Follow Terra on Amazon - Hope Comes in Pieces

Hope for Recovery Party Hosted by Well Amy

From Left to Right - Niondre StillFlyAlways Robinson, Michelle Nickleberry, and Terra.

MiaRayne looks forward to talking with proud autism mom and advocate Michelle about air travel training for kids with autism and their parents. 

Click the link to visit the event sponsor, Well Amy.

Jodi Gomes' Keywords to Single Moms of Kids with Autism

Jodie Gomes -

- Founding Director, Wake Up for Autism
- Executive Producer and Director, IMDB Profile, Linkedin Profile

Keywords for single mothers of kids with autism, by Ms, Jodie Gomes:
- Respite, take some time for yourself
- "I want my children free to find love."
- On getting what your children need, "Be a bulldog and don't apologize!"

What's In The Box 2

The Environmental Working Group is a non-profit organization with a mission to empower “people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. With breakthrough research and education, we drive consumer choice and civic action.” -ewg.org

EWG focuses on “six major program areas: toxins, food, agriculture, children’s health,

energy, and water.”

Check out their strategic plan by clicking here.   

EWG Listed as Lowest in Pesticides

Foods Highest in Pesticides

Holley Kitchen - Live the Dash

#autismeducationsummit

Cognitive and Partial at Best

At best, I have a cognitive and partial understanding of the challenges facing the parents of kids with autism.   Sitting across the table from Terra and Mrs. Moore (Terra’s mother) is a bit like having dinner with good friends who share experiences that bind them but not you.  You appreciate how they carry themselves with compassion and strength; however, you are sure that you don’t want to go through that same experience to develop that deep connection.

Attorney Allison Folmar said it best, "Never in a thousand years could some imaging what it is like to some of the parents in the room.  

Mrs Moore (Terra's Mom) and Terra

Attorney Allison Folmar 

Out Now on Amazon: Hope Comes n Pieces

What's in the Box?

Terra received this box of food coupons and information. Will post more about what she found later. In the meantime,
 we're continuing to firm up today's game plan.

Hope Comes in Pieces, Dallas

There's nothing like Starbucks oatmeal in the airport  um.

I'm looking forward to supporting Terra and her mother at the Autism Education Conference in Addison, Texas, outside of Dallas.

Hope Comes in Pieces - Released for Amazon Kindle

It's Official.  Mom's book is published.

About Hope Comes in Pieces:
Ma, your world hurts! Mia Smith, a five-year old girl, regresses into thirty-eight medical and behavioral conditions, one hundred and thirty one allergies, and autism. She is born into a biological environment that causes her pain.  Her mother, Terra Smith, practically the Chief Recovery Officer, works with doctors, therapists, and insurance companies to coordinate all the care required for Mia’s comeback. Her father, Craig Smith, puts in the work hours to make sure the family has a home, food, and clothes. The longer recovery takes, the more Mia falls behind.

Yet, Terra Smith is set on helping Mia to discover what recovery feels like. Hope comes in pieces of knowledge and moments broken away from the trying, exhausting day. But Terra will take those pieces, thoughtfully put them where they fit until the full picture of recovery comes into view.

With a forward by Jerry Kartzinel, MD (Best-Selling Author, Board Certified pediatrician and a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics) this book one testimony of the 1 in 15 children who have developmental issues within the U.S. Additionally, the European Union estimates that 800 million children live in environments that negatively effect cognitive development.
#MiaRayne

Hope Comes in Pieces - Cover

Terra will attend the Autism Education Conference in Addison, TX, Sept 24.  Her goals are to:

1. Find and talk to experts to help with Mia’s allergen-limited diet
2. Join in question and answer sessions with noted and experienced physicians
3. Advocate and collaborate through social media
4. Connect with exhibitors and publishers
5. Find Entrepreneurial ways to help pay for Mia’s care

Hope Comes in Pieces Draws Major Endorsement

Dr. Jerry Kertzinel, MD
Co-Author, Healing and Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide

Just finished the book!
I found the book a very compelling read and enjoyed the way you overlapped your personal struggles, struggles with your relationships, struggles with Mia from the get go.  More struggles followed with her health and with the medical profession. Throughout the book, you intertwined your victories in regaining your health, your relationship with your husband, and of course major victories in Mia’s health and recovery!  I found the book very uplifting and will be a gem for other moms with similar struggles! 

Thank you very much for sharing your very personal journey with me!

Dr. J

Dr. Jerry Kartzinel:
- Appeared with both Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live
- Co-wrote Healing and Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide with Jenny McCarthy, a New York Times Best-Seller
- Appeared on CBS This Morning which has 2-3 million viewers within the same target audience

Coming to Amazon in Kindle Format

First Meeting at the Autism Education Conference

A moment just to reflect on what’s coming, to understand and appreciate instead of just prepare…, it hit me this morning, right when I was making another checklist.  Helping Craig, Terra, and Mia Smith bring their family story to print has been eye-opening, encouraging, and emotionally rewarding.  But, I haven’t met any of the people I helped write about.  The upcoming book, Hope Comes in Pieces, came about by referral through someone else I have never met.

Left Frame: Al Hardy - Right Frame: in order from left to right: Craig, Mia, and Terra Smith 

I receive most of my business through Linkedin; only once before has a business relationship that started virtually resulted in a physical meeting and that was incidental.  In 2010, a CEO, based in Chennai, India, had permitted me to use his company’s video to introduce a technology application to hospital personnel.  In Feb 2011, I recognized the CEO from his linkedin photo as he took a front row seat during my presentation an Information Management Conference.

So what’s coming?  First, Terra Smith and her mother will be at the Autism Education Conference, September 25, 2015.  We will meet for the first time after what must be over a hundred hours of phone, text, skype, and email conversations.  This will not be a meet and greet just to say great working with you.  I will be there to documents and support Terra as she:

• finds and talks to experts to help with Mia’s allergen-limited diet
• joins in question and answer sessions with noted and experienced physicians 
• advocates and collaborates through social media
• connects with exhibitors and publishers
• finds Entrepreneurial ways to help pay for Mia’s care

Secondly, the release of a major endorsement for Hope Comes in Pieces is forthcoming.  This is the largest potential exposure I have ever had.  It may be the largest exposure for Terra since her TV commercial for the sitcom Major Dad and pageant ranking when she was a kid.  The endorsement is most significant in the way it is written.  We didn’t tell the endorser anything about the expected feel or reader experience though we were very aware of what we sat out to do.  Honestly, despite having some very good pre-publication reader feedback, despite that the endorsement comes from one of Terra’s existing medical relationships,  I understood what a negative or so-so reply would mean for the project.  Either was absolutely possible.  Thankfully, when we read the endorsement, it reflected our original intent.

Lastly, observing how Terra navigates through the conference will give me valuable insights that I can’t get over the phone, no matter how well I ask questions or listen to inflections or research the subject.  I look forward to it because there are more business initiatives in the works.

Yummy… But I Can’t Have That Either

January 2012, I stood in my kitchen.  I opened my cabinets and refrigerator.  Anything that read gluten in the ingredients list or I thought had gluten in it had to go.  That was cold-turkey with not much planning on what was to follow.

As it turned out, that wasn’t just for Mia’s sake but for mine as well.  My own food allergy panel brought to light dietary limitation.  For example, some traditionally made Italian foods were snatched right off the table… like pasta and bread.

It’s getting close to four years since that decision and, recently, a definite lack of variety settled into my kitchen.  I searched the internet for gluten-free and dairy-free pasta dishes.  The only thing that seemed to come up was pesto.  Basil… yummy…. I can’t have that either. Nor can I have oregano.  I kept searching and found three different recipes that sounded good, but I could not have all of any of them. So, I turned the three into one dish.

For the pesto, I used two bunches of kale, grapeseed oil, three small lemons, frozen garlic with salt and pepper to taste.  That all went into the food processor.  I oven-roasted the chicken with pepper, salt, and garlic.  The pasta was a gluten-free, store-bought mix of quinoa, brown-rice, corn, and white rice.

This meal was for Craig and me.  Mia is not quite there yet.  The look of green “spaghetti sauce” doesn’t go over well with her.  But, as far as Craig was concerned, he liked it.  Good thing too.  Food variety has its limits in this household.  The meal will come around again.

Please be sure to check out Mia’s GoFundMe page,  http://www.gofundme.com/sc29p7xc.  This is no time to breathe a sigh of relief. That will result in Mia's regression, back into sickness and lengthy, high-volume, self-harming tantrums. We have to keep searching, find more pieces to help Mia reach for and aspire to her dreams.