A Christian's Journey

Me, at 14, lighting a candle during my baptism, in Cleveland, Ohio December 31, 2000

 This week's post was a tossup between this topic and my hobbies, since most people reading this know my hobbies without asking I chose to do this first (and besides, I already have the picture for it).

I grew up in a Christian home, as many of my friends and family have. My upbringing was pretty normal I guess I went to church and a little bit of Sunday school. When I was small I found church quite boring and the sermons very monotonous, I remember my dad would draw sketches in his notes to keep me and my brother and sister amused.

I gave my life to Christ when I was 9 although during Vacation Bible School, a religious oriented program for school age children, although I didn't get baptized until a few years later. I still remember taking communion for the first time, although I don't remember exactly when that was. I remember how important I felt like I was part of something bigger and how happy I was I was doing something I saw the adults do all the time.

We changed churches sometime between 2000 and 2001, when the size of our current church Worldwide Church Of God the local chapter only being about 200 members. From there we discovered Northwoods Community Church a relatively new, modern church which was still growing steadily. Shortly after my family joined Northwoods me, my brother and sister and 3 of our cousins were baptized. We were baptized at my cousins church in Cleveland, Ohio.

I was baptized on December 31, 2000 when I was 14 years old, I remember the date because it was the turn in the year and the next day was January 1, 2001. I also remember that day because it was snowing like crazy and my family drove back to Peoria in a snowstorm.

I don't think I really understood what it meant to be a Christian until a few years ago because there's a big difference between "knowing things" and knowing and trusting God and fully relying on the Holy Spirit. I grew up a lot between the time I graduated college and moved out of my parents' house, I underwent a lot of changes and had a lot of new experiences these things changed me as a person and shaped my life as a follower of Christ. In January 2013 I started taking notes at church (eventually continuously) and this has helped me greatly in memorizing Scripture and studying the Word and learning from it.

While I won't give any specific examples as many of them are very personal and are difficult to explain, but God has helped me through a lot of decisions, guided me through some tough times and blessed me greatly. I never knew what it meant to really cry out to God until a few years ago and be fully leaning on him as a child leans on a parent, knowing this, and how much God loves me has helped me so much. Every day I am grateful for that.

God Speaks Your Love Language

I recently read Gary Chapman's book God Speaks your Love Language; previously, I have read his book The Five Love Languages. I highly recommend Gary Chapman's books because they are encouraging, motivating and informative.

For those who have never heard of the concept the five love languages they are: words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, touch and acts of service. Each of these are ways we can express love to one another. Everyone has one primary love language that speaks to them more deeply than the others although we can all learn to speak and appreciate every love language. One section of God Speaks your love language is how your primary love language affects your worship and the way you receive God's love for you. I think it is very helpful for understanding why some people like and enjoy one religious activity while others don't like it at all and enjoy other kinds of religious activities.

By knowing a person's love language you discover best how to communicate love to them and you know how they are most likely to express their love to you. My love language is quality time and there are many ways I can express love through time to people and to God. I like to write letters which embody more time and effort than other quicker modes of communication. I like to take walks with people or travel together so we can spend uninterrupted time together.

-Olivia

 https://www.mygfa.org/7fq/

Favorite Books

I don't necessarily have a "favorite" book, but I have several. Even though I don't read as fast as the rest of my family I do like to read and listen to books on tape.

My first category of books I like our romances. I started reading a lot of romance novels when I was about 16, but most of them were to explicit for my liking and it took many years to find authors that wrote good stories that I really enjoyed. Most of the books I read have some element of romance even though that may not be their primary genre. My favorite author I like in the romance genre is Debbie Macomber I've read most of her books and series over the past 10 years. I like her books because for the most part they are great stories. I don't necessarily like a romance novel just because it may or may not have a sex scene and it; I actually prefer the less explicit the better as it takes away from the overall plot. I like how relatable she makes her characters as they could be just about anyone you may meet in everyday life.

The second category of books I like are mysteries. I didn't like a lot of mystery writers when I was a teenager but since I've been an adult I have found a couple I like. There is a series by author Carole Nelson Douglas called Midnight Louie which I really enjoy it's about a big black cat who helps his "owner" Temple Barr, solve mysteries and crime in Las Vegas. Another mystery writer I like is Rex Stout, my favorite character of Rex Stout's is Nero Wolfe. I like his writing within these novels and short stories because it is witty and whimsical and it gives you a sense of the time period in which the author wrote the books (primarily the thirties and forties). There is another series of mysteries (also involving cats) called The Cat Who about a couple of Siamese cats who helped their journalist owner Quill, solve mysteries.

-Tori

Women's literacy: the reason for this blog

I reflect in hindsight it probably should've posted this topic sooner, but I frankly didn't know how to write a post about it considering what I was doing was not directly affecting these women. Everything I was reading and hearing was so inspiring I had to post it here.

Here is a video about what is being done to help women learn to read and write their native language.

http://www.gfa.org/videos/player/1466475274001/

"South Asian believers are immersed in an anti-Christian society. How will they stand firm in their faith if they can't read the Bible?"

Not only do women learn to read the Bible, thereby deepening their faith, by learning to read they are protected from being manipulated by their lack of knowledge. Even churches supported by Gospel for Asia's programs are struggling because one out of 3 people cannot read.

Please donate to our campaign to support women's literacy classes: https://www.mygfa.org/7fq/

-Tori

Books: Fairy Tales and Fantasy

I like reading and I spend a lot of time doing it. One of my favorite authors is Patricia Mckillip. She has been writing fantasy for decades and has a unique and distinctive literary style. Most of her books are fantasy, a sort of adult fairy tale, although she has made a few forays into other genres like science fiction and young adult books.

Some of the things I like about Patricia Mckillip's books. Beautiful imagery. Intricate plots. Poetic languages. Intriguing developments. Her character's also deserve a mention she has a balance between women and men protagonists. She also manages to make her heroes real people who are both strong and good.

The first book I read of hers was Riddle Master of Hed an epic fantasty where she engages in extensive world building. If you are into science fiction more you could start with the novel she wrote in Science Fiction style Fool's Run. Another good starting point to reading Patricia McKillip's books is to start with her children's book The Throme of the Erril of Sherrill. It's a short and sweet story can be enjoyed by both adults and children.

-Olivia

   

A Few Thoughts on Friends part 2

Most of my memories and how my friendships grew revolve around Jeremy though. He was the one I spent most of my time with, we were practically inseparable. For about 4 years we were usually no more than an arms reach apart in class or otherwise and I didn't find out until later the school principal kept us together on purpose.

The other reason Jeremy and I formed such a close bond was because for 4 long years Jeremy was bullied by a kid in our class. It's hard to explain how a friendship develops under that kind of stress (at least that's how I perceive it) it was also unusual because I was friends with a girl named Amy who was friends with the bully. This put an unusual amount of strain on everything because the 4 of us had formed an odd sort of tight little group. I later referred to this like 2 armies under a truce, everything was fine with the 4 of us, until the boy, Robbie said something to or about Jeremy, then I would get upset and so on and so on. That's how it was most of the time in elementary school, I was more than a little relieved when we changed schools when we went to middle school.

The next stage of the progression of my school year friendships was with a girl named Heather. We were friends for a few years before we eventually grew apart when we were in college. Heather was more or less dropped into my life. The vice principal of the middle school at the time had put her at the lunch table with Jeremy and me one day and things went from there. It was kind of like how Jeremy and I had met, although we weren't instantly inseparable.

I cared about Heather very much, especially since she was the type of person I gravitated towards, quiet and kept to herself most of the time. It didn't hurt that she was also interested in art and we spent hours drawing and talking and doing the types of things teenage girls did, but my friendship with her was  different than my friendship with Jeremy.

Jeremy, Heather and I, December 2004

I think the hardest shake up in my friendships was when I graduated high school, the hardest of these being when Jeremy was accepted into a college that was in a different state. I took this pretty hard and I can't even explain how difficult it was particularly the summer he left. I think I was depressed at one point, and I went in and out of it; to this day I still can't explain why I reacted that way.

I think that first year of college was probably the hardest (for me at least) Jeremy and I corresponded via email for the entire time he was in college, but nowadays it's mostly through Facebook and text messages. I think it was the correspondence during college that probably saved our friendship because most friends from high school don't stay in touch.

Jeremy and I, May 2007. College was hard on our friendship, but we managed, to this day that still amazes me

 Today, I'm still making friends, mostly online and a few at church, and I've learned that each person I come in contact with even if I'm not particularly close to them has something to teach me even if it's only for a little while.

-Tori

Growing up with a Handicap Sibling

I didn't really think much about it; it was just the way things were. There we some things that were ingrained in me, fetching things for Tori, being quiet so she could use her voice typing program, opening doors for her, going up ramps, walking in front of her so she could navigate through crowds. I'm a naturally selfish person so I wasn't really thrilled to be having to help her get every thing, but we managed. As I've gotten bigger, I'm able to move her and her wheel chair into the car myself so if we want to go somewhere with just the two of us we can. She can't go for walks in areas without hard level ground so muddy lawns or grassy hills are out, so are most trails.

 

I still remember her going to Easter Seals although I didn't see much of it. They had all sorts of equipment and many kids with different abilities. One thing we did together was when she had therapy in the warm water pool they installed and the rest of the family could come and use the warm pool at open swim hours. The pool was about the temperature of a bath tub and mostly 3 to 4 feet deep. It had a rubbery bottom not hard concrete like most swimming pools. It was good for practicing walking and moving for mobility challenged people. And of course there was a hot tub section with massaging jets.

 

All in all, I think Tori is a fun sister to be around and its nice to do things with her and sad we don't do more.

-Olivia

A Few Thoughts on Friends

This is something that has been on my mind for the past week, mostly because I miss my best friend and wish I was doing stuff with him.

I'd be the first to say I don't have a lot of friends, but the friends I do have a very important and a lot of them are good, God-fearing people-something I feel is very important.

To understand my point of view I feel it is important to explain where I have been as far as my friendships. When I entered school I was like a lot of kids my age I just wanted to make friends and connect with people. My first friend was a boy from my kindergarten class named Jeff (I don't remember his last name as that was a long time ago) I didn't really have a lot of friends until later in elementary school, most of this was because I went to a school where the disabled students didn't interact with the able-bodied students we were segregated a lot of the day and I didn't talk to that many people until I changed schools 2 years later.

 The 2 other friends I remember from my first school, Thomas Jefferson, are a boy named Dax and a girl named Lindsay, who was my best friend until I changed schools. My only real memory about Lindsay as we were both crazy about the Lion King at the time and dressed up as lions for the school talent show and sang one of the songs from the movie. We lost touch after I changed schools and I never really found out what happened to her.

Another one of my best friends didn't come from school, but from church. I was friends with the pastor's daughter of our old church for a few years before we left for our current church. I include her in this post because she was one of those people that made an impression on me even though I was only 9 years old at the time.

The first friend I made when I transferred to Banner (the elementary school I was at until sixth grade) was my friend Jeremy, who I am still friends with to this day. That in itself is a long history so I'll try to be brief as possible.

I met Jeremy when I didn't know anybody and it was at a time where in a school when I was one of few special needs students I stuck out like a sore thumb. I eventually made friends with one of the boys in the special-needs class I was in for math, but more about him later.

I met Jeremy in the cafeteria-that I remember clearly although the exact details now are fuzzy. I think he had asked me where the ketchup was or something like that. I still don't know why I was the person he gravitated towards, probably because we were in class together and he recognized me. I remember he just sat down at lunch one day and we had started talking, and have been talking ever since.

I have a lot of really good memories with Jeremy in elementary school, it would probably take forever to list them all, but along with the rest of my elementary school memories it came down to one thing initially Jeremy and I needed each other and I think that's why we were, and are so close.

L to R: Joey, me and Jeremy during our class Valentine's Day 

party; 5th grade

The other person I met in elementary school was a boy named Joey, he goes by Joseph now, but to me he'll always be Joey, because he was the only other student other than Jeremy who saw me exactly for who I was. I have to favorite memories with Joey, and I think had the situations been different I probably would have ended up dating him. They were both later on when we were in middle school in eighth grade. First, one Valentine's Day I was sick and when I returned to school the next day he left a carnation on my desk which my teacher had kept for me, and second he was the one person that danced with me at one of the school dances even when Jeremy wouldn't. When I think of Joey now I just remember him as being a sweet caring guy.

Jeremy and I at 10 or 11; we're changed a lot since then

-Tori


Please donate to our campaign for woman's literacy: https://www.mygfa.org/7fq/

Childhood Memories: Stuffed Animals-"Animal Kingdom" Part 2

Reading Olivia's post last week about playing with our stuffed animals when we were growing up really got me thinking. Probably one of my favorite memories of playing with our stuffed animals was when we all played together. Specifically, the thing I remember most is the "presentations" we did every time we got a new toy.

If any of you reading this are familiar with The Lion King and the opening scene of the film, that is what we based our introductions of our new animals on and we would hold up the new toy before the rest of the animals (suitably arranged). At some points it did look like the presentation in the movie because between the 3 of us my brother, sister and I had hundreds of stuffed animals. Every time we had a new toy we did this, we would bring in our stuffed animals, and dump them on the floor and set them up. Then I would put in my Lion King soundtrack and everything would go forward as we saw fit. Afterwards, we would settle into another story in continuation from something we had played previously, or some type of new storyline that my brother or sister had devised.

Our "stories" were never really organized (although sometimes I wanted them to be) but it only made sense to us.

My sister Olivia and I on our old deck playing in our playhouse, with Kiff the cat

We grew up, as children do and most of our stuffed animals were given away, although we still kept a few me, a few dogs and cats they been given as presents or toys I had since I was very young. Olivia still has quite a few as well, but now they're only either in storage, or in my case on a shelf in my apartment. My oldest stuffed animal is a cat I called Kiff, I've had her since I was 3 or 4, maybe longer; she was one of my first toys.

-Tori

Gospel For Asia

Our family started giving to GFA when we read Revolution in World Missions by KP Yohannan. My mother, Dad, and I all were really enthused by the vision of reaching all of India and Asia with the gospel. We were encouraged to give to GFA by there financal policy of sending 100% of money received for missions work to the missionaries in Asia. They only fund their US office from the giving specifically dedicated to their purpose. They have a great variety of ministries they pursue in Asia and more have been added as they grow and expand. We started by supporting one missionary, Pahen, through regular payments of 30 dollars a month. We also give through their Christmas giving program where the giver designates what gift .i.e.(chickens or cows, bicycles, bibles or literacy classes) they want to give and then GFA determine people in Asia to receive the gift. A further GFA ministry our family is heavily involved in is the Bridge of Hope (BOH) where a child from the Dalit or other low castes is sponsored to go school and receive care from a center in India with teachers and volunteers.

-Olivia




Please donate to our campaign page for womans' literacy.

 https://www.mygfa.org/7fq/

What is Easter Seals?

Olivia pointed out when she looked at the blog on Wednesday I needed to explain what Easter Seals was. (See post "My Earliest Memory") so that's how I decided what my next topic would be.

Easter Seals is a facility that helps children with disabilities (they apparently kick you out after you turn about 21 or so) I went to Easter Seals from the time I was 18 months old to about the time I was 18 or 19 and afterwards I only went there for equipment fittings, my walker fitting in 2012 being my last one.

I had two main therapists over the course of my life. The first of these was an occupational therapist named Karen. I HATED occupational therapy because I felt what they were doing wasn't helping, and after I was in elementary school for a while I stopped this therapy altogether. The other therapy I had was physical therapy, the therapist I had was named Gretchen. She was my therapist for that entire time from the time I was about to to the time I was 18, when I graduated high school. Not a lot of people can say they've known one person that long, is weird sometimes because Gretchen remembers things about me I don't even remember because she's pretty much known my entire life.

When I was about 12 or 13 Easter Seals moved and was completely remodeled (new building and everything). The new building not only expanded the therapy wings but had an exercise room, a warm water pool and a daycare facility.

I have a lot of stories to tell about my therapy sessions there, both in the old and new building, like the time I would always sing for the therapists when I was done exercising, or the time I ended up writing a song and being on the radio. When I was 8 I was an Easter Seals ambassador and I went to all these functions one of which I sang a song in front of 1000 people (I have never done that since). Another  incident I remember was when there was a tornado (sometime after the new building had been constructed) and the power went out, everybody that was having therapy was stranded in the hallways in the dark until the power came back on.

Easter Seals was a big part of my life, and gave me the tools I needed to be a successful disabled adult, even though I didn't apply many of them until many years later.

-Tori

Childhood Memories-Stuffed Animals Part 1

When I was little before I began reading and often played with stuffed animals. I was very picky about what animals I'd play with. They had to be soft through every limb needed to be mobile. I also want realistic and exotic animals, although I had a fair selection of dogs and cats I also had in my menagerie lions, bears, zebra, pterodactal, snakes, rabbits, mice, frogs, owls and eagles, unicorns, and a pegasus. Once beanie babies came out I collected a fair number of those as well. What I would play would be to act out stories with the animals they all could talk to each other, but each had unique abilities according to their type. I like action adventure stories where everyone could fly and there were epic battles for the crown. It also set the stage for my enjoyment of such stories for years to come.

-Olivia

An Introduction part 2 by Olivia

Hello I'm Olivia.  I'm an electrical engineer.  I'm currently between jobs so I have plenty of time to work on a blog.  Generally I shun social media, but I'm making an exception for this blog to support women literacy teaching.  I also like to crochet and I've done a little knitting as well.  I'm interested to see what will result from writing this blog.  I'm looking forward to working with my sister on something and seeing what results we get.

My Earliest Memory

I've been wanting to write a post on this for a while, but I've been trying to figure out how to do it.

My earliest memory is probably from when I was about two. I can remember being at the Easter Seals preschool and playing in this big "table sandbox" that was full of dried rice, beans etc. I can't even remember exactly what was in it. All I remember is how much fun I had running my fingers through the stuff. I don't really remember that many details, my early memories are just kind of a series of moments.

-Tori

Campaign update-4-5-15

I thought I would give whoever is reading this an update on our women's literacy campaign. As of 4-2-15 we have raised $710 (10 of that contributed by yours truly) mom suggested I put $10 in every month off the top of my income, it isn't much but every little bit helps. I am proud of the progress we have made so far.

Please donate:  https://www.mygfa.org/7fq/

Check out the new post from my sister coming later this week.

An Artist's House

I was talking to my mom yesterday about "the house" i.e. the house I will build and move into sometime in the future (hopefully sooner rather than later). I have this house so clearly in my mind I feel like I could just go down the street and find it. I know it will be a 1 level ranch house, but I'm going to give it some flair here and there, but nothing too fancy.

It's going to have 2 bedrooms (one of them a guest room) 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. I just only hope I have enough room for everything and I can kind of spread things out, after a while and apartment starts to feel very cramped and one-dimensional. I want to have a yard Zoe will feel safe in a one car garage that I will most likely have a wheelchair accessible car to ride around in.

The bathrooms, like the rest of the house will be accessible, large enough for a wheelchair to turn around and accessible enough so I can use the bath or shower myself without help. I call this post "the artist's house" because of the color I see me painting the house, but not necessarily the outside. I know for a fact I want the bathrooms to be a bright yellow like the accessible bathroom my parents built in our basement in 2004 almost exactly like that.

The main part of the house will be mostly white with a bit of pink in it and I haven't decided what color the bedrooms will be although I'm leaning towards cooler colors, like greens, blues, purples and pinks which will promote calmness and therefore rest in a good nights sleep. A bit of psychology or whatever you call it but that's how I see it. Like one of those wide open houses that has each room painted a different color, that's how I see the entire house (the interior anyway). It was also suggested I have mailslot installed in my front door so I can get my own mail. I think this would be great considering I can't even go and get my own mail at the apartment without help. (I hate asking for help).

In the yard, both front and back I want to have some sort of landscaping. In the backyard I would like to have a patio where I can go out and sit, but also have company. I also want to have enough space so I could possibly host a small group so I have time to actually talk to people and connect. I also have a plan for this.

Between the main part of the house and the garage mom was talking about having a breezeway. I would like to have indoor outdoor carpeting on the breezeway so I could either crawl out there or be able to sit out there in my wheelchair and enjoy the sunshine. I also envision having some sort of cover or top over these open spaces in the winter

As far as house details that's all I can think of right off the top of my head.

We also talked about the details of me having a car. A lot of things would have to be discussed about who would be the primary driver and how that would work with the insurance. That, of course is still work in progress.

Of course none of this will be possible if I don't win the Saint Jude dream house in the first place (at least in the near future). I will keep praying because I feel like this is where God is leading me to make another change in my life and not become stagnant because He wants me to keep moving forward even if I'm doing it in the only way I can.

-Tori

An Introduction: by Tori Smith

Today my sister Olivia and I started a campaign for Gospel for Asia to raise money for women's literacy in Third World countries. We plan to post our thoughts and our opposing points of view on various subjects on that website, but were unable to. Olivia suggested we start a blog to share our thoughts and feelings on what's going on in our lives, which are vastly different. I think that our differences that will make this blog interesting. This blog will be public so feel free to read as we share our thoughts and adventures.

This is only the beginning.

-Tori

Contribute: https://www.mygfa.org/7fq