03.09.10
Posted in Blessings, Inspirational, Joy, Love, Special Needs, Thankfulness at 10:36 pm by Sandi Rauwolf
This past weekend I was blessed with spending my Sunday afternoon at a local Special Needs home. One of my special needs angels, Kelly, from Sunday School moved to this home a few months ago. The smile on her face when Ty, Samantha and I walked in was priceless. She is so happy there and introduced us to all of her friends. Here is this home filled with young adults who, to the rest of the world, cannot participate in normal life due to their disabilities but yet this house was filled with so much happiness and love that it should be a corner stone for all of our homes.
We had so much fun meeting Kelly’s friends and walked away with many new friends of our own … truly special angels. Jennifer stole our hearts. She is in a wheelchair, has slightly slurred speech with her eyes not being able to focus straight ahead but she is so smart! The kindness and love within her well let’s just say that I wish the world was filled with Jennifers! Brandon is incredible. He is, I believe, 17 and has Down Syndrome and loves the Cubs. He kept tapping Ty on the knee saying, “right guy?” smiling and laughing so much it was contagious. Then there was Michelle, Kelly’s roommate, who is down-right hysterical. She also has Down Syndrome so her heart flows of love and happiness but also with a twist of sarcastic humor. She had us in stitches not to mention she kept staring at Ty because “she likes the boys” so they say. Then there is Robert who is probably the biggest Elvis fan I’ve ever met! His room is filled with full size Elvis cut-outs, posters, pillows, blankets, CDs, etc. and a wall full of medals from the Special Olympics. He also has Down Syndrome and I was honored when he was telling me he has a few girlfriends special to him and now I am one of them too. These are the special gifts in life, you know?
Towards the end of our visit Jennifer showed Samantha her room and I stayed out in the main area visiting with Brandon and Kelly. They then came back and Samantha said, “Mommy, do you want to see Jennifer’s room?” I said, “Absolutely!” I followed Jennifer as she rolled herself thru the turns in the hallway as if it was nothing to maneuver that wheelchair. She began showing me some things on her bookshelf. I noticed one of the girls had followed us into her room. I had seen her lying on the couch but staying to herself the whole time that we were there. She then began to slowly come towards me a little at a time until she was standing right in front of me. Jennifer then told me that she was deaf and blind. The girl reached out her hand to me. I took her hand in mine and my heart shouted loudly, “hug her!!!” So I hugged her with a big hug holding her for a minute. When I stepped back, she placed her hand directly on my heart. I saw a peace come over her face and love was felt in the room at a dimension that I cannot describe in words. Tears formed in my eyes when I realized what had just happened … without me saying a single word, she felt who God made me to be thru my heart. It’s what drew her near me and what allowed her to perfectly place her hand directly on my heart without being able to see and without someone having to guide her to where it was. Another simple truth – this my friends is exactly how we need to live. We need to live so that others can feel us thru the heart of who we are without a single word or a single touch.
Sunday forever changed the kids and my lives because that day we were all touched by an angel, actually by many! Our hearts will never be the same and I am so very thankful! May you live so that your heart can be felt because it has “Something to Say”. (If you haven’t ever heard the song “Something to Say” by Matthew West I recommend listening to it or looking up the lyrics. That song just dropped in my heart earlier today and when I just listened to the lyrics I about fell off my chair because it sums up this entire blog :) God is awesome!
With Much Love,
Sandi Rauwolf
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12.13.09
Posted in Christmas, Heart Tugs, Inspirational, Judging Others, Love, Special Needs at 8:04 pm by Sandi Rauwolf
This weekend we were headed out of town for our annual trip to Indy to see Santa at the Zoo. The last two years I promised myself I would buy some warm boots so my focus wouldn’t be on the icicles forming on my toes but instead on the Spirit of the season. So before we headed out of town, we stopped at the store to buy some boots for me. As I was taking off a pair of boots and placing them in a box, I felt a tug on my heart guiding my eyes up and towards the beginning of the shoe aisle. I looked up and saw a mom walking down the aisle with her little girl’s feet on her feet. Her tiny arms were stretched up with her hands held tightly by her mom’s. Every step the mom took the little one was able to take a step with her. The girl’s hair was blonde and hung over her face as she looked down at her feet.
I finished putting the boots in the box and as they walked closer I felt my heart overflowing with so much love. The tug on my heart then said, “Look closer.” At that moment, my eyes met the eyes of this precious little angel. She had the most beautiful blue eyes you could ever imagine. I stayed knelt down and began talking with her, “Hi honey, what’s your name?” The little girl tried to form the words to say her name but couldn’t. Her mom then softly responded, “Her name is Jenna.” I said, “Well, it is great to meet you Jenna. You have a very special soul, you know that?” I could see her eyes light up and her mom said, “Yes, she sure does.” Jenna then began to point to her left shoe all excited. I could feel her heart communicating directly with mine. It felt like I was living her excitement right along with her. I said, “You are excited because you got some new shoes.” Her mom then said, “Well, she actually only had to get a new left one.” Although the girl couldn’t speak, our hearts were able to communicate perfectly. The love and excitement that filled my heart and the store from this little angel was amazing.
I asked Jenna, “How old are you honey?” Her mom then said, “She will be 18 this Saturday.” I said, “Wow! Eighteen that is great. I hope you have a wonderful birthday and a lot of fun!” I couldn’t stop smiling just feeling so much gentleness, kindness, and love from this little angel. Her mom said to me, “Thank you so much for talking to her that was really nice of you.” I hesitated for a minute and thought why wouldn’t I talk with her then at that very moment it was as if I could see her thru the eyes of how most people in the world saw her. This little angel had a disorder of some type that prevented her from growing like other children. She was the size of about a 1 ½ year old. She was going to turn 18 years old Saturday, not 18 months. She could not walk on her own. She had no teeth on the top and a few scattered teeth on the bottom, spaced out and growing in every direction. Her skin was tight like leather so the bottom of her eyelids were pulled down as if someone was intentionally trying to make a strange face by taking their fingers and pulling the bottom of their eyelids down. My heart swelled. I smiled at her and said, “No, thank YOU for talking with me. This little angel just made my day today. The world needs to be filled with more hearts like hers, it would change the world.” Her mom smiled really big and I could feel Jenna’s heart smile even bigger. I felt something inside of me change that day as if the love from that special little angel brought my heart to an even higher level of love. I didn’t do anything special, I just saw her for her heart and not for her circumstances.
I was then reminded how important it is that we see people for their hearts and not what’s happening on the outside. If we can see every person as the love that is within each and every heart (no matter how buried it may be) then soon the world will be filled with hearts like Jenna’s.
It reminds me of a story I once heard about a new teacher. She was given a list of her students and noticed they all had their IQ scores to the right of their names. She thought, “Wow! What an opportunity to teach such bright kids.” She met each one of them and saw them for nothing less than the IQ scores that she saw by their names each and every roll call. At the end of the first quarter the principal called a meeting with her. She was asked how she is obtaining such great academic achievements with these students. She told them it wasn’t her at all but thought it was brilliant to put such highly gifted kids in a class together. The principal looked at her puzzled. The teacher went on to share all of the things the students were doing, their progress and what she expected by the end of the year. She said, “Thank you for sharing their IQ scores with me. It was a great help having them noted next to each student’s name.” The principal looked at her and said, “Those aren’t their IQ scores but their locker numbers.” The teacher looked at him in amazement. He then began to share with her that she had been given a class full of children who had been struggling with grades and behavior issues. They had never taken interest in school and actually none of the other teachers were able to reach them because they had so many issues. She was shocked because she had never had a problem with any of the children. The principal said what she had achieved was remarkable.
The powerful lesson about this story is the only thing that had changed was someone’s perspective. The new teacher believed in them and saw the good in them. As a result, amazing things happened … each kid became who they were meant to be.
I want to encourage you to see each person for who they were meant to be by looking into their hearts and right past any outside appearance or circumstances. When we decide to change our perspective to see only the good within others, we then can experience the same gift of peace and joy as felt thru hearts of angels like Jenna. Who’s the Jenna in your life?
With much love!
Sandi Rauwolf
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08.19.08
Posted in Blessings, Humble, Inspirational, Love, Special Needs at 12:14 am by Sandi Rauwolf
I was blessed with quite an incredible evening tonight! My family and I headed out to catch a local baseball game – the Joliet Jackhammers. I wasn’t sure what to expect because it was the first baseball game our family had ever attended together. And, Samantha (who will be 6 years old this Friday), walked into the ballpark, American Girl doll in tow and representing every sense of the meaning “girlie girl”. She is more interested in improving the guys’ baseball uniforms with some new fashion design than to sit and watch a baseball game. However, we really wanted to attend this special night … it was appreciation night for the volunteers of our church’s Kidz Connection Team.
You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect night! The sky was clear, the temperature perfect without even a slight breeze to give you a chill once the sun ducked down behind the stadium wall. We enjoyed the game, met some great people, had great conversation and enjoyed the time together as a family. About halfway through the game, Samantha was getting a little bored so jumped at the chance when I asked her if she had to use the ladies room. We worked our way down the row to the aisle while carefully trying not to step on toes and repeatedly saying “sorry” as we passed each person who would then have to stand to allow us to pass by – now I remember why I like the seats closer to the aisle! :)
Anyway, as we exit from the ladies room Samantha spots Jammer, the team mascot. She stood, eyes wide open and literally frozen in her tracks (you know the typical deer in the headlights stance). She did not know what to make of this 7 ft. creature named Jammer – who (to her) happens to look like a Sesame Street character on steroids. I personally think he is adorable! I bent down to comfort her and assure her that she does not need to be frightened, but she hid behind me and clung to my leg like a piece of gum on a shoe. She was not going anywhere without a lot of work!
Just at that moment, I look up and there in front of us was wheelchair after wheelchair of special needs adults. My heart immediately swelled. Since the time I was a little girl, I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for special needs children and adults. Actually, this year I have been blessed with teaching the special needs class at church every Sunday and those kids are the highlight of my week!! I have Grant, Ryan, Tim and Kelly in my class, and they are my little angels. No matter what stress I am facing all I have to do is think of their smiling faces, and I am reminded of what is important in this life.
I walked over and spoke to the nurse to find out where they were from. She said they were from United Cerebral Palsy (http://www.ucp.org/ucp_local. cfm/74) right there in Joliet. I then walked over and started talking to each of them asking them how they were enjoying the game. Their faces just lit up! Imagine, a stranger walking over and caring about them! One guy’s grin was so big I swear it reached to his ears! He kept pointing to his bracelet. I told him it was an amazing bracelet, but he was persistent in continuing to point to it. I then noticed it was comprised of six small white blocks on a brown leather band. I slowly turned each block over, one at a time while watching his excitement, and it spelled his name … Norman. I said, “It is great to meet you, Norman!” He then started pointing to me, so I introduced myself and Samantha to him as well as the others. Norman was so happy to be communicating with a perfect stranger. Immediately, to his right was another gentleman who could utter a few muffled words, enough that I could understand he was saying “Hi Sandi and Samantha, how are you?”. And said with a grin just as big as Norman. His right eye wandered to the far right and his left eye wandered down towards the floor, but he ensured we knew that he was doing everything to try and make us feel special by looking at us. Each of them then took my hand and started kissing it as if to say, “Thank you – thank you for noticing us and taking a minute to let us know you care, helping us feel like we DO matter in this world and that someone loves us just as we are.” With each little Angel kiss on my hand, I was humbled even more. Here I was, with a grateful heart and feeling blessed by THEM for their innocence and pure love but yet they were thanking ME! I then felt sad for a moment because how many walk right by and won’t even look at them by reason of their deformities – because they are different, because they are not perfect? I felt blessed for the gift God had given me as a little girl because I had never seen special needs people for any of their physical differences but only for their sweet souls with a love filled heart.
I was struck by quite a realization right at that moment. It hit me with sudden certainty that the same feeling and perspective I have always had towards these sweet souls is EXACTLY how God must feel towards each of us. He looks past all of our imperfections and sees us for our sweet souls with a heart full of love. It was yet another reminder of how imperfect each of us is, in our own way, but yet God loves us anyway. He does not walk by us unnoticed. Instead He embraces us, He looks right past every flaw and He loves us unconditionally. He is patiently waiting for US to notice HIM with a love filled heart hoping this time will be the time we do not just walk on by.
Maybe something in your life is making you feel less than perfect today or not worthy of anyone’s love especially God’s, whether that feeling is caused from others treating you poorly, difficult challenges you are facing or mistakes you have made – please know that God’s love for you is unfailing. He is there and will help you through anything you are facing no matter how imperfect you may be feeling or how lost you may have been … all you need to do is “notice” Him.
May God bless you and bring you your own Angel kisses this week!
Sandi :)
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