Priceless

I am one of the most blessed men that I have ever known.....seriously!! I have an absolutely amazing wife. I still can't believe she chose me out of all the guys in the world! She continuously teaches me new things and I have seen God do magnificent things through her. I want to brag on my wife a little :-) Recently, she became certified to teach students with visual impairments. I am so proud of her, she was a woman on a mission and she got it done. God worked in her life and led her to a certain purpose and she accepted it, embraced it and owns it! When she was first starting this endeavor she was applying to get into a program and wrote the following as part of the application process...I am using it with her permisson!

Nine years ago I was a fourth grade teacher. I loved my students….I had worked my way through school and LOVED my career. And then I found out I was expecting. Thrilled is probably an understatement to describe our long awaited babies coming! Our firstborn arrived in April and she was delightful. We were concerned about how her eyes bounced, but our pediatrician assured us that was “normal for some babies.” I would try to get her to track objects, lights, or even to convince myself she was looking at me as I fed her, but I wasn’t convinced. We had no reason to believe she couldn’t see, no family history to fear, but we were sure there was a problem. I finally convinced our Pediatrician to do a more thorough exam when Allison was 4 months old. She didn’t finish the exam and she left the room without a word. I worried that the doctor had gotten sick. Instead she was on the phone getting us worked in for an emergency appointment with an ophthalmologist. She never told us why we were going. The Ophthalmologist told us that afternoon that our daughter was cortically blind. He said that she was living in darkness, and that we needed to adjust our expectations accordingly.
That day changed our lives. We spent several months visiting different doctors searching for answers. We got in contact with ECI, and through them we met the Mansfield ISD Orientation & Mobility Specialist and the Teacher of the Visually Impaired. The support we received from our O & M was amazing. She was dependable, helpful and encouraging. There were weeks on end where she was the only person I spoke with that I thought had a clue about my life. They have worked with me to get my daughter where she is today- a third grader who was commended on her TAKS test.
I believe that as a VI Teacher I will be able to help my students and their families with the unique perspective I offer- of someone who has taught regular education as well as being a parent of a visually impaired student. I understand the classroom teacher’s perspective and I believe that this will benefit my students and their classroom teachers. I will be able to share the needs of my students to help them become independent learners as well. I also have a clearer idea than most of what the parents are thinking and need. I want to help other families by providing the kind of support and encouragement my family has received.
As a teacher I believe that all kids can learn and that it is my responsibility to see that learning takes place- even if I have to change my plans. Sometimes this meant delaying and re-teaching a concept. Some days this meant scrapping my plans and going back to basics that the students did not have, but needed to comprehend the concept. I played games, created songs, and used stickers instead of pencils. My goal was to help students love to learn and to create lifelong learners. With a blind child, I have learned that sometimes learning takes more conversation but the smile that occurs when they realize the solution is just as priceless.

Jill Smith

As I said earlier, I am soooo proud of my wife! Steve Jobs founder and CEO of Apple once said "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something..." My wife and I trust in God and it gives me great joy to know that through all of our experiences in having 2 blind children she has embraced the guidance and the purposes of God in her life! To God Be The Glory by Jesus Christ :-)

The Blind Blaming The Blind

Not too long ago I was just standing in my living room doing absolutely nothing. I don't know what I was thinking and I don't know what caused me to remain in that one spot for more than a few seconds. As I stood there I was about to witness an event that forever will be burned into the deep recesses of my mind. All of a sudden in an instant both of my children began walking quickly (for my children it was effectively a run) from the two opposite ends of the house toward the living room. Directly in front of me I saw them collide hard enough that both of them fell backward to the ground. Usually I would have reacted but I just stood there like I was in a paralysis. I watched the events unfold with a little smirk now creeping onto my face. Immediately after hitting the ground both of my blind children began raising themselves up and in perfect unison while scowling in the direction of the other said "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!!!" They were about to really get into it when I busted out in laughter and reminded them that they are both blind! It was at that point that I saw both of them stop and give that perplexing "Oh, I Forgot About That" look. By now my wife was in the room and she was laughing about as hard as I was!
A well known older pastor that I greatly admire always says "To Blame is to B-lame". Jesus talked about the blind leading the blind and I believe there is an awful lot of that happening! In America today it seems that in the political realm we have a lot of "The Blind Blaming The Blind" going on. I think this is an appropriate time to write this post! The President of the United States "State of the Union" speech was just given to the country. When you look at things that are taking place in our country so many still seem to be thinking in a partisan paradigm where one party is wrong or mostly wrong and the other is right or mostly right. It is time that we stop being blind blamers of the blind! We are all to blame and sin is everywhere!
I actually like the statement "Be the change you want to see in others"! It is time that everyone takes personal responsibility and begins changing. America's problem is not Political it is Spiritual. Christians from both parties are guilty of not standing against abortion. We are guilty of not standing against a culture of debt, not standing against homosexual marriage, not standing against compromise in what we allow ourselves to be entertained by. We are guilty of not standing against greed, prejudice and oppression. We are guilty of not standing against perpetuating government reliance and not standing against the manifold lies materialism and secular humanism! The list of our wrongs goes on and on for all sides! May God grant all his children repentance and give us grace to trust His righteous ways and live by them!