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ONE WEEK AGO---I participated along with my twin sister and best friends in our seventh annual "Night To Shine" sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. It was truly an incredible experience for all of us to be treated like royalty and have a prom night we'll cherish forever. I am grateful to have been a part of it once again this year and getting to celebrate who I am with so many other individuals with disabilities--was incredible. 

I was able to connect with some other friends whose faces I'd not seen in nearly forever and it was special to be able to catch up for a little bit. I really loved being able to have an event to keep my mind off things that have been going on in my life recently and just getting reminded of how important I am in this world, touched my heart. All of us got checked into the event after 5pm and immediately were assigned buddies who would give us our corsages before heading off to make our entrance on the red carpet. 

Shortly after that, we entered into the event with a scrumptious dinner and a beautifully decorated space with all the sparkle you could ever imagine!!! We quietly sat down to have our meal and then quickly did as many of the activities we wanted to participate in which included: (Cartoon Drawings of us in less than four minutes, limo ride, dancing the night away, laughing till our hearts were tired, drank sparkling cider on the way home, stay hydrated with water, enjoyed some treats as well.) 

Everyone was crowned a king or queen of the prom which if you ask me, is truly the greatest part of the event prior to getting a heartfelt message from Tim Tebow and his lovely wife Demi. It was definitely an amazing experience to feel the love of my Savior, Jesus Christ and know that everyday of my life, that he does see me as a queen. I am grateful for his unconditional love to me during the past couple of days and throughout my life on a regular basis. He is the one who has given me so much peace when I have needed it the most and has never left me alone when I needed to communicate with them. I am so grateful for his example of what it means to follow him and be one of his disciples that wants to strive as hard as they can to love others like he does. 

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Last Chance

LONG STORY SHORT----I reached out to one of my colleagues about a situation that I didn't want to see myself in and received some great advice. I'm not very good when it comes to being socially aware with people's boundaries and trying my hardest to maintain them. It's never easy when someone I have looked up to for a very long time, having to tell you things that you don't want to be reminded about & somehow it has allowed me to take extra time for myself. Instead of going into depth about this, I feel determined to whatever it takes to be a much better council member and advocate for a community that has such a special place in my heart. 

After speaking with my mom and other friends, it has definitely given me peace of mind. I may still have a very long road to walk down and yet I am grateful to not be alone in this journey. When it comes to me with expecting a lot from people and then I end up not getting it---I accidentally take things a little bit too far. I am incredibly grateful for the support and unconditional love that my friends have shared with me---during this very emotional time. They have lifted my spirits with their messages of positivity & allowing me a chance to slowly heal from something I didn't want to be resurfaced. I am hopeful with extra time on my hands that I will be able to see the bigger picture and move on with life as anybody else deserves. I am never going to make this mistake again and have a tough decision to make within the next several months, as I continue serving with the best of the best. I am obviously stuck in a position with deciding that if I am choosing to make this experience hard for me as well as others-- it would be really hard to leave behind all the lessons I was able to take away. However, I have one last chance to make a good impression & can just only hope to regain the trust of a colleague that I know needs to heal from this open wound as much as I need to. (To Be Continued)

Weekend Stories

Night To Shine 2023 - The Genesis Project (Ogden, Utah)

I'm incredibly excited for this long awaited prom night event to take place and celebrate who individuals with special needs are in God's image every single day. It is truly an incredible experience to be all dressed up in formal attire and dance the night away with thousands of honored guests like us from across the country. This will be my seventh prom with hosted by the Tim Tebow Foundation which sponsors Night To Shine every single year and they are an organization who continuously gives back to so many people who are in need & want help get back on their feet no matter what circumstances they are faced up against in life everyday. (Updates To Come)

USILC Meeting (Late February)

Serving on USILC as a council member has been at times such an incredible experience to adapt and learn more about how I can better improve the quality of life for individuals with disabilities in our states. I'll be honest with you here, it has felt like I will never know as much as most individuals that reside in the disability community. I genuinely will admit that I may not have as much experience like others do having served for years on various councils. This continues to be the biggest leap of faith I have ever taken as a self advocate and still hope to be the kind of disability leader, self advocate, mentor, colleague and friend that people I work closely with deserve. I may have made a fair share of mistakes with not handling situations as properly as I should have and can only hope to go forward without any stress or anxiety getting itself in the way. I have admitted too many times before that I am not perfect or even close to it. There is nothing I am more emotional about than when it comes to feeling like an outsider, which happens more often than it should. Minus how overwhelming this is for me, I am grateful to know there are so many supporters right in my corner who want to cheer me on every step of the way. (Stay tuned for more!!)

Mission Accomplished (Mini Version)

Over the past two days, I reached out to my legislators in regards to issues that the disability community needs addressed. I may not have heard from all of them at the same time or anything like that--but I am grateful to have gotten a chance to email these important people and let them know what funding we all need to continue on with our programs in the future. I did struggle at times today and over the past two days with trying to realize how simplistic and approachable this is when I am not overthinking about--literally everything on my plate. Did I legitimately somehow forget to mention it was over 16 legislators??? Yes, You did hear that right folks!!! Sixteen legislators I reached out to over two days about our ongoing funding that we need to keep our IL programs running smoothly at all costs. We are also genuinely asking to get funding so we can have an accessibility elevator put into our building so it is a lot easier for consumers who are in wheelchairs can easily get inside the center without any problems. But who knows what will be happening for us?? Only time will tell at this point :) 

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