Raising a sparkly teen girl
We’ve found hope in the hard of our journey …
Ella was born perfectly typical and at about 12 hours old she started seizing in the hospital nursery. After a near death experience, we discovered that she had contracted Group B Strep and it resulted in meningitis. Essentially the infection went straight up her brain and damaged it very quickly. At a year old we received both a feeding tube and a cerebral palsy diagnosis. She shed the tube, but we’ve just added to the list of diagnoses. Ella is motor and cognitive delayed, but what she lacks in typical development she makes up in Joy. We find her saying “hi” to empty spaces and we are pretty sure she can see the angels surrounding her. God has been gracious in our story!
These days are precious because I choose to see them that way.
I could cry and stomp my feet and use words like “fair,” but we have a choice.
In case you think a special needs mom is a Super Woman, just know that her heart breaks a million times a day. She doesn’t feel super. She doesn’t want people to think of her that way. She gets up in the same mood as you, but realizes her kid needs more and so she does her day differently.
Also, if I’m being totally honest, there are hard things in typical families that I’d never want in a million years, we just live our hard out loud.
To the Special Needs Mama, let people help you. Let them love you and fill in the gaps and give you breathing room. Let them be your village. If you keep pushing them away, they might stop offering.
We can do hard things.
When people say some thing is just a #season, I do that frustrated laugh. My season as a #specialneedsmom will last as long as I do. It’s more like a 40-year walk in the wilderness.
BUT GOD.
If we WANT to, we can find ways every day that He tells us He loves us, even in the hard. Look for the good, and for the ways God loves on you everyday.
It all started with her.
I needed to be a better functioning mom. I barely managed through the day. Our therapy schedule, doctor appointments and insurance paperwork were a full-time job that cost money and energy.
I needed her healthy. Desperately. I needed something that healed her gut, helped her poop and gave her real nutrients.
I had a hearts desire to share it with anyone else who needed what we found. Moms that were tired. Friends diagnosed with autoimmune issues. Children (and grown ups) with awful gut health. Families that needed good supplements.
Then it happened. My desire to share was matched in the hearts of my friends. Together we grew a team of over 25,000 people. Hearts connected over health.
The heart of what I do shows up in the women’s faces on my team, but it all started with her.
It started with her. It grew because I knew we could build a home for her. She pushes be to be better, stronger and do the next right thing. I want to show her what’s possible. I want to model tenacity for her, because she shows it to me in each step.
