The best place to end ...

 It has been an emotional rollercoaster the last 12 years and this I believe will be one of my, if not THE, last post here about Sammi! Thank you so much for all the love, prayers, shoulders to cry on and just listening to my rants and raves for 12 (good grief TWELVE!!) years. it just hit me that our Sammi was 12 when this happened and he is now 24, so I have been writing about our journey with brain injury for half of our sons life. what a perfect way to come full circle and end this part of his story here! 

Our Sam was in the Adult and Teen Challenge  (ATC) Program for a year, where he worked hard to overcome his addictions and build a new relationship with our Lord! It was a hard fought year at times and it was never boring! We not only got to see our son grow and flourish, we grew our own hearts as we met and added many more to our family!  we got to know and become family to so many of the students in the program (both the mens centre and the women's in Brandon). We made wonderful friends with some of the staff at ATC. 

As Sam got closer to finishing the program he had many moments of reflection and 'this is how its going to go' moments ... BUT GOD... and when God steps in to clear your thoughts, step back! 

Sam lived with us for a while once he got out of the program (he finished in April), he found an amazing job in Crystal City - welding even! And looked for a place there and eventually found one nearby his job! He works for a godly company that isn't scared to say it or show it! And we all couldn't be happier about it! Shortly after Sam started he wound up with 6 weeks off after a double hernia surgery - and since Dennis and I were moved into our motorhome already we moved to Crystal City (where Sam was living in  his brothers camper trailer) to help him during his recovery. 

During his time with this company, Samuel made the decision to follow Jesus and be baptized, so here is where I will leave the blog - beginning with what we called Samuels second birthday, since we got to se him relearn how to do everything all over again to his new BIRTHday and new life with Christ! His baptism, where all he needs to learn and do now is to trust, obey and follow His Saviour! 

Thank You Abba for being a Father who cares about ALL the things in our lives; the big, the small, the pretty, the ugly, the ups and downs... ALL of the things! Thank You Papa for being faithful to follow this tragedy to rejoicing, to go from despair to joy, from broken to healed ...Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. I know there are still miles to go but he is now going those miles with You. I pray he will continue on this road with You, Jesus, and as he shares his story, I pray that it is ONLY YOU that people see in his miracles! And that they rejoice.

Thank You Father. For it all, because I had to lean and rely on You as well and I know I could have done a better job at that and so many other things, but without You it would have been an even wilder ride I am sure. Its all because of You. Al this I pray and rejoice and praise in YOUR name! Amen

 Sammi's testimony!                                 

 Sammi's baptism!

I will continue post as I will about my daddy. He is still in the care home and our visits are few and far between right now due to covid and changing rules it seems all the time! My concern with him is what he actually retains mentally. Does he realize I am not there as much? As Dennis and I prepare to for our 6 months in Mexico with YWAM will he notice I am not there? He is getting more and more quiet when we see him, he aspirates more and more too it seems (which is "normal" for him). 

If you are interested in following Dennis and I on our God adventure to Mazatlan Mexico with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) you can check out our new blog/website at God, the Ginters and You  and you can subscribe to updates there too! 

Thank you for being a part of this great journey of Brain Injury with me, Sam, my Daddy and the rest of our family! We truly did and do appreciate it all! 

Until next time...

do i stay or do i go?

2013 Brain Injury Awareness Campaign Bracelets

I have been working on getting bracelets for this years campaign {a little later than i usually start and June is right around the corner} and today I was talking about 2 different companies to deal with and Dennis made a comment that really struck home for me. He asked if that locally am I really doing any awareness? is it all online? most of last years bracelets (2500 of them) went to other places than Canada. The local Brain Injury Assoc. and groups dont seem to really help with spreading awareness. One association actually told me they would help and we would charge for the bracaelets. That is not my intent with getting awareness out there. I feel we need to spread the knowledge then we can try to raise funds.
The last few years I have purchased and personally mailed out my bracelets. I have made wonderful friends and connections to people but most of them are 100's or 1000's of miles away. I  do not charged for the bracelets and I also mail them out on my own dime. I DO think we need to educate the public to get them to understand about  Brain Injuries! So along with my bracelets i send out a letter with a bit of our story and some actual, AMAZING BI FACTS and I challenge people to educate themselves about BI's.

But this year I ask myself  "do i continue with bracelets or do I just forget it and let it go"?  I know lots of people think I do this just because of Sam and because he is not 'the norm' {whatever that is in the brain injury world} why bother anymore? Those people are partly right in that I started this awareness campaign becaus of Sammi. I started it because i felt i needed to help people to understand BI's. I needed to be able to talk to people who possibly knew what i was going through or understood my frustrations of people being un-educated about BI's .... but the last few years it has been more because of my dad. He is what most people assosicate BI's with... someone who 'looks' like he 'should have a brain injury'. He is a quadriplegic, he doesnt speak much and when he does it is muffled, broken, inappropriate {and usually heartbreaking for me}, he can not feed himself, he is incontinent and he has the mentality of a 7yr old or less. I do the bracelets for my daddy. I want people to know the reality of BI's, the reality of the silent crippler and the reallity of how it affects the lives of not only the survivor but the family and caregivers too. i want people to know about ambiguous loss and how it feels to sit and watch your loved one slip away from you bit by bit, day by day. to know how it feels to have to sign a DNR every year at the personal care home yearly care meeting.

That it is hard to watch is a given,
that is is hard to live this life is a given
that we should have to do it alone is not.
That we should travel this journey with out understanding from the world is not.
I want to help people to navigate this life with someone in their corner whom they can talk to and know that they will not judge or ridicule.
I want to educate the public to not judge or brush off BI's as a non-issue.
I want people to not be afraid to ask about BI's and to arm them selves with information about them so they are knowledgable about the basics  if it should ever happen to them or someone they love!

So i think i just answered my own question about whether or not i should continue with the bracelets...

i guess the bigger question is what do i do to get it to be more local (town, province, country) to get more awareness out there?!

Any ideas?

{i am getting a headache already! :-D }

New ideas for next year

so as I am up to my ears in envelopes and bracelets, I am thinking of changing things next year for the bracelet campaign.
I will still love to do the hand written parts but I will be investing in return address labels or a stamp, I will cut down on the envelope decor, the letter will be signed by me and then photocopied (I will still address each letter and still write notes if needed) and I think I  may go all with one size envelope so that taping it shut may not be necessary.

If you are wating for bracelet(s), please be patient and know I AM working on it! I am a bit overwhelmed with not just the 2014 campaign but also we are busy with farm life (calving season, pigs farrowing, chicks are here, rainy weathermaking spring work hard to accomplish) family life (Sam moved out, his graduation and getting ready for it, Hannah is busy with baseball and Isaac with his music and art) cleaning up from winter messes in our yard.... I am beat! But I am getting this done!

Today I had some help from some friends and my mother in love! Three of these lovely ladies addressed and prepped my envelopes (marking them so I know how many bracelets, stickers, whether a survivor and/or caregiver, etc.) , another lovely stamped the envelopes and pinned  states/provinces/countries on my map! All the while I was writing on letters, filing out cards and stuffing with bracelets. (set aside to be taped shut later tonight). I was so glad to have the help today because addressing sometimes slows me down as names tend to sound familiar to me and I have to check if it was because I had already done their bracelets or from the year before.... usually it was because I had emailed everyone first ... **sigh**
All of this is why I need to make this a more stream lined project next year! So any and all ideas will be welcome!

A smiley thot is that I have all year to plan! :)

And it begins again ...

So it begins again. My third year of giving out silicone Brain Injury Awareness bracelets! This year they are green with white lettering, a new font, a new leaf graphic! I am so excited to start getting these out into the public!
I also have 99 green oak leaves to give away. I am seeing what people think of these  to maybe switch it up a little -- just in case people get tired of the whole bracelet idea.  A local business made these up for me and we will see how they go. (the oak leaf is representation of survivors - there are over 600 different species of oak trees -- kind of similar to survivors in that there is no two injuries the same!)

I am starting to get my address book ready, the letter that I send out is typed out again and printed with a new leaf picture this year and I am busy with putting pictures out into the social media world to spread the word on this! If you are on instagram and want to follow me: @mb_farmgurl my facebook link is on bottom left side of my blog, my twitter account is @FarmGurl72

As in the past all I ask for with receiving a bracelet (or sticker) is that you let me know you got them and then to also post pictures of you wearing the bracelet (or where you put the sticker) and hashtag it  with brain injury support (please tag me in the pics on instagram or FB so I can see it and share with others too!)
I have two goals again this year and they are as follows:

1. Spread awareness that will encourage survivors and caregivers AND encourage the general public to GET EDUCATED on Brain Injuries -- it can happen to anyone at anytime anywhere!

2. To send some bracelets (and now also stickers) to a new country! Last year I reached my goal and sent bracelets to Moscow, Russia!!!  Bracelets wen to 5 provinces, 42 states, and 6 countries -- this year I want to see those numbers grow, grow, GROW!

I have approached a few "local" celebrities (local as in Canadian) to offer bracelets to them to wear but as of yet have not heard from anyone. (please keep praying that we will find someone to help spread awareness on a grander scale than what I can do in my little corner!)
If you have any ideas on spreading awareness or know of anyone that would like to help with this or if you just want to request a bracelet(s) or sticker(s) please email me at braininjuryadvocate@gmail.com

Here is to another awesome year of spreading awareness of Brain Injury!! GET EDUCATED!!!

I ❤ Brain Injury Survivors & Caregivers! Never Give Up!

well another year is here and I am busy looking into more bracelets and ideas for colours and wording! I am thinking this year will be:

I ❤ Brain Injury Survivors & Caregivers!  (oak leaf graphic) Never Give Up!

The bracelets will be green with white lettering -- I have seen the template and they really POP! 
I am so excited about this year again -- especially after last years campaign when I had discovered I had sent almost 1500 bracelets to 5 provinces in Canada, 42 states in the USA and 6 countries in total!! So I have my thinking cap on  and make a new goal this year! 
I was wanting to do something other than the silicone bracelets this year but it is all about economics right... and with the cost of groceries, gas, clothes ... life basically I had to stay with the bracelets. BUT I am hoping for 2000 bracelets again this year! (so 500 more than last year!) 

I am still getting emails about wanting bracelets -- in fact i got one this morning! So much for a "june campaign' eh! lol I DO NOT mind in the least! I am so happy to get an email or reuqest for bracelets and to make up an envelope and get them out!! I do little happy dances for each one! (ya I am that weird! :D) 

Well if anyone has any good ideas and/or leads on a new idea for the 2014 Brain Injury Awareness Campaign, PLEASE let me know!  I have not ordered bracelets yet and probably wont for about another week or two! I am open to ideas!!! Email me at 
braininjuryadvocate@gmail.com