So, it may not be Thursday, but you can still have a throwback right? 🙂

So Throwback Monday to the time when FOCOS (Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine, http://www.orthofocos.org/) personally called to thank me for my donations and posted about the donations on their facebook page.

I sent four boxes of care packages to NY for FOCOS to take to Africa to give to the patients there who are recovering from their spinal fusion surgeries. They were so kind and grateful. After they received them, they personally called me to thank me and tell me how much it meant to them and the children in Africa. Then they went a step further and pictures on their facebook page. Here’s a link to the post: https://www.facebook.com/OrthoFOCOS/posts/10152195073730992

If anyone is looking for a charity to donate to, FOCOS is definitely a worthy and appreciative cause.

Yesterday evening, I visited the dollar store to buy a few items to add a finishing touch to the care packages I had made and the care packages I had collected from some of my friends at school. While I was ringing up at the register, the lady asked why I was buying 12 toothbrushes and toothpaste containers, 5 pairs of sunglasses, 12 bars of soap, and some other weird quantities of items. I started to explain that these care packages were for FOCOS and the underprivileged children with severe scoliosis that they operate on in Ghana, Africa. When it came time to hand over the money, the lady behind me quickly said, “Wait! I would like to donate $20. It sounds like it’s a really good cause you are doing this for.”

This really touched my heart – that a stranger would donate her money to something I love so much and pay for out of pocket to make my care packages. So, even though Christmas has passed and the New Year is approaching, the Christmas Spirit and the Spirit of Giving is alive and well! I feel like she was an angel that God put there to remind me of the goodness of people.

Today, November 3rd, is Orphan Sunday. It is a Christian initiative to bring awareness to about 200 million children without families. http://orphansunday.org/about/ By giving, praying, and/or sharing these children can have families. Maybe a child with scoliosis can be adopted and then receive the medical attention he or she needs and deserves. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!?!? We all need to remember that children with scoliosis are also children with special needs.

As you may or may not know, I absolutely love the High School Musical movies, even at the age of 15. This was why I had to share a video from Dancing With the Stars on Monday. Each dancer had to dedicate their dance to the most memorable year of their life, and Corbin Bleu dedicated his to 2011, when his sister was diagnosed with severe scoliosis. Enjoy the video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mplSW5HdWG0&feature=player_embedded#t=122

” You need hope to cope.” – Rick Warren from The Purpose Driven Life

I came across another animal with scoliosis- an albino alligator! Now, it’s not just mammals with scoliosis. Reptiles can have it, too!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x13w27u_albino-alligator-has-acupuncture-for-scoliosis_news

I’m sure everybody has heard or read Aesop’s Fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. Life can seem like the Hare much of the time- rushing past at the speed of light. Scoliosis, on the other hand, is slow and tedious like the tortoise. Wearing a brace EVERY day and then doing therapy EVERY night, can seem to drag on infinitely, while the rest of life rushes past us. This seems pretty miserable until you realize that life isn’t meant to go by in a blur. Life’s about the journey, and every second counts in that journey. When you have scoliosis, it is part of your journey. So, don’t wish for every second used doing therapy, getting x-rays, or wearing a back brace to rush by because in the end sometimes to get the best results we have to go slow and easy like the tortoise.

A picture of Cayla (left) and I (right) at the first meeting for the North GA Curvy Girls group!!!!!