Durango Adaptive Sports Association

There are few groups in the world that just make life better. They improve the quality of our life for many people. Their employees exude energy and love. Their volunteers make everyone feel special.

That's the Durango Adaptive Sports Association.




Bucket for skiers. Quadraplegia, hemiplegia, autoimmune disorders, rhuematoid arthritis - nothing will keep a willing person off the mountain!


Miss Ashley preparing to hit the slopes.

















The Dave Spencer Adaptive Sports Association Building at Durango Mountain Resort, Purgatory Mountain.

 The Face of a Winner!

Did I mention the scenery is beautiful?

Lots of equipment waiting to be used!

          Let Me Be Brave!

Not Much

I would say "not much is going on" but every mom knows that really means "so much is happening I can't put it down on paper!"

My random musing for the day:  I want Shaun White's hair!  It's gorgeous (watch the X-games!)

Ski Pictures

A Great Day on the Slope

Here she comes - Miss Ashley!

Ashley and her Instructors

Chris

The best thing - Ashley and Chris were able to ski together.  A goal she has long-held.

Crazy

Seems like we can go for weeks and months and not "deal" with health stuff. 

Then, BAM!

Side effects from Medications.  Call to doctors.  Call to  nurses.  Change of medicatios.  Off drugs.  On to a new drug.  New side effects?  Wait and see.

Web searches.  Emails.  CHASA.org.  Questions.  Few answers.  Lotsa prayers.  Call doctors.  Call nurses.  Wait some more.

A day in our life.

Guest Writer - Ashley Ruth

Today, I thought I'd share Ashley's essay on the Names of God.

Alpha and Omega

There are many names used in the Bible to describe Jesus. He is called Healer, Deliverer, Provider and Comforter. These names tell us his characteristics. My favorite name for Jesus is Alpha and Omega.


The name Alpha and Omega tells me that Jesus knows my beginning from my end. When I was a baby I had a stroke and I was changed forever. My body was changed. I have one leg that works and one leg that doesn’t work. I have one arm that works and one arm that doesn’t work. The doctors call that left-hemiparetic cerebral palsy. My abilities were changed. I can do anything but I do it slower with adaptations. However, one thing that didn’t change was my future. God had a plan before I was even born.  He knows where I am going to be, who I’m going to be and how I will get there. God has been teaching me to trust in him because is Alpha and Omega.


In the Bible, Revelations 1:8 it says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come.” My God will always be there for me. I can trust him.



Guest Writer - Chris

Once upon a time at Vista Academy, I dreamed of sending quarterly newsletters to update family on our activities.  Then reality happened.  So today, I post something Chris wrote for school instead.  Enjoy!

The Names of God

There are many names for God. The one that means the most to me is, Deliverer. To deliver means, “To bring or to transport to the right place.” God is the deliverer. He delivers us from evil and sin.


To me this means that no matter how hard the circumstance is God will get you through. For example, when I was twelve I became very sick and the doctors didn’t know what was wrong, but God got me through that tough time. Many people were praying for me and as they prayed, I felt God give me strength.


God will deliver you to your destination, just as he delivered the children of Israel. The children of Israel wondered the dessert for 40, but God got them where they needed to go.


He will get you where you need to be on time. Just like the time Lazarus died and God raised him from the dead. Many said that he wasn’t on time because if he had come earlier then he could have healed him. Instead he was able to show that he is God and he is never late, and to show that when he died he would raise himself from the dead just as he did Lazarus.


You must trust in God, and not fight the path he has chosen for you, because he knows what is best for you. God is the world’s deliverer, he is my deliverer.

24 Hours

It's amazing how quickly things can change.

Yesterday, it was so quiet because everyone was sick and sleeping.

Today, there's music playing while Ashley does Art.  The drums are rolling as Chris
practices.  Pictures are literally bouncing on the wall.

Laughter has come again.

Thank you Lord for answering prayer and healing my kids!

Song for Today

You Are Still Holy

        Kim Hill

Holy, You are still holy

Even when the darkness surrounds my life

Sovereign, You are still sovereign

Even when confusion has blinded my eyes

Lord, I don't deserve Your kind affection

When my unbelief has kept me from Your touch

I want my life to be a pure reflection

Of Your love

And so I come into Your chamber

And I dance at Your feet, Lord

You are my Saviour

And I'm at Your mercy

All that has been in my life

Up 'til now

It belongs to You

You are still holy

Holy, You are still holy

Even though I don't understand Your ways

Sovereign, You will be sovereign

Even when my circumstances don't change

Lord, I don't deserve your tender patience

When my unbelief has kept me from Your truth

I want my life to be a sweet devotion

To You

And so I come into Your chamber

And I dance at Your feet, Lord

You are my Saviour

And I'm at Your mercy

All that has been in my life

Up 'til now

It belongs to You

I belong to You

And so I come into Your chamber

And I dance at Your feet

You are my Saviour

And I'm at Your mercy

You are still holy

You are still sovereign

You are still holy, Lord

You are still righteous

You are all-knowing

You are still holy

Sunday Afternoon

It's that time of year.  The sitting time.  Around me, the noise of hundreds of people shuffeling for food and table is dimmed by the headphone piping music to my ears.  I have been lucky to find a table nestled by the fireplace next to a giant window overlooking the ski slope.  I watch hundreds more people brave the twenty degree weather in order to speed downslippery slopes and stop just feet from my perch and smile.

Part of me would love to be out there.  I hate being left out.  I hate failing - and my one try at skiing would definitely fall in that column.  I would love to see the stop of the mountain covered in snow and ski with my kids and watch them experience the beauty of  God's creation.

They make it look effortless, my athltic children and husband.  A sawy here, a bend there, swoosh and stop.  My experience was more of a lean there, pop up, jerk around, fall, tumble and dig myself out of the snow drift.

I've spent alot of my life digging out.  Sometimes out o drifts I've made and other times out of avalanches others dumped on me.  A few holes have been tunneled out of things that are just life. But I keep digging.

Lately, I've grown tired o myself.  I am too intraspective.  Too reasoned.  Often searching for too much meaning in too little events.  I thought for the longest time it was just me - I must have a defective gene that searches for deeper meaning in the mundane.  Then I read the obituary of my dearest English professor.  The writer sketched a picture of the artistic mind.  The mind always looking for beauty in the ugly;  for right in the wrong;  for reason in the horrible.  A mind that believes that life should not be wasted and therefore searches desperately for meaning in all that is said, done, lived - every breath.

I'm normal!  I'm just an artistic mind and without an outlet, I am focused inward and try to order my artistic, chaotic yet brilliant mind.  Brilliant, you may ask?  Is that too bold?  No!  Brilliant - multi-faceted, shining from different angles.  The most powerful evidence of a Creator!  Only intelligent design can produce something that has so many sides and positions;  irregularities and planes.

I will let this mind be more creative.  I will be more fun, enjoying the moment and not just the end creation.  Joy in the journey!  Celebration in the creativity!

Today!

And, I think I'm going to give skiing another try!

Things You Don't Want to Hear

Some dear friends have just heard words put in a diagnosis to their child that no parent should hear:  Cerebral Palsy.

But what did God hear?

Nothing that suprised Him.  Nothing that alarmed Him.  He was not scared or shaken.

I've grown to hate those two words for many reasons - it's an umbrella diagnosis where doctors dump what they can't explain; it sounds like a death sentence;  it carries a huge stigma;  they are not pretty words like Lilac or Persephone.

Lord, change my heart that when I hear  "CP" I see angels rejoicing and butterflies flying and choirs singing.  Let "CP" mean "God's Chosen" to me.

Why We Learn

It is my personal conviction that all instruction and discipline can and should be taken back to the Word of God.  At the beginning of the school year, I was again faced with the question every educator and parent dreads:

Why do we need to learn this?

My first reaction mirrored that of most adults:  because I said so!  Or what so many teachers must admit too today:  because it's on the test!  But neither answer sat well in my heart.  I began asking God to give me an answer from His word. How would Jesus answer this question?  What would God want me to tell my children?

The following was His answer.  A few parents have asked me to share this on the web so that they can have it for their kids too. 

It is a work in progress and though God-given for my children I hope that it rings true for you as well.

__________________________________________

Answers to the Age-Old Question:

"Why do I need to Know This?

• Why do we go to school? Why learn? Why study at all?

2 Timothy 2:15      ~    "Study to show yourself approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, understanding the Word of God."

Matthew 28:19, 20    ~    "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."



• Why do we have to learn ________________________ subject?

We study the Word of God so we may know Him.

We study language arts so that we may communicate the Gospel.

We study science so we may defend the Gospel while celebrating the design and intelligence of our Creator.

We study math so we may understand the order of God’s World.

We study history so we may put the Gospel in context of World Events.

We study the arts so we may participate in the beauty of God’s creation.

We study languages so we may share the Good News with all nations.

We study sociology so we know how to best serve our neighbors.

We study archaeology we may understand how ancient civilizations sought God and truth.

We study political science because it is the story of the Human Condition placed under a microscope.

We study the human so we may grasp the divine.

We study because Jesus did - and He is our example.  (Luke 2:52)

We study so that we will be approved to one day rule with Christ. (Rev. 5:20)

____________________________

2011 - The Year of Gratefulness

My Father is leading me this year to teach my family - and learn for myself - the importance of a grateful heart.

I'm starting by facebooking one thing each day that I am thankful for.  Not just the easy, obvious things.  But the things you have to look deep within and really decide, "yeah, that's a blessing."

They are not always obvious.  Sometimes it's hard to be grateful.  But I think it is important.

Here's to a New Year!  And a New Heart!  A Grateful Heart!