Recently the three of us traveled to New York City for the annual NAPCRG (North American Primary Care Research Group) conference. We are all part of the Community Advisory Committee for the High Plains Research Network and were graciously invited to attend this conference in NYC. Norah and Sergio have attended several NAPCRG conferences, but this was my first time.
The conference was filled with research projects and it made me feel like I was in college all over again. P < 0.05 (in case anyone is a research nerd.) Learning is my favorite activity. Attending conferences is another one of my favorite activities because they are filled with people who are not only knowledgable, but who also want to learn. Spoiler alert, nerd alert.
Our hotel was located in Times Square. Right in the middle of all the action. You cannot see the sun shinning but you can see flashing lights from all the TV screens. Are they even called TV when they are that giant? I don’t think big screen is a justifiable term.
The noise never stops and sleeping was difficult. I’m from the plains where cop sirens are a rare noise. Horn honking is something I never hear. I loved the city, but it made me appreciate my small town life.
I got an I heart NY shirt because some clichés are clichés for a reason.
The most memorable was when we rode the subway to visit the 9/11 Memorial. We got off the subway and surprise there was no elevator, we kind of expected it but we couldn’t let that stop us. Everyone one except for me, picked up Sergio, and his wheelchair to carry him up the stairs. Instead of helping I took pictures. We did not let this hinder our experience. Sometimes you need a little boost, push, or a lift to get you where you want. The end result is always worth it.
The Wheels of Grace must continue to roll despite slight obstacles.
The 9/11 Memorial is stunning. I couldn’t really speak when I peered inside the deep empty holes where the towers used to stand. I honestly didn’t know what the memorial looked like. I wasn’t sure what to expect because I hadn’t seen pictures of it. I’ve seen the Washington Monument in person, I’ve seen the Lincoln Memorial in person, I went to the statue of Liberty on this same trip. I loved visiting those sites but you stand in front of them and you look at them and you take a picture and then you walk on. You find yourself thinking about what other tourists places you can squeeze into your trip.
But the 9/11 Memorial kept me there for longer then the time it takes to snap a picture and walk away. It kept me captivated.
It is very symbolic because instead of building a monument to stand up high in the sky it was build in the preexisting foundation of the Twin Towers. In order to see the beauty you have to walk right up to the memorial and look down into the waterfalls
It kept me thinking and reflecting on my country and my life. It may have hit hard because it is the first catastrophe I’ve witnessed in my country. All other catastrophes I’ve only read in text books. I did not see this one first hand but it was a day when all of our worlds changed. They day when we all knew exactly where we were all day, watching the news.
The next day we mapped out a route to The Statue of Liberty and made sure all the stops were wheelchair accessible. Other times in life instead of taking a boost or a push you have to take an alternative route to get to your destination. It is all about learning from experience and knowing that the end result is always worth it.
We met a man on the subway who noticed we were lost, tourists needing direction. He gave us traveling advice, we thanked him and he replied,
“It takes a village.”
It does take a village to get through this thing called life, but we keep rolling on.
This week one my my good friends lost her son. It has been a struggle to watch her in pain. The battle she faces will have many turns and will take so much time to overcome. All I can do is pray.
Dear heavenly father today I ask that you make your presence known to her. Lord please help her hear your voice over her own sobs, help her see you beyond her tears. Please come and wrap your arms around her and whisper that you are near. Flood her mind with only soothing memories of her beautiful son. Let her see only his contagious smile and his ocean blue eyes. Lord let her hear his voice and smell the fragrance of his soft skin. Please Father rock her softy at night so that she may sleep. Help her to find the strength to open her mouth and poor nourishment into her weak body. Put people in her path that will lift her up, ones that can sooth her. Lord I beg you to help all that come in contact with her slowly piece together her shattered heart. I ask that you help me be the friend that I need to be, help me show her light in the dark days that may turn into weeks, months, and maybe years. Lord help her to see that she is safe to morn, that she does not need to put a mask on to protect herself. That she can be free to kick, scream, run and throw things if needed. Help her lips to say that she is hurting. Lord hold her, let her feel you. Amen.
November is the month where we give thanks, it is the perfect time to share what I am most thankful for this year.
1. Family
I have an amazing family who is always there for each other no matter what. We stick together when times are hard and we lift each other up when the times are good. We often spend Friday nights having dinner together or Sundays watching football. Those are the days I cherish the most. I love to be around them because I know that no matter what they have to love me!
2. Friends
My friends don’t have to love me like my family does, but I know they do. Our relationships are at the point where they are family. If too much time passes when we don’t see each other it doesn’t matter because we can always pick up right where we left off.
3. Coffee
It is my favorite beverage and without it I couldn’t get through any of my days. I wake up and think about coffee every morning. Making it or stopping by a coffee shop to purchase it has made me late to wherever I needed to be since 2003, maybe sooner.
4. Forgivness
I am the least spiritual person in my family and it is something I constantly work on. There are people who read my parents posts and their love for the Lord radiates through them. I often take their values and try to instill them in myself and I can honestly say that it is difficult. I can catch glimpses of God working in my life, but he isn’t always present and he isn’t always the person I turn to first. That is why I am thankful for the forgiveness that God has. I am thankful to know that even in my weakest days he will be there.
5. Prayer
I may not pray every day, but there is one thing that I am certain of; my mother prays for me every day. She is my constant reminder that prayer is important. If I am struggling she asks if I have prayed and she makes sure I know she is praying for me. Those prayers hold a special kind of power.
Share your thanks this month! We all have so many things to be thankful, even the little things.
Here we are ready to share with you who we are and what the heck we are up to. Actually we are up to a lot different projects, working full time jobs, rising children, a prison ministry, members of a research network, yard work, football games, the list goes on and on. Oh yeah let’s not forget this book we are writing. This special project takes up time especially the homework Ashley gives us. I certainly live off of a to-do list and a calendar. My phone goes off with reminders for this and reminders for that. I have recently learned that I must set up time to visit friends and my family members, otherwise time passes on and I don’t even know what’s going on in their lives. When that reminder goes off it is time to Roll.
I start my morning at 4:40 am. I am up while it is still dark outside. In the winter the air can be so cold. Brrrrr! I send text messages to make sure my workout partners are up and ready to face the workout for the day. I hate to workout alone. After all these years I still need motivation and accountability. When my alarm has sounded I head to the bathroom, quietly to put on my workout clothes. Still half asleep I have been known to get stuck in my sports bra or put my running tights on inside out. I’ve been getting up for five years this same way I know Sergio is awake before my alarm sounds. Some days when he opens his eyes he smiles at me and says “go get em tiger.” I love it when he says that to me, makes me feel like he believes I am strong. A good bye kiss to him for sure.
Years ago I was heavy and unhealthy to the point of being denied insurance so this working out thing hasn’t been easy. Sometimes getting out of bed requires a mental push. Did I mention winter and cold? Negative 14 degrees is never a happy morning. I love the white that snow brings, but I hate to be cold. When I am under my blanket I have to remind myself how yucky I feel when I don’t get up and sweat. I have learned to understand why a person should workout. I know that it gives me clarity and gets me going for whatever the day may bring. After my workout I am ready for the day!
Most days I work at a dental office and I have been in the dental field for over 19 years. Crazy but true. I have been in my current office for 18 years. I am blessed to work with people that I consider to be friends and some almost family. I spend so many hours a day with them that we have formed a bound. I love interacting with people and improving a persons smile. A smile is a big thing. I have seen people struggle with confidence when their smile is in need of repair.
I work 4 days a week at the dental office and 3 days I get to stay at home. I love that I can have that extra day to be home completing all the things it takes to run a household. I get to see my kids come home from school and make a meal that takes a little more time to prepare. I love this day off because it gives me an opportunity to share with you, my dear readers. I am a bit of a neat freak so I take this time to clean my house. When my house is clean I just function better. My family makes fun of me all the time about how I clean over things that they have already cleaned. They tell me how they refuse to try and help because I will just do everything over again. Really I am trying to stop the over doing.
When I have down time I like to read. Books, articles, newspapers, my bible, the only problem is that time dose not allow for reading like I would want it to. Paper crafting is another thing I enjoy. I do not consider myself to be very crafty but I love scrap-booking and card making. I love to sit and sort my pictures and dream of the color of paper I want to use, or embellishments that I want to use to make my pictures come alive. I enjoy sharing my creations with my family. I just recently made 120 tags to go on my favors for our vow renewal in October.
I enjoy listening to music because it sends me to a great place. I do not let any one change the station in my car. I can sing almost every song on K Love. When I am alone I will sing like I was on stage. It’s a beautiful sound. No, just kidding I have a terrible voice but I love to sing.
Another activity for me is a prison ministry that my best friend and I head up. Quarterly we enter the prison and offer a worship services to male inmates in a maximum security facility. This is a new ministry for me and one that I am currently passionate about. With this ministry I receive prayer request from inmates all over the states and pray for them as they come in my mail box. It is a very fulfilling ministry. This week I am looking up curriculum to take into the prison as well as the worship service. This month we will get the opportunity to conduct a worship practice with the inmates. I an so excited for this opportunity. I hope they don’t send me away when they find out that I cannot sing.
When I am not working on household chores or doing the things that I enjoy I spend time over the phone in therapy with my son who is in treatment. Because of the distance between us we do a lot of therapy over the phone. I spend time making phone calls setting up whatever treatment is needed for him and lining out whatever his or our family needs my be in getting him well and stable. This takes a lot of patience and emotional energy. If one has a member of their family in a treatment center you just simply cannot wait around for the phone call that they are well and are being discharged. You have to be activity involved. Because of the severity of my sons condition our relationship suffered so we are currently working on rebuilding one. If you have not gone through this its hard to understand. Lets say that trauma sucks and it not only affects the person but the family as well.
One of my favorite days of the week is Sunday. Oh how I love Sunday. When I start to get ready for the day I daydream about what songs we will be singing in worship at church. I love going to church, it is like a big family get together. If your church dose not feel this way come to my church. I also prepare myself for the message that God has prepared for me. He always has something I need to work on and gives the tools to do so. That is when I need to be available and I mean 100% available. I am stubborn sometimes so God steps on my toes often. Going to church is more important that working out and like working out if I don’t go I feel yucky. It builds your spirit and clears your mind. The benefits are endless. What a way to start a week. As you can tell I have so many activities in my life. Some give me joy, some are just work, some can be painful, but they are all what make me me. Just me. As I tread through.
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Hi, I am Ashley and I have two incredible parents with very unique stories. We created this blog to help share their story. Well I actually created this blog, but they have been somewhat helpful along the way.
If you want to know about us and how we got to this point read the page Our Story to learn about Norah and Sergio’s lives. Then visit the About Us page to read our individual stores.
This blog is really about them and their lives, but since I did all the work creating it there was no way I would let them leave me out of it.
We are writing a book that will share their story more in depth. I have high ambitions that by winter I will have it written to a point that I can call it decent enough to share with friends. I have every intention of getting it published the traditional way, but I do anticipate it will take months and months of getting to that point. As of now I am satisfied with my progress, but in no way ready to share with others. For now all of our sharing will be done with this blog.
Things about me:
I love to read. I am usually reading at least two or three books at a time. Usually the books are in different genres so it would be impossible to get them confused or intertwine the plots. Since I am writing a memoir, I read those the most. I love reading real stories about real people. Fiction books give me inspiration, and make me a better writer. I enjoy non-fiction books, but I can never sit and read them chapter after chapter. I think that is why I read at least two books at once. Non-fiction books give me insight to the world, but I like it in small doses.
I am a researcher at heart. I can’t stand not knowing something. If I find an interest in a topic I have to read every book written, visit every website, seek out every expert. Deciding to start a blog fed into my desire to research. I have downloaded every free app about blogging. Downloaded every free, and paid for some books on my Kindle about blogging and creating a website. I have visited countless blogs for inspiration. I am like this in almost every aspect of my life. If I watch a movie the moment it is over I have my phone out Googling the movie title. I read everything I can about the movie, how it was developed, how the plot line was created, how the actors were casted, and other random facts. I am the same way with TV shows. I cannot read a book with out immediately visiting the author website, and Goodreads for books reviews. I cannot purchase a product online without searching through product reviews. I find that Amazon product reviews are very amusing and I often find witty writers there. I clearly have an internet problem, but as does the rest of the world.
I can be a bit intense and I am filled with random facts about a wide variety of topics. I have an impeccable memory. Sometimes people mistake me for smart, but honestly I just remember everything. The hardest part about remembering everything is
1. People think I am a know-it-all.
2. People have a tendency to share the same stories, over and over.
3. People constantly misquote movies. “Luke I am your father” is not what Darth Vader says.
I can be a control freak and my poor parents have to deal with me constantly bossing them around. In my defense they asked me to be a part of their journey to share their story. Sometimes I think they wished they didn’t ask me because of my attributes I just mentioned. However, they should not be surprised by any of them because they are the ones who raised me. I would argue that the way I am is their fault. I know they appreciate my intensity and wouldn’t have it any other way. I have done a lot of work on this website and their book, but it honestly never feels like work. It feels the thing I should be doing, like I was meant for this. Obviously this is just the start for us and we have a long, but rewarding road ahead of us. We hope that you will join us in our journey.
P.S.
I love coffee.
I love to drink it black.
I love it with cream and sugar.
I love it with cream only.
I love it with sugar only.
I love it iced.
I love lattes.
I love iced lattes.
I love Americanos. I especially love them iced, with extra ice.
I love all coffee with the exception of coffee at a gas station that dispenses through a machine in which you push a button and a puff of powder followed by hot water pours into your cup and requires you to stop pushing the button at ¾ of the way full…but I mean I’ll drink it if I have to.
Come back and visit our website to hear from Norah and Sergio!
I’d love to hear from you so please leave a comment telling us what you think about our blog!
