| All rights reserved. All pictures and artwork ©JMcMullen 2006 |
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I guess y'all would like to know a little about me. Well, I'm a Christian, mother of a special needs
child, wife, caregiver to my parents and an artist. I graduated from Nazareth College with a BS in
studio art and also minored in religion. Guess that about covers it all.
Ok, Mother of a special needs child. My son's name is Michael and he has Cerebral Palsy. That is a
disorder caused by an injury to the brain. He was hypoxic (meaning a lack of oxygen) at birth. He
was born dead, after they revived him he went to the NICU at Strong Hospital where he spent the
next 100 days. We were told he wouldn't live a week. Or make it out of the NICU. Or survive his first
pneumonia. Well, God is good and Michael is 11 yrs old. Not bad, huh?
Well he uses a g-tube to eat and take meds, nothing by mouth.
He also has a seizure disorder, 50% get that and the other 50%
don't. He also has a trach. He gets home schooled (they come to
him). He is the sweetest little boy you would ever want to meet.
Don't you just love that face?
Michael is loving his "school" work, he is doing a wonderful job
in picking things out and the order they go in, and is becoming
more consistant with choices. And he absolutely loves music
and being read to.
He may never ride a bike, or throw a ball, or any of the other things little boys like to do, but in
heaven he will be whole. Psalm138:8 says "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy
mercy, O Lord, whole. Psalm138:8 says "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy
mercy, O Lord, endureth forever; forsake not the works of thine own hands." To me that means
Michael will be perfect in heaven. Being a Christian has also helped me to deal with the stress of
being a part of the sandwich generation.
On the subject of caregiver to my parents, well, they are older; my mom has cerebral palsy (it's not
hereditary) and my dad is blind and 85% deaf. I help them out as much as I can. Dad was a piano
tuner and general "jack of all trades and master of none". Mom was just that, our mom. By the way,
the we is my brother and I, he is a truck driver.
I guess I take after my dad in the "jack of all trades" department. Besides being an artist I have also
taught myself about computers. I take them apart and put them back together and they usually work.
I have set up a laptop for my dad with Windows XP and have the narrator set to come up when the
computer boots up. He has a ball with that thing. I have also been in the military (NAVY), worked with
the DPW doing recycling, worked for 2 car dealerships, one delivering parts and getting them from
the warehouse and the other doing new and used car preps, painted houses, done all sorts of stuff.
Guess you could say I'm "well rounded".
Well I guess we can add another thing I am doing to relax. With the encouragement of a very dear
friend and brother started writing poems. I have journaled on and off for the last 30 yrs. And have
tried different ways of writing and none really worked for me, until now. Maybe this is the way, at
least for now. So I hope you enjoy any future writing attempts.
child, wife, caregiver to my parents and an artist. I graduated from Nazareth College with a BS in
studio art and also minored in religion. Guess that about covers it all.
Ok, Mother of a special needs child. My son's name is Michael and he has Cerebral Palsy. That is a
disorder caused by an injury to the brain. He was hypoxic (meaning a lack of oxygen) at birth. He
was born dead, after they revived him he went to the NICU at Strong Hospital where he spent the
next 100 days. We were told he wouldn't live a week. Or make it out of the NICU. Or survive his first
pneumonia. Well, God is good and Michael is 11 yrs old. Not bad, huh?
Well he uses a g-tube to eat and take meds, nothing by mouth.
He also has a seizure disorder, 50% get that and the other 50%
don't. He also has a trach. He gets home schooled (they come to
him). He is the sweetest little boy you would ever want to meet.
Don't you just love that face?
Michael is loving his "school" work, he is doing a wonderful job
in picking things out and the order they go in, and is becoming
more consistant with choices. And he absolutely loves music
and being read to.
He may never ride a bike, or throw a ball, or any of the other things little boys like to do, but in
heaven he will be whole. Psalm138:8 says "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy
mercy, O Lord, whole. Psalm138:8 says "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy
mercy, O Lord, endureth forever; forsake not the works of thine own hands." To me that means
Michael will be perfect in heaven. Being a Christian has also helped me to deal with the stress of
being a part of the sandwich generation.
On the subject of caregiver to my parents, well, they are older; my mom has cerebral palsy (it's not
hereditary) and my dad is blind and 85% deaf. I help them out as much as I can. Dad was a piano
tuner and general "jack of all trades and master of none". Mom was just that, our mom. By the way,
the we is my brother and I, he is a truck driver.
I guess I take after my dad in the "jack of all trades" department. Besides being an artist I have also
taught myself about computers. I take them apart and put them back together and they usually work.
I have set up a laptop for my dad with Windows XP and have the narrator set to come up when the
computer boots up. He has a ball with that thing. I have also been in the military (NAVY), worked with
the DPW doing recycling, worked for 2 car dealerships, one delivering parts and getting them from
the warehouse and the other doing new and used car preps, painted houses, done all sorts of stuff.
Guess you could say I'm "well rounded".
Well I guess we can add another thing I am doing to relax. With the encouragement of a very dear
friend and brother started writing poems. I have journaled on and off for the last 30 yrs. And have
tried different ways of writing and none really worked for me, until now. Maybe this is the way, at
least for now. So I hope you enjoy any future writing attempts.
| If you would like to email me: |
| The picture for the background is courtesy of my dear friend and brother Colin Moffett, taken in his homeland of Norther Ireland. Thank you so much Colin! |