"Oprah's Big Give" airs Sunday at 9 p.m.

Okay,

Normally I don't do this; by this, I mean advertising on my blog about upcoming TV shows or charities. But in this case, I think it is important. Many of you may think of Oprah as just a simple afternoon talk show host, but I guarantee you she is much more than this. She is a person trying to change the world, one person at a time. Although, I may not agree with some of her values, I think the fact that she is trying to change people's views is admirable.

The premise of the show giving back to people without expecting something in return. The show follows a group of people from all different walks of life and their efforts to shower unsuspecting but deserving citizens. The goal: seeing a need and fulfilling it-giving bigger every week.

For more information about the show, feel free to go to ABC.com or oprah.com

Uncertainties of life

Okay,

So this is kind of funny. As you know, I have been running behind on my posts from this week. As a result, I am trying to catch up by writing them all at once. As previously stated, I am unsure about what the future holds for me and my family.

Whether to go or to stay.. that is the question.

Anyway, as luck would have it, I came upon this carnival blog highlighting this struggles of people with disabilities.

I thought my readers might find it interesting.

Here's the link:

http://disstud.blogspot.com/2008/02/disability-blog-carnival-32-is-up-now.html

Personal update

Hello everyone,
I know you haven't heard for me in awhile, but I'm okay. Things have just changed a lot for me in terms of my computer and future family decisions. As you may remember, my computer was damaged a few weeks ago. I am up and running now; but still dealing with the loss of some major computer information. As a result, I have been forced to re-create my voice recognition files. It's not too bad; but it is a very long process. I have a feeling it will never be back to the way it was. But I am dealing with it.

Things around my parents' house are hectic as well. Long story short, our family has the opportunity to move away from Michigan. This has several benefits to our family. The first being escaping Michigan's economy as well as the weather. Don't get me wrong, I love it here. In a way, Michigan has made me who I am. Another reason for our possible move is to be closer to our immediate family. After all, we are expecting a new niece to arrive soon, so.

All in all I really don't know how I feel about moving. After all, my life really began HERE. Anyway, I have a lot of decisions to make. Please pray for clarity from me as I make one of the biggest decisions in my life.

Thanks,
Debbie

PS. I am also recovering from a illness as well

Joni and friends airing globally

Okay,

I have great news from my readers. Many of you have heard me talk about Joni Erickson Tada
and her books, devotionals and ministry. Well, I am not the only one who has been positively affected by her life and story. As a result, her half an hour TV show Joni and friends is airing globally on NPR or the TBN network.

For more information and station details, you can go to the following website:

http://www.joniandfriends.org/

Encouragement: Patrick Henry

Okay,

Today's encouragement is in the form of television show. Many of you might have already seen it. It was an amazing story featured on a two hour special on Extreme Makeover. The lucky recipients of this house remodel were the Hughes family. In this episode, the team renovates a Kentucky home with a disabled son; while the team works on the home, the family visits London. (This summary was brought to you by my TiVo). Here's a little background on the family

The family consists of three children

Patrick Henry was the first of the group. He was born with some major disabilities, but he doesn't allow that to stop him. Patrick Henry was born without eyes, and is unable to straighten his arms or legs. The family refused to give up on him though, saying "okay, this is what we been handed, now let's get to work. I'm going to give him his full life and all the opportunities that I would give an able-bodied son,"

In the early years, his dad took a evening job, so he could help with Patrick Henry. Realizing that Patrick Henry could not participate in your typical father-son activities, he began teaching Henry to play the piano. By age 2, he was taking requests. It doesn't stop there, he also plays the trumpet and writes his own music. Despite using a manual wheelchair, Patrick still manages to participate in University activities such as marching band with the help of his father, who pushes his wheel chair in the formations.

M Patrick's take on his disability: "Music has been so amazing and miraculous to me. It's given me a great connection to life. God made me blind and unable to walk. Big deal. With music, I know that I can do anything I set my mind too."

Enjoying the Silence

Okay,

As mentioned in previous posts, this last week has been a difficult one. I lost complete use of my computer and my data. That pretty much left me with nothing to do but appreciate the silence.

Me? I'm not a silent person; I like to talk. Feel connected to another

person and know they will understand me. So you can understand my EXTREME AWKWARDNESS during the first few days. In a way, I felt as if I deserved his circumstances. But after a while, I began to accept the silence. It gave me time to think-to reflect-on what is really important in life. This change in perspective wasn't all self imposed, but one of my favorite televangelist showed me the way. His name is Reverend Charles Stanley. Thanks to my TiVo, it records his Sunday sermons.

Sometime during the last two weeks, one sermon focused on God's silence. The sermon made some very good points. So good, I thought I would share them with you.

Here are the top reasons why God can choose to remain silent in our relationship.

1. To get our attention-too often we are distracted by the activities of life. We forgot about what is really important in life until it takes something drastic in our lives to make us stop and slow down. This is where the rhetorical "smelling the roses " Comes into play. This is when we are reminded that only the bare essentials are necessary. Some of these include: food, housing, love, and family.

2. During the "silent times" is when God is getting us to trust him. This is the time when we have to rely on someone besides ourselves to assist in our very survival. We are tired, frustrated and weak. We are taken back to our childhood. We have tried to everything to help ourselves, but we can't.

3. Sometimes God doesn't communicate with us because there are past things that we haven't admitted to him. These are barriers obstructing to chance for a deeper relationship with Him. Areas He would like to see changed before we can even think of having a deeper relationship with God.

One important thing to note about God's silence-God doesn't always have to answer our prayers. We should respect it when he remains silent and consider it a privilege when he does talk to us through the answering of a prayer or reading the Bible.

Just because He doesn't doesn't answer right away, doesn't mean he's not listening. It's just in HIS timing, not ours. Be open to communicate through prayer and reading the Bible. He just wants to listen and be there for us. Keep the dialogue going no matter what you have to say.

Sometime Last Week..

Hello everyone,

Okay, so I know it's been a while. But some unforeseen circumstances kept me away. Long story short, I lost my computer for a week. For my familiar readers, you know my computer is virtually the center of all my activities. It connects me to everything -- cyberspace, work, friends. Anyway, this is just a note to let my readers know I'm back-and they can expect something new on Monday.

Sitting down to write this, I am reminded that I missed a important day last week. The blog first birthday. It was sometime last week; unfortunately, I lost all of my important calendar dates on my computer. It's hard to believe it's been a year since I first published this blog. I guess time really does fly when you are having fun. I hope all my information has been at least somewhat helpful to my readers on their journey towards a deeper understanding of their disability.

Until tomorrow,

Debbie

For your entertainment

Okay,

So I know I'm running late again. I'm sorry. Work is keeping me very busy these days; I barely have enough time for myself anymore. But when I do, I like to play computer games on the Internet. Anyway, I thought I would share the website with you since many of the games are easy to play as well as a great stress reliever. Creating an account is free, although in order to get some of the special features you may want to become a member.

The webpage is www.pogo.com

Miscellaneous issues

Okay,
So I don't plan on doing this all the time, but since I'm running out of ideas for the blog, I have decided to defer to other people for topics.

The first being on the topic of my disability. If you have been a reader long enough, you may remember I have cerebral palsy. I just happened to find another blog post pertaining to that disability. Keep in mind there are different severities and types of CP. Anyway, I thought you might find this interesting. Here it is:

http://growingupwithadisability.blogspot.com/2008/01/questions-about-cerebral-palsy.html

The second being how some people feel God plays into my having a disability. Many people have grown up viewing that disabilities are God's way of punishing people for wrongs done in their life or the life of family members. The following blog post shows a different point of view.

http://growingupwithadisability.blogspot.com/2008/02/disability-and-god.html

My final topic for the night is a current one. This following blog post examines the presidential candidates and their stance on disability policy.

Here it is.

http://ncciadvocacy.blogspot.com/2008/02/2008-presidential-candidates-on.html

Hopefully, I will have something new on Wednesday