{"id":813,"date":"2013-04-12T19:23:19","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T19:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=813"},"modified":"2013-04-12T19:23:19","modified_gmt":"2013-04-12T19:23:19","slug":"blessings-not-burdens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=813","title":{"rendered":"Blessings not burdens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hinged<\/a>

Hinged AFO<\/p><\/div>\n

Autism<\/p>\n

Cerebral Palsy<\/p>\n

Traumatic Brain Injury<\/p>\n

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder<\/p>\n

Cushing\u2019s Disease<\/p>\n

Speech Delayed<\/p>\n

Attachment Disorder<\/p>\n

Lupus<\/p>\n

Down’s Syndrome<\/p>\n

Multiple Sclerosis<\/p>\n

Attention Deficit Disorder<\/p>\n

Spinal Cord and Nerve Injury<\/p>\n

Depression<\/p>\n

Schizophrenia<\/p>\n

Different<\/del><\/p>\n

Weird<\/del><\/p>\n

Useless<\/del><\/p>\n

Draining<\/del><\/p>\n

BLESSINGS, but definitely not burdens!<\/p>\n

Over the course of the last five years, God has given me a new type of vision.\u00a0 The visual clarity that sometimes only comes when you have a small glimpse into how someone else lives.\u00a0 Even though our son\u2019s healing journey continues, his day-to-day activities become less and less impacted by the injuries he received.<\/p>\n

Not so for many of the wonderful families we have met while in the hospital waiting rooms or on Caringbridge. \u00a0This is something that I really took for granted prior to the day that changed our lives. I am embarrassed to admit, I never thought about the struggles that some families face. \u00a0I remember the moment the tidal shift occurred in my visual correction.<\/p>\n

We sent Sawyer to the store to pick up something that we had forgotten.\u00a0 He used his adapted bike to travel the few blocks to the store, and once there used the store\u2019s mechanical cart.\u00a0 A store employee came over and berated him for playing with something he didn\u2019t need, calling him inappropriate names. Apparently, this man didn\u2019t notice the AFO or the scars on Sawyer\u2019s leg or the struggles he had getting off the cart.<\/p>\n

Distraught when he returned from the store, the news he brought home caused the Momma Bear in me to erupt with Old Faithful geyser-like timing.\u00a0 The problem was the same thing happened at two other businesses within the same week.\u00a0 After many tears and few choice words, I was exhausted battling stupidity.<\/p>\n

I was disgusted with humanity.\u00a0 I was sick of people and their stares and their lack-of-understanding.\u00a0 Remember Kandy, this will be temporary in Sawyer\u2019s life. <\/i>That small realization straight from God completely changed my heart and my prayers.\u00a0 Back then, I had no idea that we would still be having surgeries now, but I knew some families wouldn\u2019t have the same results that we would someday have.<\/p>\n

After feeling the sting of discrimination and ignorance, my prayers changed. I began to ask God to see each person the way He does. \u00a0The list at the top of this blog represents real people who have touched my life.\u00a0 Each one of them has blessed my life in ways so much more than I can explain.<\/p>\n

Some of the greatest of these has been the ability to live in the moment, to love someone for whom they are, and to never see what you can\u2019t do, only what you can.\u00a0 Those lessons will change your life. They did mine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Autism Cerebral Palsy Traumatic Brain Injury Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Cushing\u2019s Disease Speech Delayed Attachment Disorder Lupus Down’s Syndrome Multiple Sclerosis Attention Deficit Disorder Spinal Cord and Nerve Injury Depression Schizophrenia Different Weird Useless Draining BLESSINGS, but definitely not burdens! Over the course of the last five years, God has given me a new type of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[47,64,74,88,153,157,493],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}