Humbly Courageous

Hello! Welcome to a new week at Humbly Courageous. I am glad you are here! Last Saturday, my husband and I completed our first half marathon together at the CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. It feels strange to say half marathon, since we have done five full marathons together all over the country, and even one in Berlin. This one was special. Joined by our two sons, we crossed our first family finish line. In addition, we had a team of people who signed up to run under team Humbly Courageous for our “hometown” half marathon. It was the perfect day for a run. Sunny, no wind, and a chill in the air. Great for the runners, and riders like me. The last time we ran the Indy Monumental I wore full rain gear. I was especially grateful for this beautiful day! Along with our team of runners, we had many who reached out to ask if they could help in some way. We had so many great cheerleaders along the course, which just makes it that much more special. Hearing people yell, “Go...

Hello, welcome to Humbly Courageous. I am so glad you are here. I hope my blog brings a sense of understanding  what living a life with a disability can be like, or helps you to feel seen as a human who has value. This is just one perspective, but I believe all our perspectives hold value and have the capability to help others in unique ways.  As a child, I often had this sinking feeling. It felt like an emptiness deep inside my body. It was a powerful feeling, and I felt very unsettled by it.  It was a sad feeling, and I never knew where it came from. I kept this to myself.  Several years later, I was courageous enough to tell my best friend about it. She quickly responded, “I get that too!”  I could tell that she was as relieved as I was to find someone to commiserate with. We described in detail what this felt like to each other. We were both happy that we found someone who understood.  Neither of us had ever told anyone else about this. As the years wen...

Hello! I am so grateful to all of my readers for being here! I have noticed that I have a lot of new readers here at Humbly Courageous. I wanted to share a blog post this week, to introduce myself to new readers. When we are forced to face an everyday battle, courage is inevitable.  This was the thought I had from which Humbly Courageous was born almost 5 years ago! It is hard to believe that it has been that long.  I am a 51 year old wife and mom of two college aged boys. Along with this blog, I also have a weekly column in my local newspaper called “Disability in the City”. I place great emphasis on keeping my body functioning to the very best of its ability. I enjoy exercising and participating in adaptive sporting activities.  I am an ambulatory wheelchair user at this point in my life.  I grew up with my disability present with symptoms from a very early age. When my parents noticed I was not walking on my own around 16 months, they decided to get me checked out...

Dear Disabled Motherhood, As a child, I never dreamed being a mother could be my reality. As I got older, I boldly proclaimed I did not want kids every chance I got.  I was suiting up in an armor of protection, thinking if I told myself that long enough, I would believe it.  My childhood years spent playing with my dolls pretending to be a mother, but not really believing that would ever by my reality. Now I know, that was a lie I told myself to soften the blow. I did want kids. I just did not think my body was capable. God placed a glimmer of hope in my heart, telling me I could be a mom. We trusted that. To this day, I still spend many moments in awe marveling at the ease in which I was able to become pregnant, twice. Nothing ever came easy. I expected pregnancy would not either. What a true blessing that took me by surprise. What did not come easy was finding information on becoming a disabled mom. The books that were out there had so many things in them that did not apply ...

Hello and welcome to a new week at Humbly Courageous!  This week I am so excited to share a new community chat with you.  Sarah and I have something very unique in common. We both live with the rare neuromuscular disease, Bethlem Myopathy. It has been incredible to connect with Sarah over the last few years, and witness her journey to motherhood. Like me, Sarah has spent much of her life searching for answers and trying to make sense of this disease.  We have many similarities, and “meeting” someone who truly understands just how difficult this journey can be, is truly life altering. We also both recognize how we can find beauty in the hard and amongst the pain. Our faith is strong, and we both agree that we wouldn’t be here today without our relationship with God. He is our strength on our weakest days. I was so honored to be someone she could come to with questions regarding her pregnancy and becoming a mother. That is something I longed for when I was entering into mot...