A new begining part 1

A lot of people view September as a new season of life or a new beginning. It's the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year for children. Others look at the New Year as that new beginning, setting New Year's Resolutions. but a new season or a new beginning can start anytime of the year.

Yesterday was one of those new beginnings for me. Awhile back I was at a fundraiser for an organization called Citizen Advocacy. While there, I heard  amazing testimony from a young man about a part of the organization called Lifetime Networks. I had heard of Lifetime Networks through one of my colleagues but had dismissed it thinking it was there to help a person with a disability move out of home and live on their own. I don't want that at this  stage of my life.

At the fundraiser the testimony was from a young man just like me. He didn't want to move out but he realized his mom couldn't be his full time caretaker anymore. Despite the fact that this young man had a different disability than me, I wondered, if it had worked for him, could it work for me too?

My mom was interested when I told her about it that night. After she'd perused the website, she suggested I contact the person in charge of this particular program. A few weeks later we had the first meeting with the coordinator. At this meeting we found that yes indeed it was what I'd been wanting for years. A program to work on my goals, not a program to tell me: "You're 25. You need to move out of your family home and act like a 'normal' human being." After that initial meeting, we were told that it could take a few months to find a facilitator.

A facilitator is someone who will help me find and set up my network of people. A network consists of people who volunteer their time to help me because they like me and want to spend time with me. I met my facilitator last night, to start the process of getting to know her and for her to take a look at some of my goals. I will meet her again on July 19 to continue getting to know her and for her to get to know me and my interests so she can, with wisdom and insight, start developing this amazing team.

I am looking forward to this new chapter of my life choreographed by God, facilitated by Corrine, and overseen by Kelly. Thanks God for new beginnings.

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