The Divine Plan

The Divine Plan
Story from: http://www.lecontact.com/uplifting_stories_-_english.htm#The Divine Plan

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the school's students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated
staff, he offered a question. "Everything God does is done with perfection. Yet, my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is God's plan reflected in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like Shay into the world, an opportunity to realize the Divine Plan presents itself. And it comes in the way people treat that child."

Then, he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shay's father knew that most boys would not want him on their team. But the father understood that if his son were allowed to play it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six runs, and the game is the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning." In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. At the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the outfield. Although no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base. Shay was scheduled to be the next at-bat. Would the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman.

Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first. Run to first." Never in his life had Shay ever made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"

By the time Shay was rounding first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman for a tag. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions had been, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head. Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home.

As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming, "Shay! Run home!"

Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and was cheered as the hero, for hitting a "grand slam" and winning the game for his team.

"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face," the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of the Divine Plan into this world."

An Uplifting Story to Share!

"Attitude Is Everything".........By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz


Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed Him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry Was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life." "Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes it is," Jerry said.

Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

- - -

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live. "Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man. "

I knew I needed to take action." "What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!'

Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead." Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

Self Discovery

So this weekend I spent a lot of time laying in bed and watching some back episodes of Bravo!'s Thintervention. Might sound like a waste of time, but I actually connected with one piece of advice that Jackie gave her clients.

She told them to care for themselves In the same manner the flight attendants ask that you place the oxygen masks over yourself before assisting anyone else. This analogy rang so loudly in my head. How can you help anyone else without helping yourself first? Although it may seem possible at first, you end up harming yourself in one way or another!

So interesting!

I Just Wanna...

Life is often complicated and overwhelming. 49 hour weeks at work, coming home to care for an ailing grandmother, going to school full time, while trying to be a role model and figure of positivity for a complex 13 year old that has physically been through hell. It's easy to say, "if it's too much, don't do it, just quit." That's the thing though! Quitting is so easy that it doesn't make any sense for me.

I would be a liar if there wasn't a financial need behind all the work I put out. That is a major part of why I continue to work so endlessly and so diligently. But at the same time, why quit when I love everyone that I work for, work with, and everything I am working towards. I am the type of person that absorbs other's pain, problems, needs, and fears. I love whole heartily and I am willing to stand before anyone or anything to make sure my friends and family aren't hurt.

I must admit though that sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with everything I do. Sometimes I feel unappreciated, taken advantage of, and just plainly stressed out. Especially lately, I have felt on many occasions that I want to through my hands up and say f*&k it all. You know what I mean? Sometimes I want to detach from the person I am. Release myself from the responsibilities of life and walk away from it all. Freedom, Carelessness, and no Responsibility! Absolute bliss! Oh how I ache for the day!

I know, sound a bit bi-polar but that wasn't the point of this blog entry.

The point was that every now and then I am reminded of the reason why I do what I do and why I do so much. Every now and then the compliments and gratitude are graciously given. "You are one of the best foster parents that we have." "Is there something that I can do to help you further your career?" "I don't know what you do, but I have never seen this much progress in a child before." "You should be a nurse, your grandmother is doing amazingly well."

Don't get me wrong! I'm not trying to gloat, I just want to remind you, as well as myself, to not overlook the compliments that people give you. I often overlook those compliments and assume they are just being nice and really don't mean it. But even if they don't, take a moment to appreciate the words. Compliments usually don't come easily. Appreciate the effort others make by giving you a compliment, whether big or small. Life is too short to not stop and appreciate the wisdom and appreciation others offer us.

I Wouldn't Call That a Weekend!

Now, if someone told me on Friday, what I would be going through-I would have told life, "I'm calling in sick." Crazy, crazy, crazy! I can't go into details, but I will say I haven't had that much trouble from a keiki in a few years. We were so ready to cut the line and say goodbye! BUT! We got a glimpse of this child's life and couldn't help but care! Care about his past, care about his present, and care about his future!

It's Time

OMG, it has been a really really long time since I touched my blog. I got sick of doing it after all the stress of work and dealing with the challenges of having a therapeutic foster child in our home. Don't get me wrong though! I love working with children, even therapeutic foster children, but foster parents really do have a hard job. We balance the needs and goals of every single component in these children's lives. Whether it be from school, therapy, social workers, family, or even within our home, we have to find that balance to ensure these children not only meet those needs and goals, but be able to stay stable. Can you imagine having 10 different people from 10 different agencies sitting around a table to decide what they want out of your life? 10 people basically controlling your destiny! It's a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure! But again, we love working with these children. As stressful as it may be, we may be the only people in their lives that are willing to sit down and show them how much we value their lives.

Let's move on! So basically, I gain a lot of my weight back. Actually, I gained it all back. So we decided to start a workout group. We decided we were all going to do Insanity together. What an INSANE choice huh? We started with about 10 people and little by little we went down to our core four. Shannon (my other half), Rusti (my BFFF-in-law), My mother, and myself! All four of us stuck it out. I lost about 15 pounds! I was happy.

Then again, I began to cycle back. Things got stressful in life: Work, finances, etc. I gained back about 10 pounds. Luckily it wasn't the full 15 pounds.

I don't know what to do with myself, but I know I need to get back into shape again...Here we go again!

Round 2 of Insanity!

Still pushing forward

Just checking in because it had been a while since I have been able to sit down and write a few sentences.

I'm really enjoying this new eating habits that I have developed. I still eat anything I want, and I mean anything! BUT, there is a difference now. Portion, portion, portion. Or fit it into your daily "diet". It's all about balance, like everything else in life. If you can take the good with the bad, the rest is smooth sailing.

I can't say it's been easy. Hell, last week I did not go for a run at all. I was too busy trying to save my ass from failing my Statistics class, which I did fail. I got all A's in that class but missed two assignments because my computer was acting up. Anyway, I ain't sad about it. I've moved on. I just made sure I have a back up plan next time something happens to my computer.

Until next time!

I'm still here!

Yea I am! I am still here and am learning more and more everyday. I'm learning to balance my meals and still be satisfied. It has actually become more enjoyable because I am learning to alter my eating habits in a way that I can handle every single day. Normally, I would just base my meals on an extremely strict diet. Not any more!

Last day of the week

Saturday is upon us. I lost two pounds. I can't complain about that. I enjoyed this week. I was definately tested several times, but I did exactly what I planned to do. I did allow myself to eat, but I portioned the food.

Day by day

So the end of the week is upon us and I do have to say I did well. I'm not attaching my self to any diet or any fitness video program. The only thing that I am focusing on is making more reasonable choices throughout the day, not feeling guilty for "enjoying," and taking it day by day. As far as exercising, the only thing that I am doing is my "couch to 5k" plan. We have our Hilo Marathon coming up soon, so we will be participating in the 5k portion of it. I would lime to be able to easily jog through the whe race. So far so good. The first day was pretty tough. My muscles ached, my shins burned, and my inner thighs felt like I was ripping off my skin. I did not give up though. I went right back out the next day and the pain wasn't as bad. By today, I was gliding through this weeks plan. I'm satisfied with my progress this week.