Amanda Story 3d A Dream Come True
Deandra Schikora
Amanda went to work at the only occupation open to her, as a servant. At the age of 17, she married, and soon after, she began to dream about preaching to crowds of people. Of course, that dream seemed unlikely to come true in a society not inclined to listen to the words of women, particularly women of color.
When she finally returned to the U.S., she opened an orphanage outside of Chicago to provide a home and school for poor black children, fulfilling a lifelong dream. To gain the money for this venture, she traveled and worked within the Methodist Church, building interracial support within the denomination.
Throughout her career as an evangelist, Amanda Smith faced opposition because of her background. Her denomination would not ordain her as a minister. While she was preaching in England, newspapers denounced women preachers. Many people would not listen to her once they learned she had only three and a half months of formal education. She avoided conflict as much as possible and continued to preach and conduct revival meetings to people of all races. Her achievements stand as a testament to her perseverance and faith in God.
I am a self-taught artist, but I come from a long line of artists from Dlı̨nę, where my mother is from. A while ago, my maternal grandmother gifted my uncle a beaded moose hide fringe jacket. I included the flowers that my grandmother beaded on that beautiful piece on my logo. My goal is to one day be able to replicate that jacket, so my focus is on learning as much as I can now, mastering my skills, to be able to make that dream come true.
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Sometimes after work, we continue the work required in our family. We respond and act quickly when our child is in distress. We don't sleep when our child is in respiratory distress. Yet, we listen when others tell us how tired they are.
A trip to the zoo means loading more medical equipment into our vehicle than exists in an average hospital room. Suction machines, spare batteries, trach vents, pulse oximeters, nebulizers, etc. The list goes on and on. For our family, it includes transporting two power chairs in a borrowed pickup truck (to be driven separately) with a ramp that works but is super sketchy because the chairs weigh 350 pounds each. By the way, a trip to the grocery store requires the same load. We're spectacles of society, sometimes pariahs.
Time and again, I meet other fathers in our extended community, from all different backgrounds, all different professions, with all different anything - you name it. We not only share our experience of having a child living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), but also we share our joy. Not all of us for sure, and not all of us all of the time, but enough that I'm compelled to talk about it. Maybe some of us are faking it, but I'll receive it all the same. Our joy is what keeps us connected to our family and to each other.
Every parent's journey is different and has its own challenges.I tell myself that negative thoughts and emotions are a normal part of life and can be a natural consequence of a person's experience. Extreme challenges, such as life-threatening medical conditions with children, can naturally threaten my ability to focus on the good because my mind has been redirected to focus on those situations. These experiences can take a toll on mental health, making it difficult to maintain a positive outlook on life. Sometimes I feel like thinking positively is as laborious as training for a marathon.
I try to remind myself that when you're out of shape, it's hard to run a mile, let alone a marathon. You must train to run a mile, so you can run another mile, and then another, until you eventually run a marathon. Consistent training will inevitably improve performance. Likewise, when you train your mind to focus on the good, you can create a positive mindset. A positive mindset is not about wearing rose-colored glasses - it's about training the miles and miles of thoughts in your head to go where you want to be. At least that's what it feels like to me.
A mind's ability to think positively is as varied as a person's physical ability to run. Some people are naturally built to run. These natural runners step on a start line and cruise a mile time that takes others weeks to achieve. Some people can run barefoot or in minimalist shoes, while others need high support shoes. Some runners rarely get injured, while others manage ailment after ailment.
I don't need to compare myself to others to get better at it.I become incrementally better as I train my mind.As much as it may benefit others to be around me thinking more positively, I am the one who truly profits from being positive.
Training to run often creates a strange love for running. I also try to train my mind to push through and work hard, regardless of negative thoughts and emotions. Sometimes I find myself running on a day I felt tired or on a day it was raining. And not because I love running, but because I practiced being a badass long enough to know I can do hard things, even when I don't feel like it.
Just as a runner increases his or her threshold to endure running, I can increase my threshold to maintain positive thinking when faced with extreme challenges. When we actively work toward positivity despite circumstance, our mind has no choice but to follow. This is crucial to keep my mind from going down a sudden, sneaky, scary road not worth racing.
Some of the strongest runners known aren't necessarily the ones who won races; they are the runners who persevered because of their single-mindedness. It is possible to have a mind like a runner who fights the good fight and finishes the course. And I will!
A most memorable six-year-old life-sized dream came true when we took Asher and his sisters roller-skating. We knew our girls could physically skate, but Asher had never walked independently, let alone rolled on skates. That day at the roller-skating rink, Asher did not sit on the sidelines or sit in his wheelchair because he had bigger plans. So, with a lot of help from the business owner and a lot of muscle power from dad, Asher literally skated.
After playing with Team Texas for over a year, I changed teams and began playing for Texas Express out of Spring, Texas. I played on this 12U team until 14U at which time we formed the first ever Hit Away team, a team that played together through my first year of 16U. Then I played for Impact Gold my sophomore year in high school thru the beginning of my junior year. I finished out my high school select team career playing for Texas Storm Gold. Some of my best memories are of the many travel adventures I had while playing on these select teams. I learned alot and gained much knowledge not only from the coaches of these teams but all my teammates as well. You realize not only your love for the sport, but the strength of your dedication as you play up to 6 games a day in a 100 degree heat.
During this time at the age of 14, the summer before my freshman year in high school, my parents and I moved from Houston to the small town of Magnolia, nestled between Tomball and The Woodlands, north of Houston. At this time I was also playing volleyball, but decided after my freshman year to no longer participate in that sport so I could focus on and dedicate my time and effort to softball. I had decided it was the sport I loved the most, and I set my goal of working hard on both pitching and hitting in an effort to earn a college scholarship to a D1 school. I was fortunate enough to make the varsity team my freshman year at Magnolia High School and was named the 18-4A Newcomer of the Year in 2001. While playing for Magnolia High, I was named 16-5A Most Valuable Player in 2003 and 2004, All Greater-Houston 1st team in 2002 and 2003, The Houston Chronicle All Greater-Houston Player of the Year in 2004, TGCA All State in 2003 and 2004, and NFCA High School All-American First Team in 2003. Just like I had to work hard at softball to see some success on the field, school was no different. I was always the type of student who HAD to study in order to do well in school and get good grades. Going to school and trying my hardest to have perfect attendance was always stressed to me as something of importance. When it came time to graduate in May of 2004, I graduated #9 in my class of 520 students.
It was during my sophomore year in high school that I started to get noticed by college coaches due to my high school achievements and my success at tournaments with my 16U & 18U travel teams. Even though I was being recruited by both the SEC conference and the Big 10, the only conference I was hoping to gain the attention of was the Big 12 as I had my heart set on playing for Texas A&M. In November of my junior year, my dream finally became my reality as I verbally committed to play softball for Texas A&M and become an Aggie, WHOOP! To this day, I know it was the one of the best decisions I have ever made.
My senior year, 2007-2008, was one to be remembered for so many different reasons. It had both my best highs and worse lows of my career. I started off my senior season in the best shape I had ever been in. Through the first games 13 games I was on pace to hit the best I had hit in my entire career, although my pitching at the beginning of the season was struggling a bit. It was in February of 2008 in a game against Stephen F. Austin University that my life got thrown a loop. In one of my at bats in the second game of a double header, I went to bunt for a hit and when I went to push off to run to first base, I felt a very sharp pain in my right foot. The pain was so bad that I could even finish that at bat and I was out for the rest of that night. At first, it seemed it was somewhat minor injury, just thinking I had a mid foot sprain. The doctors thought I would be back on the field in a matter of weeks.
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