Just a "little" blessing ?

I would rather not say who this is but a person in my family has really been having a hard time, going through some difficult struggles.
 Last night it seemed like it all came down at once and they were really upset. I had a hard time sleeping last night wishing there was something I could do. This morning I woke up and prayed asking God to please allow something positive to happen to this person today, just something little , something that would encourage them and be a  blessing.
 As the day went on I prayed this prayer again knowing this person was having such a hard time and my heart hurt for them.
 After dinner we got the mail and in the mailbox was a card addressed to this person. As they opened it and started to read it tears came to their eyes. It was a card sent from a friend and in the card was written an actual blessing, the words were short but seemed to be just what they needed at this point in their life. I got tears in my eyes and said to this person, " I just prayed this morning that God would bring a small blessing in your life today, God answered that prayer even before I prayed it". The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Thank you God for answering our prayers sometimes even before we pray them. Thank you for this person who felt lead to write this card. How many times do we get a "feeling" that we are supposed to call someone, send a card , go over and talk with someone, give a  hug,  and feel funny wondering why and what will they think, but when we do we find out that it was just what that person needed. Today I encourage you if you feel lead to reach out to someone please follow through . You never know if what you say or do is just what that person needed . YOU just might be who God uses to  answer a  prayer!

Acceptance is does NOT mean you give up.

I just feel like i have to say this, Acceptance does not mean you give up !

For some reason we think that if we accept the difficulties in our lives that we are  giving up.  
 I have been there. Many times, with Ryan . With each loss we have had to face with Duchennes, I have to work through it and  get to a  place to accept that this is our new normal.  It is not easy, I have to work through the fear and feeling guilty that by accepting means giving up hope.  That can't be farther from the truth.  Anxiety takes a lot of energy, acceptance lowers anxiety , brings much needed  peace , and allows you to have the strength to do what  is needed to do to get through it.
Over the past 6 years I have also watched my mom go through this with her cancer.  I know she doesn't like what is going on, she misses what she used to be able to do, she struggles with tomorrow. I think she feels like  if she accepts that  things are different than she has given up hope that  she will ever be able to do those things again. Once she is able to surrender to the fact that this is what her life is for now that is when the anxiety goes down, and she  has more energy to get through the day.
When you are dealing with a difficult thing , you go through a process,  part of that is accepting.To get to the place of acceptance is  saying, Okay this is the way it is, I may not like it , I can't change it but I  except it.  What causes so much anxiety is NOT doing this.  You can't change what has already happened, you have no control over what might happen, you can't change things by wishing things  were different ,  so surrender all that to God. When you do this your circumstance may  not change but accepting this is your life for now,  you will be at peace. 

Just trying to be helpful!

Jake usually mows the grass but since he is gone and Jeff has been busy working on the Mega ramp (see it in the background of the picture!)  I decided I would step in and be the hero. I will mow the grass! It has been a few years since I mowed the lawn but hey it doesn't take a rocket scientist right?

I put on  my hat, sunglasses work gloves , ear buds in my ears and got to work. Within a few minutes I realized that it had been along time since I had mowed the lawn. Wow, when did this yard get so big and has this lawn mower always been this heavy to push?
 I was plotting along when I  ran over Jake's soccer net. Of course this stopped the lawn mower dead in its tracks. Like a little kid I sheepishly went over to Jeff and told him what I did. He looked at the lawn mower and it was a mess. He had to take it into the  garage to fix it. It took him over  30 minutes to get the mess cleaned up. He fixed it and once again I started mowing.
Back and forth , back and forth , then I hit something again stopping the lawn mower.  I am like, what the heck, I looked down and it was a black plastic tube. I thought, I wonder what that could be? I backed the mower and up and restarted it,  thankfully this time it started back up.  I proceeded on, happily pushing the mower , enjoying my music when  a few minutes later Jeff walked up to me with the black plastic tube in his hand. I smiled , I said what was that for? It was part of the venting for our septic system, oops! Sorry !  I did finally get the lawn mowed after having to restart it about 20 times at least half of those times I had to have Jeff help me since the auto starter was not working. 

Having had this experience  I have decided a few things. 1)  Having a big yard is overrated. 2) We have way too much junk to have to mow around . 3) I am way too old to be pushing a lawn mower. 4) I think Jeff needs to buy a riding mower and finally 5) I bet Jeff won't take me up on my offer to "help" mow the lawn again! 
When was a time that your offer to "help" turned into be something more than "help" ? 

My surprisingly respectful son.

Jake has been gone on his mission trip for a week. It is so quiet around here. Jake is my energizer bunny, he keeps going and going and going. He loves to debate  (argue) , and he can wear me down but it is funny how the things that seem to drive me  the craziest with my kids is what I miss the most when they are gone. Jake has a way adding much needed life to our house.  He is a senior in high school this year, I don't even want to think about how much I am going to miss him when he goes to college! Okay, we do have one year left!

Near the end of this school year Jake had to present his portfolio. It is supposed to be a  year long project, of course in Jake style he spent the 2 days prior to this presentation doing his year long portfolio. Much to my amazement he had it done on time.  He had to present this in front of his school adviser and us.

 That morning Jake and I had our usual argument and were running late to get to the school.  Once we arrived we walked into the counselors office, Jake shook her hand and then introduced me to her. He then proceeded to come around the table and pulled out my chair for me to sit down.  He started off his presentation , it was about 20 minutes long,  I sat there in amazement, as he gave a wonderfully prepared, intelligent, detailed, witty, humorous presentation. Stopping occasionally to politely answer questions that he adviser asked.   I know I must have had my mouth hanging open in surprise, wondering who in the world is this polite, respectful child ? Who is he , and what did he do with Jake?  After it was over , we were walking back to the van I complemented him on  a job well done, and how I was impressed with how respectful he was to this adviser.   Of course it wasn't long before the old Jake was back arguing with his mom again! It was nice to see this side of Jake, we don't get to see it very often. It is a relief to this mom to known that he does have it in him, that he can be respectful when he wants to be. 

Ryan's Maiden Voyage with the Mega Ramp!

This is a great day in the McKenzie's house! Ryan is able to come upstairs once again!

Something so little as a set of steps, causing so much problems.  Ryan has not been able to go upstairs in our home,  independently for over  4 years!  4 years since he has been able to walk upstairs. Once he was  no longer able to walk  we used a stair lift to get him upstairs and then transferred him to a manual chair. Since his back surgery over 1 1/2 years ago,  he has not been able to use the stair lift which means he hasn't been upstairs in 1 1/2 years! Now that I think about it, this the first time his power chair has been upstairs!

 I am SO excited I can't even begin to tell you how happy it  makes this moms  heart to see my boy in my kitchen again! He had to check everything out, Jake's messy bedroom and of course the refrigerator!  The little things, being able to see whats in the refrigerator!  He was all smiles!
I wanted to share this happy moment so here is a video of Ryan doing a test run of his Mega ramp. Keep in mind it isn't done yet, still a lot of work to be done, but it is done enough that Ryan was able to give it a try! He made it upstairs and we were able to have dinner around our dining room table as a family!!! I just can't even begin to tell you what that means to all of us!!!!!
 So thankful that God gave Jeff the talents and gifted him in such a way to be able to do this. Thank you Grandpa chuck as well for being the apprentice ( clean up man ). Thanks to Jake as well for being the assistant to the apprentice!