Carly's Café - Experience Autism Through Carly's Eyes

Welcome Back Readers~

Not many people really know what it's like in the   mind of someone with autism, but this YouTube gives you a glimpse into their world. Thanks to medical and technological advances, some are able to break through the wall to communicate with family and friends- like Carly. Being  nonverbal, she uses a computer to put her thoughts down on paper; her intellectual prowess and comedic timing inspired her to create a Internet channel interviewing celebrities. .

 For more information about Carly and Carly's Internet talk Speechless, go to:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeKKQlMB1NeOLN31_CSJFRQ?sub_confirmation=1

This Time,Next Year- Inspirational Transformations Throughout One Year

Dear Readers,

Last night I watched an interesting premiere on lifetime that encapsulated people's personal transformations throughout one year into a matter of minutes. From a disabled man injured in a car accident promising to walk again to a woman's dream of becoming a bodybuilder, As the host of This Time Next Year,Cat Deely follows them on their journey to make their dreams come true. The Show airs on Lifetime Tuesdays at 10 p.m.

On a personal note, I was deeply touched by story of Derrick Strong. This amazing young man was always interested in taking care of others as aa nurses aide; until a tragic accident left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Doctors said he would never walk again, but he was determined with the help of family and friends to walk by himself by this time next year. During the montage which showed his journey, he encountered at another incredible obstacle- he was involved in another accident on his way from therapy. That still did not stop him though and he was able to walk with the assistance of a Walker and able to hug Cat as he walked through the "Next Year" doors. His amazing testimony of "The Impossible is Possible with God" left the audience in tears.

Try as I might, I was unable to find any more articles about this inspirational man. I'm not sure that he knows how much his five minute interview changed the minds of millions of  people across the world- including myself. I wish him the best in all his future endeavors and hope he continues to walk tall whatever life brings him.

My Favorite Holiday Assistive Technology

Welcome Back Readers~

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday with family and friends; I certainly did. Some of my favorite gifts included a Ultimate Harmony remote which allows me to control several devices such as my Amazon fire and my TiVo all through my Alexa simply by using my voice. For example, I can say, "go to 240" and it switch the channel as requested. I can also turn up the volume of the TV by simply saying, "Turn up the volume." In order to switch to the Amazon fire,I, I simply ask Alexa to "turn on Fire TV,"; I don't have to ask my personal assistant to switch inputs because it does so automatically
This remote does require some programming experience in order to make the devices work together to complete complex demands.

For more information on harmony products, please go to:

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/harmony-universal-remotes
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-logitech-harmony-amazon-alexa-echo/

The Nest thermostat was my next favorite present; this assistive technology works to with the app as well as Alexa to control your thermostat. It also has the ability to recognize when you are away from the home and lower the temperature: when  you return, it will increase to a preset temperature.

For more information on Nest technology, please go to:

https://nest.com/thermostats/nest-learning-thermostat/overview/
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/tips-for-your-new-nest-thermostat/

The last assistive technology is clearly not yet; but Toyota is doing its best to make the lives of quadriplegics a whole lot better with the introduction of a personal assistant robot that retrieves drinks

Reflections on The Christmas Season

Dearest Readers,

Last week begun the traditional start to the holiday season; for the first time I can remember, our church has decided to continue the tradition of lighting candles until Christmas.. This week's candle was the Candle of Hope.

But hope for what?

Financial stability??

True love??

Continued health and wellness in the new year??

The Oxford dictionary defines hope as “A feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen”. Peter said we have a “living hope” and this is that we have an inheritance of eternal life kept for us in Heaven. (1 Pet 3:3-5). Our faith is focused on this -  “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). So, what is our hope?  It is eternal life. And in Whom is our hope? It is in  Jesus Christ  (1 Timothy ).

Throughout the generations, Christians have lost  their awe for what happened the night of Jesus's birth- how everything came to pass as was prophesied. I'm not saying we should forget God's kind and compassionate character, but it is only when we acknowledge our need for Him that we can truly comprehend God's master plan of allowing us to point others toward Jesus himself.  Or as Isaiah put it in Isaiah 6:5-8:  

"Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Take for example Jefferson Moore's A Perfect  Stranger movie trilogy. Although the premise of the movies are nice  in theory (because Jesus did come down to earth to live among us to spread the gospel news) these movies tend to gloss over how powerful God truly is and what he is truly capable of..

This brings me back to   my original question:  How Do We Get Back To The True Meaning of Christmas?

I Believe- In Memory of Della Reese

Dearest Readers,

It is with deep sorrow that I report that Della Reese has passed away at the age of 86,best known for her role as Tess in the series, Touched By An Angel, Reese made us believe in every day miracles. Debuting in 1994, the series centered around a group of angels sent down to help humans find hope in the midst of their daily struggles here on earth; the main message of "God loves you " being a central theme of every episode. Created by Martha Williamson, the show lasted nine seasons on CBS, conquering many controversial topics such as homelessness, mental illness and other other tragedies like 9/11 It taught audiences that for those that believe in Jesus, there is no fear in death-with the introduction of The Angel Of Death (portrayed albeit ironically by actor John Dye) Dye was not the stereo typical angel of death- dark and scary; instead, he spread God's light- both figuratively and literally with a message of hope and faith until they saw God for themselves.

I myself looked forward to every Sunday when for one hour I was reminded about the real possibility of Angels walking among us. In a world that barely recognizes Jesus anymore (aside from church and family life) I was given hope that someone is watching over me- either God himself or Angels of past relatives. God knows where I have been and knows where I am going because he's already there. He is there even though I may not always feel him.

In her last sighting out, Della Reese was asked about her belief in Angels. I believe her response says it best:

"..Everybody needs an angel in their life,what he left us to help us through was faith.."

Rest In Peace Della Reese!




More inspirational clips of Della Reese:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcHZ1b5Pa1A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCYvOnu_vI8

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2017/11/20/della-reese-star-tvs-touched-angel-dies-86/881525001/

THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS | Official Trailer | In theaters this Tha...

Dear Readers,

With Thanksgiving almost here, I hope everybody is  time with family and friends- I certainly am. even though it seems like a quiet one, I intend to make the best of it going to the movies with my mom and dad. One of them will possibly be The Man Who Invented Christmas. Although the title is a little deceiving because Jesus was and always is the reason we have Christmas, this movie tells the story of a writer (Charles Dickens) struggling with writer's block. As Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens IV) looks around for ideas, the characters for A Christmas Carol began to come alive for him. With  big stars as Christopher Plummer  as Scrooge and Jonathan Pryce as John Dickens,it should be a interesting one. I hope to see  this movie during my Christmas break, I kind of relate to it being a writer..





For more information about the movie, please go to:



https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/themanwhoinventedchristmas



https://www.facebook.com/TheManWhoInventedChristmas



http://ew.com/movies/2017/11/21/the-man-who-invented-christmas-ew-review/

Same Kind of Different as Me Trailer #2 (2017) | Movieclips Trailers

Welcome Back Readers~

Although I didn't have a chance to see this movie in theaters, it intrigued me enough to read the book. This book is told from two distinct perspective, that of a upper-class well educated white man andl a homeless African-American. I only point out the race because each influences how they see the other in the beginning but by the end, race doesn't seem to matter. After Ron Hall and his wife Deborah experience some marital difficulties, the struggle to find ways to reconnect. That's when Deborah brings up the idea of helping out at the homeless mission in Texas. It is then when she reveals a dream that God laid on her heart to help out here and of a "friend" that would help them change the city. At first, Ron shakes it off as just a dream, but when Denver enters the picture Deborah is sure he's the one from her dream.

"Become his friend," she encourages.

Obviously taken aback, Ron is unsure.

On the other hand, Denver is wary of anyone who works at the mission. He believes anyone who comes to help is just doing their holiday duty to make themselves feel better. But when they return every Tuesday, his attitudes began to change. Through friendship, Ron develops a deeper understanding of Denver's perspective on people and why the is wary of them. Time passes and the two become closer. It is when Deborah develops cancer that Denver becomes part of the family.

On a personal note, there are a lot of quotes in this book that I found full of wisdom One such quote being that we are all homeless waiting to be taken up to heaven where God is waiting for us (I think Denver puts it better in his book; it is also a quote in the trailer above) Denver also believes that some people see friendship as a catch and release psychology- here today, gone tomorrow-but if he's your friend, he's a friend for life.

I highly recommend this book although the first half is kind of slow and it takes a while to get involved in the plot