a future and a hope,” and these words “I have come to give you life and life more abundantly”, and these words “And this is the confidence which we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He listens to and hears us,” I want to believe these words are true, that they are real, that they can be counted on.

I need to believe that the wellspring of life giving words that are planted deep inside of me, words of power, words of healing, words of comfort, words from a God I deeply believe in, I need to believe that these words are living and powerful, and that they will rise up from within me and provide me with the comfort, peace, and restoration of trust that I desperately need.

I need to get back to where I believe completely, blindly, without a shadow of doubt in the One who spoke these words.

I wholeheartedly believe that I will come out of this season with undeniable victory and with a renewed, battle tested faith that is stronger than ever.

I know from past experiences that it is in these deep valleys of life where God is experienced in a way unlike the plateaus and mountains of life. Even though I don’t understand why it is like that, I know that the time spent in this valley will in some way work out for good.

But for now, in the meantime, I am grieving, in more ways than one.

Life is going on around me as usual, but my heart is hurting and needs healing. My body needs healing.

And most of all my faith needs healing.

“I am near to those who are broken-hearted.” – God (I believe this is true and I am clinging to this truth now.)

If you have suffered a miscarriage as well my thoughts go out to you. My heart goes out to you. My prayers go out to you.

Let’s Talk: Heart to Heart, Woman to Woman. If you have experience with miscarriage and feel comfortable sharing, please share in the comments your story. I have been inspired by other women sharing their stories of heartbreak that has turned to victory. Or if you are like me and still struggling in this area, I want to hear from you too. Please share your story and we can encourage each other.

Photo Credit: Justin Marty, Fractured Fairytale

Linked at : Cornerstone Confessions, Titus 2sdays, Pour Your Heart Out

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Faith, Life 14 Comments

So Glad You Are Here! (A Lesson From My Three Year Old & Where You Can Find Us)

By Jo Lynn April 1, 2013 Leave a Comment

A lesson I’m learning from my three year old

Joy has nothing whatsoever to do with having the perfect circumstances.

It has nothing to do with the hand one has been dealt in life.

And it definitely has nothing to do with a person’s ability to do or not do something.

Everyday I watch my son decide to have joy “in spite of ______” (blank could be filled with numerous challenges he faces everyday).

He’s definitely challenging me to try and do the same.

I am so glad you have taken time out of your day to stop by and be a part of our journey.

I look forward to sharing with you our sweet, happy moments, as well as our salty, tearstained moments, and the lessons learned in both.

You can follow along with our journey in a couple places.

You can find me on Twitter.

I’d love to have you like us on Facebook.

You can find me pinning away on Pinterest.

And of course you’ll find me here, posting weekly about life as mom to a miracle in the making!

To know when a new post is up, you can sign up for posts delivered straight to you by Email or by RSS feed.

Thank You for stopping by. I hope you enjoy your stay here and come back to see us again soon!

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Blogging, Life, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

How I Do Laundry & How it’s Changed My Life

By Jo Lynn March 27, 2013 8 Comments

I have a lot on my “absolutely no questions asked about it, needs to be done” to do list. I also have a lot on my “I really want to please please please I hope I have some time” to do list.

Needless to say the needs to do list trumps the want to do list and is usually the only one that gets the check marks on it.

I read a lot of books (and blog posts) on how to save time and be organized. I spend a lot of time reading about this because I have found that it is the key to me being able to get to some of the items on my want to do list.

I generally concentrate on making sure four areas of home management are taken care of daily and have set up systems to keep me on track. The four areas are mail, dishes, clutter, and laundry.

I had pretty good systems for the first three listed but was failing miserably on the laundry part. The stress, not to mention lateness, that was resulting from having laundry either not washed or sitting in a huge pile waiting to be folded and put away was becoming a major nuisance.

Previously I always thought laundry was done best by setting aside a whole day to do all of it. However, setting aside a whole entire day a week to do laundry is not an option here. Our days can be to unpredictable, we have way to much therapy to do and go to, plus Champion currently gets 12 g tube feeds a day (very time-consuming).

It is way to risky to expect that I will have a whole day to dedicate to laundry a week. I feel that option for our family is cutting it really close and that in reality waiting to do it all in one day would boil down to us wearing dirty clothes often.

So I set out in search of what other moms were doing to tame their laundry (I love learning from other moms).

I found a lot of moms promoting the idea of doing one load, from start to finish every single day. I loved that idea. It made sense to me so that’s what I started doing. But the finish (fold and put away) part never seemed to get done.

Hence the large pile of clean clothes I found myself desperately digging through on a regular basis.

But then, out of nowhere and without even looking for it, the solution appeared!

And life hasn’t been the same since. (Yes it’s that serious for me.)

I stumbled up this awesome ebook by Davonne Parks called 28 Days to Timeliness: Tips and Confessions from a Semi-Reformed Late Person. It is a book chock full of motivation, strategies and tips on how to start being on time places. Very practical read. One of the chapters deals with being late because you’re looking for clothes in the clean clothes pile. The author gives several solutions but there was one that stuck out to me.

So here it is. This is my new laundry system and I love it!

I stopped by Target one day with Champion and picked up these three baskets (I already had the regular laundry basket at home). I got different colors so that we would all know which basket belongs to who. I debated about getting the all white ones with the holes in it so I could see a little more but decided on these since they took up less room, were flexible, had handles, and were different colors.

So now everyday (or most days, there are some days it’s really just not an option) I throw in a load of laundry to wash, switch it to the dryer (and hang up what can’t go in the dryer) and then at some point in the day, usually around the time Hubby gets home from work I take the clothes out of the dryer and separate them into the appropriate basket. I leave the baskets on top of the dryer so it takes about five minutes or so to separate them to their appropriate basket home. That’s it, then I’m done for the day.

How I Do My Laundry & How its Changed My Life www.thesweetandthesalty.com @thesweetandthesalty.com

This sorter cuts down my laundry time even more. At the end of the day dirty clothes go in their proper pile and then when its time to wash I grab the pile, throw it in the machine and get back to life.

Hubby is now responsible for folding and putting away his own clothes when he has some time. If he can’t find the time, no worries, he’s just going through his own clothes to find what he needs.

I try to set a day, usually Fridays to fold Champion’s clothes and put them up and mine if have time. If I don’t have time that week (which happens often) the clothes just live in the basket till they’re needed.

So we dig through clothes still, but having them separated into different baskets has definitely helped in cutting way down on the stress of the digging. And it relieves the pressure from me from trying to get the clothes in their exact place.

Less stress, less time on laundry, less pressure on myself = life just got better .

I am definitely all about finding systems that work for my family to save us time and to make things around here a little smoother. It’s not perfect but it’s perfect for us for now!

Lets Talk! How about you? Any tips on taming the laundry beast?

Here’s a laundry sorter similar to the one I have.

(This post contains my referral links. Read Disclosure here.)

Linked at: Works For Me Wednesday

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Being Prepared, Organizing, Tips 8 Comments

Why Worry?

By Jo Lynn March 17, 2013 10 Comments

“We don’t have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Acts. We’re a privately owned residential area.”

After some protesting and trying to understand I thanked him for his time and hung up the phone, frustrated.

This was the second time I had approached the HOA of the condo complex we live in and both times I got the same answer. That they don’t fall under the category of having to comply with the American with Disabilities act. From my own research I learned they also don’t fall under the Fair Housing Act because of the date they were built.

I was trying to get a ramp put in for the only entrance and exit in and out of the converted condo we live in. There are a few steps leading up and they’re just high enough and shallow enough where lifting Champion’s wheelchair onto its back wheels isn’t feasible.

So we have a *five foot portable ramp we keep out front that I put out and pick up each time Champion and I leave the house.

This has been a good solution thus far. I had no complaints about it…until we started talking about expanding our family and having another baby.

The thought of picking up the hefty five foot ramp while pregnant was concerning to me. And the reasoning may seem irrational but for me I felt like I needed to have a solution to the ramp in order to move forward.

A couple of years ago I had a miscarriage. The pregnancy was a surprise pregnancy that ended ten days after we found out.

The morning that it happened I had been out grocery shopping. I remember straining to pick up a heavy bag of groceries and a few minutes later discovered that the pregnancy was looking like it would be ending in a miscarriage.

Although the extreme stress of that time period may have had more to do with it then the lifting, that was what stuck in my mind. So when we started discussing trying for another baby, the lifting of the ramp was one of the things that came to my mind, and caused me to worry.

But then in the midst of the initial frustration and worry of the HOA’s response to putting a permanent ramp out there, this thought floated through my mind and brought such peace to my heart: “Why worry about something that I know God is going to work out anyway, just like He has over and over again before?”

Why worry about something I know God is going to work out anyway?

I began to remember how He worked it out for me to leave my job and stay home with Champion, how He worked it out for us to find the place we’re living at that has been great for us up until this point, how He worked it out so that Champion got services he needed but didn’t look like he’d get, how He worked it out for us to be financially taken care of over and over again.

So many instances where I wasted time worrying about something that worked out even more beautiful that I could have ever imagined.

As I remembered all those times and then some I began to relax and felt myself just trusting.

Trusting that there would be a solution that would be beyond what I can think or imagine.

Trusting that He would provide us exactly what we need as we seek to enter into a new season of adding to our family.

Trusting that He knows all my fears and worries and He is right there, ready to give me peace of mind and peace in my heart.

So this time I refuse to worry, I refuse to waste time on something that I know God will work out anyway, just like He has time and time before.

Let’s Talk! Please share your thoughts on worry and how you cope with it. Has there been a time you worried about something only to find it work out in a way that you never thought possible? What are some things you worried about only to find out all the worrying was in vain?

*Looking for a portable ramp? Here’s a handy calculator we found helpful for figuring out the size ramp we needed.

Photo Credit: Wetsun, Photo Credit: marc falardeau

(This post contains my referral link. Read disclosure here.)

Linked Up at: Cornerstone Confessions

Linked Up at: Pour Your Heart Out

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Faith 10 Comments

Dream, Decide, and Discipline

By Jo Lynn March 10, 2013 Leave a Comment

Dream, Decide, and Discipline. These three words are behind every accomplished goal, behind every dream come true.

Dreaming is fun, euphoric, and all-consuming.

Deciding to pursue a dream is scary, satisfying, and defining.

And the last one, Discipline, well that one is just plain necessary. Nothing will come of the first two without this last one.

The first thing I wanted to do when I was younger was be a writer. To put words on paper and create a story, move people to action, provide a comforting word in a time of need, to be a part of the beauty that results from the written word.

That dream to be a writer was put on the shelf while I pursued other passions that seemed more practical. To be honest at some point I just stopped giving it much thought at all.

Yet life has a way of putting you on the path you were designed to be on. So here I sit, dreaming, deciding, and well um about that discipline thing? Yeah working on that one.

The dreaming part was easy. The deciding part, that was me starting this blog. But the discipline part, that’s the part I’m struggling with.

I find it amazing that I can be disciplined in certain areas, such as I rarely go a day without checking my Facebook. I rarely go a day without reading my favorite blogs. I rarely go a day without ending up on some rabbit trail search on the internet about some thing that I must know right then, such as how to make my own hairspray. And yet those things in a way have their place, but they are not my dream.

And my dream is what I should rarely go a day without working on. And yet that’s not what my life is reflecting.

So in steps discipline.

Discipline is the necessary ingredient for my dream and my decision to pursue my dream to be worth anything. Without discipline I will be in the same place in a year.

I will still be thinking about how much I would love to blog, to write, to connect with others through the written word. I will still be watching others pursue their dreams, tracking status updates and adding to my arsenal of well researched topics I just had to know, for that moment.

Whatever is keeping me from fully, uninhibitedly pursing this dream of mine, I believe it can be conquered by discipline.

Is it fear holding me back? Doesn’t matter, discipline is doing it even though I am fearful how it will be received.

Is it lack of time holding me back? Doesn’t matter, examining my discipline in other areas shows me I have the time but am spending it in the wrong places.

Is it that I’m not in the mood holding me back? Doesn’t matter, discipline is doing it regardless of if I feel like it or not.

**Discipline is what keeps me from giving up what I really want in my life, what I’m dreaming about, for what I want just for that fleeting moment.

No matter what it is that is holding me back, discipline is the answer.

Discipline is what I need to make my dream a dream come true.

Discipline is the key ingredient.

Here’s a couple of resources I’ve found very helpful on becoming more disciplined:

*If you’re looking for a great book to help you be more disciplined I HIGHLY recommend ““The Do What You Can Plan” by Holly Gerth. I read it a few months ago and was blessed tremendously by it. It was just what this time strapped mamma needed to get going on some things. Love love loved it! You can purchase it here. (Planning on re-reading this one again soon!)

**I love the blog Money Saving Mom! Very encouraging blog with great tips on saving money, living life intentionally, and you guessed it: Discipline. The author of the blog, Crystal Paine, also has a great ebook out about discipline called 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life. Definitely recommend her ebook, it is a very good, motivating read! You can purchase it here or here.

Both these books are ebooks. Don’t have an e-reader? You can download the kindle reading app for any computer or mobile device here.

Considering an e-reader? I L-O-V-E my Kindle Paperwhite! It has revolutionized my reading life!

Photo Credit: Grotuk

Let’s chat! What do you find gets in the way of you being disciplined about pursuing a dream? If you are disciplined please share tips that have helped you!!!

(This post contains my referral links. Read Disclosure here.)

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Blogging, Life Leave a Comment

Its Time For it to Stop

By Jo Lynn March 6, 2013 Leave a Comment

“What a retard.” “She must be retarded.” “Lol, you are sooo retarded.” “How retarded.” “What a tard.” “Check this out, its so retarded.” “Eww, retard.” “I hope he doesn’t try to come over here with his retarded self.” Is this offensive? Does this make you cringe?

“Look at that chink, cracker, fag, faggot, nigger.” What about now, is this offensive? Does this make you cringe?

All of these are extremely offensive words, words that bring oppression on a specific group of people, that hurt a specific group of people, that are used to demean a specific group of people, that are used to oppress certain groups of people. All are words that shouldn’t be used. All are words that carry a heavy hate filled meaning. All are words that are fighting words, words that ruffle feathers, words that carry weight far beyond their simple syllables. These words have created deep wounds that prove that sticks and stones may break one’s bones but words will never hurt them is a complete myth.

Some of these words, although still distastefully used in certain circles, have been deemed politically incorrect, words that are frowned upon when part of daily conversation, words that children are reprimanded for saying, words that people are shunned for using. To get to that point, effort was required. People had to stand up and say please don’t use that word around me, let people know it wasn’t cool to use certain words, and teach people around them how hurtful the hateful words were.

For all of these words there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

For the word retarded, though, there are many who still don’t see it as offensive. It is a part of many of our society’s daily conversation and is considered commonplace. It is anything but that though.

It is hurtful, it is hateful, it creates wounds, and it is oppressive to a group of individuals who often have no literal or figurative voice of their own to stand up for themselves.

This Wednesday March 6^th is “Spread the Word to End the Word” day, an annual day of awareness to bring attention to the use of the hurtful word retarded and to stop people from using it person by person.

If the word retarded is a part of your vocabulary please visit this link to take a pledge to stop using it.

Words are so powerful. It is so important to choose the ones we use wisely.

(*Speaking of choosing words wisely I know that I used some very offensive words in this post. I chose them to hopefully drive home my point a little more. Please understand my heart in this.)

Photo Credit: Kt Ann

For further reading on the need for this word to stop being used, please check out the blogs below:

Want to know when a new post is up? Sign up by Email or RSS feed for posts delivered straight to you.

Filed Under: Advocacy Leave a Comment

Today, I Cried Hard. And it Felt SO Good.

Taking Care of Ourselves: A Must, Not An Option

When Love, Life, Death, and Hope Collide: Gavin Leong

Grab a Button for Gavin

Enjoying This Gift I Have Been Given

A Faith In Need of Healing

So Glad You Are Here! (A Lesson From My Three Year Old & Where You Can Find Us)

How I Do Laundry & How it’s Changed My Life

Why Worry?

Dream, Decide, and Discipline

Its Time For it to Stop

Welcome!

Subscribe for updates

Join Us on Facebook

Posts to Check Out

A letter to Self: Three Years In

Search

Categories

A Superhero Lives On

A Superhero Lives On

Buttons up for grabs