Category: Handicap

Dream City Church

Annette CoffeyLeave a comment

Welcome one and all to Dream City Church. On the corner of Sweetwater and Cave Creek in Phoenix. Started by Tommy Barnett 38 years ago. This has got to be the best church I have ever been to in my 58 years on this earth. I first came when the nursing home I was living in told me about it. They have wheelchair buses that travel throughout the valley on Sunday’s picking up special needs people that might not get out to church otherwise.

So I went, and I fell in love with the people and the church. I have never felt so much love and acceptance in my life. Being handicapped in a wheelchair from a stroke I had often felt out of place in public. So I stayed in my little care home with people just like me who understood me. That really was not living. Now I have so many friends to fellowship with each week and my life has never been better.

The church has a special needs ministry that reaches out to people like me. The people at the church have so much love to give. They have accepted me and been so wonderful to me. I just want to tell everyone.

This week in our class we had a Christmas party and we all received gift bags full of things we can use. Next week is the Christmas Pageant that they have been putting on for years. It is bigger a better than ever before. Professionally directed, it is fantastic. We make a full day of it. The buses come a little after 8:00 am to pick us up. We have our special needs class from 9:00-10:30 and then go to the sanctuary for the main service at 11:00. Then we gather for a great lunch and some entertainment till time for the Pageant.

The night of the 16th we are having a big Christmas bash and dance. We have so much fun together. We have bar-be-cues during the year and at the end of summer we spend a week together at camp in the pines of Williams. Swimming, zip lining, and doing all kinds of fun things just for us. Boy we in special needs sure are spoiled aren’t we.

The wheelchair buses drive from Union Hills in the north valley to Van Buren in the south valley. From 20th St. to Tatum up north. From I 17 to 7th St in the south. Contact Chip Gilliam at the Phoenix campus of Dream City he is running the buses so you can set up a ride with him.

If you want to know any more about the church or special needs you can email me at. annettecoffey59@gmail.com

He Knows Your Name

Annette CoffeyLeave a comment

I just got back from another awesome week at the Young Life camp at Lost Canyon with my church. This a camp for people with all kinds of disabilities. Some are in wheelchairs with a wide range of handicaps. There are also those with intellectual disabilities who seem perfectly fine but suffer from some sort of brain difficulty. These are wonderful people from fifteen to eighty years old looking to experience new and exciting activities and more time with God. It is a lovely camp with everything you could dream of.  

The camp is more like a resort with lots of rooms apartment style that sleep up to fourteen people per room either male or female. So when you get there you may or may not know your roommates. There is a caregiver that is assigned to you for everything you need for the whole week. They are with you throughout the week.

They take care of all your physical and emotional needs while at camp.
There is a pool and hot tub they also have two awesome super slides to enjoy, whether you walk or not, you can enjoy them. There is a room full of pool tables, a snack bar, coffee shop, store for souvenirs, a gymnasium full of fun, basketball, frisbee, and beautifully landscaped grounds with grass, trees, streams, plants, and even a lake.

At the lake they have a zip line from up the mountain down to the lake. More slides and a huge blob to jump on. Everything is handicap assessable for everyone to enjoy.

A few days into the week God showed me that I was judging people. Something I never would have done intentionally but I was seeing these people with my imperfect eyes. If they weren’t just like me or acting just like I thought they should, I wasn’t trying to get to know them. They might have been older or younger, dressed different, walked different, had tattoos or piercings, were heavier than me, acted different than I.

God has made so many people that are all just perfect in his eyes. He loves them so very much and has wonderful plans for their lives. I don’t know all they have gone through in their lives or the pain they live with every day. Sure we all have disabilities whether you can see them or not. We are all made differently. That’s what’s so great about our world. God knows just why he made you how you are. Everyone has a purpose. He knows exactly what He is doing in each life. God never makes anyone wrong. We are all perfect.

Oh I wish I had glasses that I could put on to help me see everyone through His eyes. When I get to know their story I fall in love with the person and am so glad for a new friend. We sang a great song that says it all.

          I have a maker

          He formed my heart

          Before even time began

          My life was in his hand
          He knows my name

          He knows my every thought

          He sees each tear that falls

          And hears me when I call.

There is more but that just blessed me. He made every one of us just how we are with all our little quirks. We are his craftsmanship made to his design specs. We are perfect! From now on I am going to try to see people through his eyes and get to know them. One can always use new friends.

Are you handicapped?

Annette Coffey1 Comment

I had a massive stroke and am confined to a wheelchair because I can no longer walk. After being mute for seven years I am slowly getting my voice back but for some I appear to be talking in a foreign language. People can see my disability right up front. My mind though is very sharp nothing is missing there. I have the same mind that I always had throughout my life. I have done many things in my life and have a lot to offer.
I have written and published books that have been well received by my peers as quite helpful. There are many things I am unable to do but, l keep pushing forward and love helping people. Some people are physically able to do anything but their mind is very limited. On the outside you can not tell they would not have difficulty with anything. They appear to be just one in the crowd of millions of normal people. Everyone has a handicap of one sort or other.
Many people have learned to overcome all the handicaps in their life and live a very happy and productive life. Others gripped by fear or depression can not cope and thereby lead a very unproductive and difficult life. Never doing much of anything. It’s all in the mind. I know a man born with no arms or legs who learned to overcome all the challenges and go on to have a very happy successful life. A family-wife, kids, work, travel, and everything life has to offer. I have also met people that go through life grumbling, complaining, and never accomplishing much of anything. Just living day to day.
It’s always just someone’s fault not theirs that they never accomplish much. Now life is what you make it. If you are determined to be a success, have dreams, don’t give up when knocked down but keep persevering. Like many famous men and women that refused to give up. You can make something of your life. Look at Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, and Helen Keller. They overcame great odds to become something and I bet they wouldn’t change a thing. Life does not always give us roses but sometimes we get thorns. Bloom where you are planted.
Do not let struggles get you down. Keep reaching ahead for what you want with passion. There are so many cases of people that have tragic accidents in their life that handicap them but they don’t give up. They keep their eye on the goal and don’t give up till they get there. Nothing is impossible if you keep that in your mind and believe it.
The surfer that lost an arm to a great white shark, but came back to world class surfing with one arm and a great big heart. A stunt cyclist that survived a terrible accident totally severing their spinal cord, who one year later was doing stunts on their motorcycle just like before. Athletes that loose legs to accidents continuing to ski, swim, and run on prosthetics. Just like before.
Its all attitude you can make a big difference if you get a little altitude in your attitude. Reach for the stars.