Christmas Traditions

You may have heard a thing called Christmas traditions, many families have something that they do every year for Christmas or the holiday season. This is going to be a bit of a sad post tonight so snuggle into bed with a box of tissues and remember those traditions that you might have had growing up.

Now I’m not sure when this tradition of mine started but when I was a kid I got my grandpa a coffee mug. It was nothing special and I probably got it at Dollar Tree but it was a nice mug. My grandpa liked it, as he would like anything his grandchildren got him and he told me that he could always use a new mug because they’d break. So the next year I got him another mug and he liked that one too. It became our tradition for at least five years that I would get him mugs. I’m not positive if I kept our tradition going until he passed away but I think I did.  I remember I think it was the last mug I got him, it was painted with a Santa Clause sitting in a chair. I also remember visiting him awhile after Christmas and he started digging around his table next to his recliner looking for something, he pulls out the mug and said that he kept it over there so it wouldn’t get broken.

Last year was the first year in I don’t know how long that I didn’t get him a mug. I remember walking around all the mugs in stores and thinking, "oh, I haven’t gotten grandpa’s mug yet." And then remembering that I couldn’t get him one. I think that was the hardest part of the holidays for me. Even today I stood in front of the Christmas mugs at Dollar Tree and thought of him. Both this year and last year I thought maybe I’ll get a mug and just keep it in honor of him, but it was too soon last year I couldn’t bring myself to do it. But maybe this year.

For you it may not be a mug but there’s something that you always did and now you don’t. Whatever that is, hold the memories close to your heart this Christmas. I believe that even when people pass they still live in your heart.

Christmas traditions may fade away but the memories never do. Merry Christmas!

Five Things I’m Reminded Of

Have you ever made a decision and plans then life throws like dodgeballs at you, and you get really confused about everything you planned. At the same time you have other things going differently than you hoped and then life throws another expected twist at you. You’re just like, "oh my gosh, why?!". Yeah, I can definitely relate. I’m not going to get into detail about this but I have got some wonderful reminders and lessons out of this crazy roller coaster.

One, sometimes life can be insane and wonderful at the same time.

Two, plans definitely do not always go as planned.

Three, lean on God throughout every single thing.

Four, there will be times when you have absolutely no idea what is going on in life.

Five, when plans fall through it’s usually because there’s something better for you.

I know that’s not deep or anything, but they are things that I think we forget and we need to be reminded of. Looking back on the last few weeks I regret nothing. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I have one regret out of about four or five things, but everything else I don’t. A lot of good things have come out of the craziness. For instance, I get the AMAZING opportunity to go to Rome in September and attend a month long training to become a certified DanceAbility Teacher. Excited? Um, YES! I’m also really scared, to be completely honest. I’ve never been to another country and I’ve never even been on a plane before. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that but oh well. I am trusting and believing that it’ll work out. I also have a ton of courage. One of the most calming things for me is knowing that God’s already in Rome. He planned this for me before I was even born, which is mind blowing.

All in all, I am very much looking forward to my trip and I hope you will consider supporting me in this next chapter of my life. You can learn more at https://www.gofundme.com/danceability-teacher-certification

World Cerebral Palsy Day 2017

I once said, "You know, I say "normal people" a lot. But really, there's no "normal people". Everyone has different abilities. Not everyone has the same taste in music, fashion, food, etc. How boring would that be? There's no one on earth that's the exact same person as you, unless you have a clone for some reason. However, there are similar people, with similar taste in things. I saw a picture that said, "development disability awareness, normal is overrated", but normal isn't overrated, because there's no such thing. God made us all unique, that's what makes everyone special."

This Friday is World Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day, and one of the biggest problems in this world exclusion. Why? I don't know. I'm not talking about race, gay or straight, I'm talking about the group of people who have been left out of the argument. The disabled community. I know, shocking.  Studies estimated that 48.9 million people in America have a disability, 24.8 million of those are severe. An estimated of 34.2 million people in America have a limitation functionally. How is it that approximately 59 million people have some sort of a disability, but we're still left out? Get mad at me for saying this, I don't care. Does our national anthem not say the words, "one nation". Not multiple nations on one continent.

We are ONE. Disabled and abled. Jesus said, "love your neighbor as yourself.", that doesn't mean put them in a box, I've been put in a box many times and it's awful. This box I'm talking about has multiple usages like labels, making fun of for being this so called "different", ignored, and left out. I've also been out of a box and it was legitimately a million times better. There should not be any kind of box. Let me tell you a secret, *whispers* you aren't any more normal than I am. Whoa, what?! I just put myself on your level...or you on mine? Either way I just made us equal...the way it should be.

I want to challenge you to make the "disabled" people in your life equal to you, if you don't already. They will appreciate it GREATLY. On Friday we'll be wearing green for Cerebral Palsy Awareness. Won't you join us? You can actually make a change just by wearing a color and posting a picture on social media.

Life With CP: If I'm Honest

This blog is called "Life With Cerebral Palsy" but I haven't been the most open about my life with CP. Let me reintroduce myself, my name is Kelcie and I have Cerebral Palsy, and because of this and life in general, I struggle with depression. This may be weird to hear if you know me because I'm usually the that's always smiling. It's true.

In 2012, my aunt passed away suddenly, along with a bunch of other people in my life. I didn't know what was happening because of this. I was confused and hurt but I could handle my depression pretty well. Growing up I always struggled with feeling invisible because I was consistently left out. I knew I wasn't but I still felt this way. I remember coming home and crying because I wasn't invited to whatever my friends were doing. I struggled with these things for years and I still do occasionally.

My junior year of high school my depression hit hard. Our family dog of fourteen years passed away and then my horse of seven years (she was much older than seven) passed away within a month of each other. I missed about a month total of school and it got to the point where I literally couldn't smile. The night that I publicly admitted (in a Facebook group called He Hears You) that I struggled with depression was the hardest night but God was there. He never left. I could feel Him fighting for me. He gave me peace to fell asleep. Before that happened, I texted some really close friends and explained what I was going through and asked for prayers. The next day I woke up with a long text message that my phone actually broke up into five texts and it was just filled with encouragement, support and love. Though I don't have it anymore I still remember what said. One of the last sentences said, "And you can know that not just the Father but many other people (like me 😊) love and care for you, and we see you for who you are even if you are having an off day." Don't get me wrong the whole text was an impact on me, but that sentence was mind blowing at that time. It was a great reminder. Within a couple hours I got two more texts and a Facebook message. I was overwhelmed. It took a couple months before I was back to being myself again, but I had great friends and family who helped.

About a month and a half after I graduated high school my grandpa passed away. I have to be honest, I told myself that I would not fall back into depression but I did. I told myself that I was not going to get mad at God but I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't at least a little bit of anger towards Him. Heck, there was a lot deep down. For a little over a year I couldn't say the words, "I'm doing great" without lying. Last month I said those words for the first time in months and I loved it. I wish I could say those three words more often but my depression gets in the way. Now, I'm not giving up on that, no way. I will one day. 

The parts about my junior year and my grandpa passing have not been told to many people. I just told my best friend what happened that night during my junior year because I was scared to admit that I was really really depressed. I was also scared of what people would think. As for the part about my grandpa, I don't know. I've been slowly letting everything out about that. 

Depression sucks. But in my experience...talking REALLY helps. 

Just Sit Awhile

F A L L I N G

I fall so much because of my balance and so many people make comments about how I just get right back every time. But I don't think they understand falling from my perspective as a person with disabilities. Let me explain what happens in public places.

I'm walking around and I lose my balance, I fall. At least one person runs up to me all worried and asks if I'm okay. Another person makes unnecessary noises, like gasping. The gasp makes more people look and they come to see if I'm okay or if I need help. By that time the people near me know that I'm fine. I get up and I look around and see many people looking at me, it's honestly embarrassing.

But I don't always "get right back up" after falling. On a bad day I can fall or almost fall probably close to ten times. On those days or even weeks, around the fourth or fifth fall, I don't feel like getting up right away. I just sit there, breathe, and give myself a pep talk. Sometimes I sit there and let myself be mad about falling for a few minutes before I get up. Falling is probably one of the most embarrassing things that a person with and without a disability does. But the only reason it's embarrassing is because we make it that way. Really, there's no one on earth who hasn't fallen at some point in their lives. No offense to the people who get worried when other people fall. That's really nice and I appreciate it, just don't make it a big deal.

I'm writing this because I recently face planted. I'm not kidding I actually fell flat on my face. Usually I protect my face but for some reason I didn't. I was around people who knew me and have seen me fall a lot, but it was one of those days where I just needed a minute to just sit. I realized that people don't know that sometimes you just need a minute on the floor.

Fun fact: if you look up "falling quotes" on Pinterest, the only quotes you'll find are about falling in love. Pretty sure that's not the same thing as just falling...

Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day 2017

Tomorrow, March 25th is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day. These are just some interesting facts about CP and disabilities in the US and around the world:

(1). Today the world population is approximately 7,439,027,300...and counting insanely fast. (2). In the US approximately 48.9 million people have a disability. 24.1 million of those people have a severe disability. I'm not sure when that was estimated but you can find it at in the biography list below. (3). In May of 2010, United Cerebral Palsy wrote, "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year about 10,000 babies born in the United States will develop cerebral palsy.". They also wrote, "764,000 children and adults in the US manifest one or more of the symptoms of cerebral palsy.". (4). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, "Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disability in childhood."

It is unfortunate that even though CP is the most common motor disability, there's still people who don't know how to react to it. They don't know that they have to be patient and listen, and if they still don't know what we're saying then it's okay to ask us to repeat it. When their kid points at the wheelchair and laugh at how we talk, they don't know that it's okay to ask them if they have questions about us and then ask us.

A few things I wish everyone on earth knew; It's okay to help us...just ask us how to help and how we need. We may have a disability but that doesn't always mean we're hard of hearing or dumb. Fun fact, we're just as smart as you...maybe even smarter. See us for us and not our disability. Don't identify with disability with the person. Don't even identify the person with the disability, just identify the person. I think the biggest thing of all, INCLUDE US. I mean when you hang out with your friends, invite the people who might not get invited many places or any place.

Please wear green tomorrow for Cerebral Palsy Awareness and post a picture with #gogreen4cp2017.

1. http://www.worldometers.info/

2. http://www.cerebralpalsy.org/about-cerebral-palsy/prevalence-and-incidence

3. http://www.serviceandinclusion.org/index.php?page=basic

4. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/data.html

Two years as Life With Cerebral Palsy

Two years ago today I restarted my blog by changing the name of it from Life With CP to Life With Cerebral Palsy. You might be wondering, "Why, isn't that the same thing?". Yes, it is, I just got bored with CP and decided to change it. In that two years I've written about forty posts about life with Cerebral Palsy, such as, struggles, education statistics in Oregon for people with disabilities, thirty facts, some of the history about CP, and how amazing friends are! I've had posts inspired by people, situations, and encouraging things that have happened to me. I wrote about the good things that happened to me and some of the bad things.

Today I want to take a moment and say thank you to all the readers, supporters, friends, and family. Without you guys this would just be words online, maybe not even that. Knowing that this blog is teaching people about CP is awesome! I can't wait to see where it goes this next year! Thank you again for reading and supporting me in this journey!

Normal? No Such Thing

You know, I say "normal people" a lot. But really, there's no "normal people". Everyone has different abilities. Not everyone has the same taste in music, fashion, food, etc. How boring would that be? There's no one on earth that's the exact same person as you, unless you have a clone for some reason. However, there are similar people, with similar taste in things. I saw a picture that said, "development disability awareness, normal is overrated", but normal isn't overrated, because there's no such thing. God made us all unique, that's what makes everyone special.

Chasing The Lion

To let you guys know me a little better, I was born and raised in Western Oregon. I have three older siblings, a brother and two sisters. I was homeschooled for the most part, I took classes with tech centers and co-ops, I just graduated from high school this last June. I kinda began to wonder how many people with disabilities go to college in Oregon. Recently I found out that OHSU did research on that same topic. This is what they concluded:

27.3% of adults in Oregon are disabled. 

In Oregon, about 14.6% of people with disabilities have less than a high school education, 26.5% have a high school education only, 38.5% have attended some college or technical school, and 20.4% of people with disabilities are college or technical schools graduates. 

Nationally, 20.6% of people with disabilities have less than a high school education, 29.8% have a high school education only, 31.0% have attended some college or technical school, and 18.5% of people with disabilities are college or technical school graduates. 

Now, to be honest, I actually thought this would be much less. Oregon DDS is more about independent living than getting a secondary education, and if you have a disability and live in Oregon, you know this. I'm all for independent living, I really am. I want to live with roommates one day. But I'm also all for secondary education. I believe that if you want to do something, you can do it if you work hard enough for it. The percentages above should be higher...like much higher.

There's another thing you should know about me, if you don't already, I hate it when people tell me what I can and can't do. I'm not talking life in general. I'm talking physical abilities. A little over a year ago, my mom was talking to the dean of the equestrian college that I had been dreaming of going to since eight grade. The dean heard that I use a walker and sometimes a wheelchair, and assumed that I couldn't do their program. It was not okay. You see, I want to do ministry through horses. That day when I was more or less declined by this college, a Christian college, I might add, I had two options: I could fight against them because it's against the American Disability Act to turn a person away because of their disability, or, I could go to a college that believes in me. I chose the second option.

"Every dream is created twice. The first creation is mental. Every invention, every business, every building, every painting is conceived in the right-brain imagination first. It’s nothing more than a single-cell idea at that point. The second creation is physical. You make it obedient to Christ via blood, sweat, and tears.

If your dream is a book, you make it obedient with a keyboard.

If your dream is playing professional sport, you make it obedient at the gym.

If your dream is making music, you make it obedient one note at a time."

-Chase The Lion, a devotion on YouVerson.

"Just smile and wave, boys" -Madagascar

I post a lot staring at people who are disabled and the annoyingness of kids staring, but this one is going to be totally different. This is a story that happened a few months ago at my doctor's office, and I was touched by it and wanted to share.

I went into my doctor's office because I had a fever, sinus problems, a sore throat, and these really weird, painful muscle spasms in my legs that only when my fever was around 99.9°-100.6°, I was on medicine for said fever and I was really tired. I was called back, got checked out, and when I was walking out we stopped at the office door because my aunt went to hold the inside door (the one that you go through when the nurse calls you, I don't know if there's a name for them.) for a mother who's son was staring at my mom and I instead of listening to his mom. Still feeling terrible, I decided to wave at him and smile a little, his mother saw me waving and said, "Thanks for waving at him!" and when on to explain how most people just sit there like, oh he's staring at me, and get annoyed by it.

See, I haven't been thanked by any other parent, I don't know if I ever will again. But I don't know what child has been waved at when they stare at disabled people. What I do know that from now on, no matter how annoyed I am, I'm going to try my best to wave or smile at everyone who stares at me.

Go Green

In October I kinda hosted an awareness thing on Instagram and Facebook for World CP Day (October 7th), I asked friends to simply wear green and post pictures with #igfbgoesgreen4cp, and I got a really good response! It was just super awesome to see my friends raising awareness! In two days it will be March, Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month and Day (March 25th), and every year we paint the world green for the month to spread awareness. So here's my challenge to you: 

1. Wear green. All month or just on the 25th. 
2. Post a picture of yourself in green on social media.
3. Use the #gogreen4cp.

You don't even have to do all three things, you can just wear green. Please join us spread awareness for Cerebral Palsy. Also, check out this awesome video about painting the world green for CP awareness. https://www.facebook.com/201848813189522/videos/1040753295965732/