In April of 1976, a little girl was born that was to be a miracle to all who would meet her. Kari was, at 6 months behind in development and her parents knew that, but what they found out from one of her therapists changed their lives forever. They were just having a casual conversation when Kari’s therapist said “Well, kids like Kari with cerebral palsy...” During birth, Kari had a lack of oxygen to her brain which caused CP (Cerebral Palsy). Her parents knew there would be some effects to the lack of oxygen, but never thought it would be as severe as CP. In Kari’s case, CP causes her to not have control of her limbs and speech. Thus, making it difficult to communicate and do a lot of things. Kari’s mom and dad were very scared but this didn’t stop her one bit.
Cerebral palsy was very hard for Kari, Gary, and Nancy (her mom and dad) to get used to and live with, but it also has affected their lives for the better. She probably wouldn’t have been as interested in coloring if it hadn’t been for her parents who introduced her to art and taught her it. She may have been too independent to take time for art and not have had that great experience. Also, if she didn’t have cerebral palsy she may not have had such a strong relationship with her provider, God. She believes He had a purpose for her life and her disability. God made her the way she is and wishing she was different wasn’t going to get her anywhere. When she has her days when things just seem too hard, she looks ahead because she knows God is right alongside her for the long haul. She had a lot of those days in junior high when she felt like she was so different from everyone else and that was a bad thing. Days when everyone was going to a party or a movie and she was left out due to her disability. She has since learned that God made her with a special purpose and she could learn to use her abilities for His purpose.
She always wanted to color! She remembers her mom and dad holding the crayon in her hands as she moved the crayon over the coloring book. She would marvel at the beautiful colors that she saw on her coloring book. Never would a birthday or a Christmas go by without her getting a new set of markers or crayons and of course a pair of PJ’s. Ultimately her parents were her influence to start painting because they were the ones who introduced her to the wonders of art.
Kari was always a strong one! She kept at it with her artwork and became better and better. Painting wasn’t always easy for her, though. It was rather hard, actually. She decided to see an Art Therapists to help her paint more independently. She didn’t get it right away like you’d think if you’ve seen some of her artwork. She worked hard to get where she is now. Sometimes after a paint session she was so drenched in sweat it looked like she just came out of the shower. This was because it caused that much physical and mental work for her to paint. However, she was very devoted and worked very hard to get it right. Her art also helped her communicate her emotions. She had things to express what she wanted to say, but when you are mad you can’t express it the way she does for a normal conversation. She coordinated colors for each emotion, like yellow is happy, black is fearful, and red is angry. As she got better and better at painting she learned how to express her emotions through her paint.
Before she learned to communicate her feelings through paint she had to learn how to communicate in everyday language. Basic things like food and water she used “eye pointing”, but that didn’t work for everything. There was a lot of guessing because some things just couldn’t be expressed clearly. Nancy and Gary knew Kari well enough to know what she was saying most of the time, but it was still hard. During the ages of 5-8 she had a board with 400 little word pictures called Bliss symbols that she would shine her little light attached to her glasses on what word she needed. That system was hard for her because it was hard to understand the pictures sometimes. One day, her therapists told her she should get a talking system. Her first one was the Light Talker, in which she used with a head sensor stick. Then, she moved to a newer system called Dynovox. Then, a more advanced Light Talker. Next, a Vanguard and then, a Vanguard II. Finally, now she uses a voice computer called an ECO. She is much quicker with this machine and it works well. Her life without technology would be even harder than it already is.
All her technology lets her get the chance to work in a normal environment. She works at a place called Rise. At Rise, she is a Data Entry Clerk. She uses a a shiny dot on her glasses as a mouse that inputs the data into the computer. Most of her work is entering names, addresses, telephone numbers, etc. Being a Data Entry Clerk is already time consuming and she has to do it with a disability. She has to be a lot more patient than most people. This does get frustrating for her sometimes, like when she needs something and has to wait for someone or if her technology isn’t working right. She is learning though, that she is not the only one who needs help and that Jesus wants her to be kind and patient with others. She is always trying to work hard on being patient.
Along with Kari’s Data work she has improved greatly in her artwork. She has had many cool opportunities to display her wonderful artwork in many places. She has entered in lots of art competitions around the Twin Cities. Sister Kenney Annual Art Exhibit, coffee shops, and other art exhibits have displayed her artwork to their people. She has also been able to share how she paints at a couple of places including the news station KSTP-TV Channel 5. Lastly, her paintings are on many cards for different events. All the while, she hopes that her viewers see all the wonders of God’s creations in the universe. She hopes it speaks to them of His great unconditional love for each and everyone one of us. She hopes her painting encourages them through all their challenges because they see that she can express herself through this and nothing stopped her even though she has this complex disability. She hopes everyone sees that all things are possible through Jesus Christ. That is the story on Kari. She never stopped going and it got her very far in life and if you keep on going you will go far with God alongside you the whole way.
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