Rising Above with Becky Davidson

Show Notes

Join Kosta and his guest:  Becky Davidson, Co-Founder and President of Rising Above Ministries, a multi-dimensional outreach to families impacted by special needs. In addition to her work as a community leader and special needs advocate, Becky is the host of the Rising Above Podcast, Author, Speaker, and Activist.

In This Episode: The day in the life of a special needs parent, Becky's inspirational story leading to the creation of Rising Above Ministries, and how we can help families of special needs children and adults. 

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a product of Morgan Franklin Media and recorded in Cookeville, TN.

Find out more about  Becky Davidson and Rising Above Ministries:
https://www.risingaboveministries.org/

Listen to Rising Above Podcast:
https://www.risingaboveministries.org/podcast

Find out more about Kosta and all the ways we're better together:
http://kostayepifantsev.com/

What is Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev?

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a podcast about business, parenting and living life intentionally. We're here every week to bring you intentional conversations on making your own path to success, challenging the status quo, and finding all the ways we're better. Recorded in Cookeville, TN, Kosta joins guests from all walks of life to bring fresh perspective and start your week with purpose. We're better together.

Becky Davidson: We knew how we
were struggling, but that we

were starting to kind of come
out of that and have some hope.

And so we wanted to create a
space for other families to join

together to not be isolated and
not be alone. And to start also

seeing it you can have some joy
on this journey.

Morgan Franklin: Welcome to
better together with Kosta

Yepifantsev, a podcast on
parenting business and living

life intentionally. We're here
every week to bring you

thoughtful conversation, making
your own path to success,

challenging the status quo, and
finding all the ways we're

better together. Here's your
host, Kosta Yepifantsev.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Hey, y'all.

This is Kosta. And today, I'm
here with my guest, Becky

Davidson, co founder and
president of rising above

ministries, a multi dimensional
outreach to families impacted by

special needs. In addition to
her work as a community leader,

and special needs advocate.

Becky is the host of the rising
above podcast. She's also an

author, a speaker, and an
activist. So Becky, for anyone

that doesn't know the legacy of
rising above was born in 1997,

with the birth of your son, John
Alex, from there, how did rising

above take shape? And what was
your journey into ministry and

service?

Becky Davidson: Well, when our
son was born in 1997, you know,

we had dreams and visions of
what we thought our life was

going to look like, you know, we
were going to live the dream, we

were going to have these amazing
kids and live in, you know,

suburbia, and all the things.

Then when our son was born, we
started realizing, after the

first few months, it's like, you
know, he's not reaching

milestones, he's not able to do
what the books say he's supposed

to do. And so we started this
journey, when he was about a

year old of getting our first
few diagnoses and realizing,

okay, our life is not going to
look like what we thought it was

going to look like, and started
down that journey. Then in 2005,

after we've been special needs
parents at that point, for about

eight years, we began to cope,
we are so isolated. We don't see

any other families in Putnam
County like ours, we know

they're here, but we don't see
them. Just this sense of all of

these dreams that we had, you're
grieving, not our child, but

grieving the loss of those
dreams. And we knew how we were

struggling, but that we were
starting to kind of come out of

that and have some hope. And so
we wanted to create a space for

other families to join together
to not be isolated and not be

alone. And to start also seen it
you can have some joy on this

journey. So 2005, we got
together with some friends, and

we're like, hey, let's start a
nonprofit for Special Needs

family. Amazing. And that's how
it started.

Kosta Yepifantsev: How difficult
was it to make that pivot? Like

you're saying, you know, you had
your life kind of going in one

direction. And I don't want to
make this sound strange, but did

it consume every aspect of your
life?

Becky Davidson: Totally. I mean,
because, you know, our friends

would be taking their kids on
playdates or going on to doing

fun adventures, we were doing
therapy. You know, I had a

therapist in our home at that
point, pretty much every day,

occupational therapy, physical
therapy, vision therapy. So our

life was consumed with therapy
and doctor's appointments and go

into specialist where everybody
in our social circle, their kids

who were born at the same age,
they're going in a totally

different direction. So
absolutely, it was just all

consuming. And then just dealing
with that reality that our life

is not going to be what we
thought, you know, I've got four

kids, and I've been married for
almost 11 years now, to people

who are married and have a
special needs child. What's

that? Like? You know, it's
tough. It is tough on a

marriage, because you go without
sleep. I can't tell you, you

know, like with our son, even
he's 25 Now, and we still I

never know how many hours of
sleep I'm going to get a night.

You know, we just you don't ever
know. So when John Alex was

younger, oh my goodness, the
sleep issues that we dealt with.

So you're just exhausted and
you're weary and you're worn

out. And then what we see is and
what we experienced ourselves.

So for me, moms, what happens
when you get a diagnosis, mom's

turned to Dr. Google, and
they're researching and they're

trying to find therapies and
they're trying to find anything

to do to help their child a lot
of times with the dads what we

see is they can't fix it. And so
they turn to what they're good

at. So like for my husband, he
turned to his job, he could not

fix our son but boy, he was a
salesman and a half. So he

turned to that because he could
excel at that help provide to

help provide well but also he
threw himself into that because

it was too much to to look at
our life at that point. Wow.

Okay, yeah. So I mean, there
would be nights that that the

time his office was in the
basement of our home and I would

be getting John Alex ready for
bed and I'd call downstairs and

I'd be Hey, I'm getting ready to
put John Alex in bed. Would you

like to come up and tell him
good night, you know, and that

lasted for a little bit. But
then we shifted and honestly, we

came to this place of going now
this is really God's plan a for

us. This is really part of
ourstory. And when we got to a

place where we could embrace
that the whole narrative shifted

for us.

Kosta Yepifantsev: When did you
make that transition into

ministry into incorporating that
as a touchstone in your life?

Becky Davidson: You know, I
can't look and say it was there

was this great aha moment, it
was just kind of when we got to

this place of, of surrender and
going, Okay, this is our life,

we're not going to fight against
it. There's nothing we can do,

we can either fight against this
and wish this wasn't our story,

that this isn't what our life
look like, or we could embrace

it and go, No, this is our son,
we're going to keep doing life,

we're going to keep moving
forward. And so we did that we

just kept going forward with
that. And God just kept refining

our hearts and shifting how we
saw things. Now there was a

point where we felt called out
of the corporate world, I mean,

there when rising above For
start, at the very beginning,

Jeff was working full time in
the corporate world, I basically

was running rising above just
out of, you know, out of our

home and planning events and
things like that. But there was

a moment where he actually got
asked to go on staff at the

River Community Church. So we
did that. And then there was a

point at which the three years
after that, where I remember, he

was just like, it's time and I'm
like, What do you mean, it's

time and he said, we're supposed
to be doing rising above full

time. And so we left where he
left the careers to do this.

Yeah.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Wow. Yeah.

And John, Alex, your son, like,
you can obviously explain his

diagnosis if you'd like to, but
I am curious, are you having to

like feed him and bathe him and
dress him? And what about like,

when he goes to school? I guess
my question is, is give me like

a general understanding in the
audience as well, of what

average day is like for you
caring for someone with special

needs? Yeah.

Becky Davidson: How about like
discipline, it sometimes is, you

know, you look at your life. And
the typical things you have to

do day in and day out. So you
know, you work, you do your job,

you get groceries, you pay
bills, you pay taxes, all of

those things. So for Special
Needs families, we do all those

things. But then you add on top
of that, so forth for John Alex,

he has cerebral palsy, autism,
and epilepsy. Oh, so he's full

on care. Yeah, he's, he's 24/7
care. Just for example, this

morning, like, I never know what
time we're going to get up. So

like, I can't, in my mind, go,
Okay, I'm gonna get up early for

me and do whatever. Because as
soon as I do, he wakes up, you

know. So up at 515 this morning.

And from that point on, it's
taking care of every need that

he has. So changing his clothes,
getting him dressed, getting him

cleaned up for the day. The
hardest part for me literally is

shaving him. 25 year old, he
does not want anything around

his face. And so true. And he
smiles all the time, which you

would think Oh, that's
beautiful. It is. But when

you're trying to shave a
mustache on somebody who smiles

all the time, that's really
hard. Wow. So I mean, but things

like that. So yes, helping him
with his meals, he we feed him,

or I like to say instead of
feeding, we help him with his

meals, because that's more
meaning. Yeah, I mean, that's

painful for him. But he gets
around using a wheelchair. And

so every every personal care
that you can think of for

yourself that you do yourself, I
or one of his caregivers does

have

Kosta Yepifantsev: How do you
have the time to do all that?

Becky Davidson: I have the help,
which is great during the week,

so that I can go to work, but on
the weekends, it's just me. And

so you know, I again, I've had
to look at my life, I can look

at our friends on Facebook,
actually, I've just kind of

gotten off social media, because
it's too much for me, it's

better for me, for my soul care
to not see what everybody else

is doing. But if I try to
compare my life to other

people's lives, then I can go to
the pit really quickly. But if I

can be grateful in my life and
where I am, then I'm good. So I

don't have time to go to the spa
or go on vacation. We don't go

on vacations, we don't go
there's weed that's just not

part of our story. And I can be
upset and mad about that. Or I

can go oh, you know what, we
just kind of hang out at home

and not have to be in the rat
race. And this is okay. And so

there's not much time but that's
okay.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah, for
sure. So what do you wish people

knew about the parents and loved
ones of those with special

needs?

Becky Davidson: You know,
special needs parents are some

of the most resilient, selfless
people you'll ever meet. But

they're also some of the most
tired and weary and lonely and

isolated people that you'll ever
meet. You know, so many families

who are impacted by disability,
they feel so isolated. And

that's that's one of the biggest
things that we see is the

isolation that these families
face and so that's why we come

alongside that's one of the
things that we want to do is to

provide opportunities for them
to be in community with other

people.

Kosta Yepifantsev: What do you
think they need the most?

Becky Davidson: Well, if you had
asked me that a year ago, I

would have given you a totally
different answer okay. You think

there there are things they need
their things in the physical

that they need, you know, help
with meals or help with those

are all great would that would
that have been your answer a

year ago? My answer a year ago
would have been community which

I still say that community is so
important. But honestly, they

need to know how to do soul
care. They need the tools to

know how to when the crisis
hits, when the day in day out

stress comes, how to manage
that. And so that's kind of been

the journey I've been on this
past year is learning how to put

things into practice to have
these tools and practices that

when the chaos hits, then I'm
able to just kind of smoothly go

through it instead of going into
that anxiety spiral.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah. How
long did it take you to get to

that point?

Becky Davidson: Well, I started
this journey about a year ago in

October over a year ago. And I
what had happened was I you

know, my husband passed away, he
had been very sick. So for

years, I had been the caregiver
for John Alex and the caregiver

for my husband, he was still
able to work and do all those

things. But his physical you
know, there are a lot of things

I took care of was on dialysis.

I mean, we were full on Yeah,
care. In fact, his care was

probably more involved than John
Alex's care there towards the

end of his life. And I lived in
such a pressure cooker. I think

that's another thing. People
don't realize the stress that

our families face, we would get
up in mornings and not know,

okay, are we going to end up at
the hospital today? What's our

debt? You just don't know. And
so you live in this high stress

Kosta Yepifantsev: when you were
younger? And like, you know,

growing up, you know, college
get married? Were you a person

that enjoyed a routine?

Becky Davidson: Yeah, I mean, I
kind of was fun loving. Let's go

and let's do it. Yeah. So

Kosta Yepifantsev: it wasn't as
huge of a transition. Because

the reason that I ask is like,
as you're describing your day,

like, to me, that would create a
lot of anxiety. And so when you

talk to parents that were like,
you know, I'm this way, and now

they have a child with special
needs, like, I'm sure that

probably you only contributes
more to their anxiety and stuff.

Totally. Yeah. So you've grown
kind of an incredible community

for families, those with special
needs and resources for anyone

that wants to help. What do
special needs families need most

today?

Becky Davidson: Well, again, I
go back to the soul care,

because I feel like you know, we
can provide resources, you know,

we can we can provide a fun
night for our families, which we

do. That's important. That's
important. But if our families

don't know the day in and day
outs of how to calm that stress

down, so for me, it started last
year, and I started going to

counseling that was huge to
start counseling, you know, and

for that therapist, to walk me
through those things. But then

to cultivate a heart of
gratitude, I cannot begin to

tell you what a difference that
makes when I can wake up in the

morning. So my routine in the
morning, as crazy as this

sounds, I get up, I open up my
blinds and you know, we don't

get to go on vacations. I don't
go we don't go to the beach we

have and I'm not saying we
haven't ever been to St. That's

not part of our I can't go oh,
we get to go to the beach and a

few months. I've got to do in
the here today, what's going to

do it. But I'll open up lines.

And I'll look and like this
morning because we're up at the

crack of dark. You know, at
this. I watch the sunrise a lot

of times and just seeing that
and seeing that that feeds my

Kosta Yepifantsev: How do you
get like respite or like relief?

I know you said you went to
counseling. Yeah. How do you get

calmness and

Becky Davidson: There's an
amazing app that I use every

day. And it's called The One
Minute pause app. And it's by

John Eldridge. And I will do
that. And the thing that's so

amazing is I do that with my son
as well. And we'll play it. And

it has totally changed the
atmosphere in our home where it

was just calm and peaceful. If
you come into our home, you're

going to experience and feel
calm and pieces. We're not

chaotic. We are not running all
the time. Our home is peaceful.

And so I read a book by John
Eldridge called Get your life

back, which that in Brazil, his
book resilient totally changed

my course this past year. Yeah,
practices that I could put into

place, the heart of gratitude,
learning to take my thoughts

captive, when I start spiraling
to go, oh, wait a minute. No,

that's not true. And I'll put on
the the pause app and remind

myself of truth. That is how
I've been able to do that over

this past year. And what's been
amazing is to see the change,

not only in our home, but in our
office at rising above. You

know, when I as a leader, I am
doing what I need to do to take

care of my heart and take care
of you know, make sure that I'm

in a calm and peaceful place. It
just pours out to everyone you

encounter,

Kosta Yepifantsev: was it more
or less difficult when John Alex

was going to school like has
life become more or less

complicated, actually,

Becky Davidson: it's easier when
he was in school, his dad was

alive still and, and I didn't
have other caregivers. I didn't

have any other help. Basically,
him going to school was the only

bit of respite that I got. But
now that he's an adult, we do

have in home care in he can kind
of set his own routine and do

what he wants to do and not
having that stress. If we got

we've got to be up, be out the
door by 730. You know, be at

school and all the IEPs and all
those things. We lead a very

Simple calm life. And so it's
for us actually, we prefer it

this way.

Kosta Yepifantsev: How do
parents who don't have those

resources that have to literally
work a full time job sometimes

even like more than one job just
to make ends meet? How do they

navigate this, this environment,
you

Becky Davidson: know, it is so
hard. And I have so many

families who are in that very
boat, there's no resources

available for them, or very few
resources and things like that

we have friends in different
states. And so you know, each

state has different levels of
care and what's available for

their families. But that's where
we need the community to come

alongside, we need our families
to be in community, you know, I

can't imagine all the times that
my husband was sick, you think

about that he would be sick, and
I would have my son who needs

for lawn care. Yeah. And I had
to have people rally around us

and come in and help. So you
know, if you know a family who

has a child with special needs
for you to get to know that

family, and to be invested in
that family so that you can come

alongside you can offer them a
little bit of respite, or to run

errands for them. As simple as
that sounds, you know, for me,

I'm a solo parent, I never knew
that term until I became one but

single parent, it's co parenting
with someone to sell appearance,

you know, I don't have I'm not
co parenting with anyone, but I

have had friends come alongside.

And if I need errands run, if
John Alex is sick, I have a

team, I have amazing tribe of
friends who come alongside and

our families need that, for me
and my personality, that's

easier than it is for some
people, you know, for a lot of

our families, it's harder for
them to be in community. And so

that's why that is so important.

So if you know a family who has
a child with special needs, just

get in there and get to know
them, let them feel comfortable

with you. And then you'll find
ways that you can come alongside

and help them.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Do you think
that it's that sense of

community and building that
quote unquote, infrastructure of

supporting families, whether you
have a special needs child or

not. Was that sort of the
catalyst that created rising

above ministries? Yeah, you

Becky Davidson: know, we just
wanted families to know they

weren't alone. The isolation,
like upset is so real. And so we

wanted them to know you are
saying you are loved, you are

valued. And so then to have the
community come alongside, you

know, the beautiful thing about
Cookeville in this area, is that

I mean, if when we do an event,
people come out of the woodwork

wanting to be a part of what
we're doing. And so that part of

it, yes, it's so important for
our families with special needs

to be in community with other
families who get and understand

their life, but then to also
have people outside the special

needs community who can be a
part of this journey with you.

So yes, it's bringing those two
together to do life together.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Sure. Is
Rising above a Cookeville thing.

Is it national? I think you
mentioned something about

Lebanon having families. Yeah,
talk a little bit about the

footprint that you've created
with rising above. It's

Becky Davidson: crazy. Well, you
know, when we started, we

thought we would just be here in
the upper Cumberland. We're

like, we'll do some events here
in the upper Cumberland. And it

has grown in ways like when I
look back to 2005, I could never

in my wildest dreams, believe I
would be doing this full time

and that we would be literally
around the world. It's amazing.

So because of honestly COVID
COVID opened up our doors,

because we took our events that
we were doing in person and we

put them online, we started
doing them virtually, we host a

retreat for moms every year, we
would do that in person here in

Cookeville, we would have about
150 moms who would come from all

across the southeast to be here.

When COVID Hit 2020. We went
online, we did it live from

Cookeville. Creative and did it
live out to the world. We had

over 500 Moms literally from
around the world who joined in

for that weekend. And then that
just opened up the door for them

to come be part of all these
other things that we're doing as

your membership

Kosta Yepifantsev: grown, since
they're like,

Becky Davidson: oh my goodness,
it's unreal.

Kosta Yepifantsev: What was it
like during the pandemic?

Because you had mentioned that
when you were mom like and John

Alex was in school. That was
really the only time that you

had a break. Yeah, what was it
like when schools shut down? And

literally like there was no more
breaks? Yeah. How did families

and moms I mean, how hard was
that?

Becky Davidson: It was hard. And
I will tell you I have a sweet

friend who lives in she lives in
Boston. Okay, single mom, she's

got a son with autism and then
she has a typical sign and I

would talk to her throughout all
you know all that was going on

so she's trying to do two
different zooms you know with

her little you know, preschool
kid plus her someone with autism

she has zero break zero help
nothing in your just honestly

you did. I think Special Needs
families. What we're really good

at is you just you just keep
going you don't have an option.

So you just keep going. So that
is why now it's kind of this

collateral damage of families
who've you've just gone and gone

and gone and that's why again, I
go back to the soul care. It's

like if we can teach you and
that's part of what we're doing.

It's part of our mission at
rising above his teaching like

okay, when you're in that high
stress situation, here's some

things you can do. Some tools
you can pull out so yeah, it was

so challenging for families who
got zero help,

Kosta Yepifantsev: as you're
teaching families sole care?

Yeah. What do you feel like is
the biggest impediment? Do you

feel like maybe sometimes family
members have like a shame or

guilt that they Oh, I can't care
for myself, because I have to,

you know, provide, literally
give everything my entire being

Yeah, to taking care of my kids

Becky Davidson: totally. And I
was I was there up until a year

ago, like, I don't have time to
take care of myself. I don't

have time to, you know, for all
those years of caring for both

Jeff and John Alex. I mean,
there wasn't time I was four

years. Yeah, well, I mean, yeah,
that's in 24 years. And so just

that taking the time for us to
go, it's really okay. But to

make it simple, like the things
that I've put in place in

practice in my life, it's
simple. I haven't really added

anything big in other than, you
know, I go to counseling, but

the things that I've put into
practice, it's not like, Oh,

I've got to sit down for an hour
a day and totally not the case.

It's just little practices that
I've put into place. And

Kosta Yepifantsev: I mean, if
you could go back to 1997, do

you feel like there are enough
resources available? Whether

it's through state, federal,
local? Do you feel like we're

doing a good job of supporting
the community with special

needs?

Becky Davidson: I would say,
honestly, what what we

experienced for us, we did not
get anything. I mean, there were

a few little grants that week. I
mean, like, 500, maybe we got

$1,000 grant overall, from the
time our son was born. We were

not on TennCare. We were paying
for insurance. We were paying

for therapies, you know, co pays
all those things because of our

income. So for families who are
who are not on TennCare, who are

not? Yeah, I mean, you're out of
pocket a lot. I get this, a lot

of you make ends meet and do the
best you can you go without you

don't go do other things that
typical families do. Because

you're paying for therapies,
you're paying for pull ups,

you're paying for, you know,
supplements or medications. I'm

hoping it's changing. You know,
when when John Alex turned 18,

our whole world shifted, because
he got things covered at that

point. But I hear that from so
many families who were in the

same financial position we were
in at that time, I had a call

last week from somebody just
like, what do we do? Where do we

go? And so what do you tell I
tell them to go to Family

Voices, okay. Family Voices is
an is an agency all I think all

around, but there's Family
Voices of Tennessee. And so

that's where I recommend people
to go, they can help you know,

what's available to you based on
your income and what you have.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So if you're
not on TennCare, there is a

program now called the Katy back
and waiver. Yeah, but the thing

about Katie Beckett, and I know,
this is a little technical for

our audience. But if you know
somebody with special needs,

this waiver is important. It
only pays I think, like $3,000 a

year. It's a very, very small
amount. And so even with

TennCare, if you're not 18 years
old, there's really not any type

of care that you can receive
from the government. So I mean,

it's just like an uphill battle.

Yeah, it's

Becky Davidson: all uphill. So
you're adding all that on top of

the stress that you're dealing
with every day of like, then how

are we going to get what we
need, so then you don't get a

break? A husband and wife can't
get a break, because there's no

one to care for their child. So
then you start seeing marriage

issues, and you start seeing,
you know, different things that

come along, or divorce rates?

Total? Yes. Very much higher.

Okay. Very.

Kosta Yepifantsev: One of those
statistics, actually, yesterday

that I was talking in a meeting
was that not only are we seeing

an increase in the elderly
population with the baby boomer

aging, but also there is a
significant increase in

individuals who have a diagnosis
that is, you know, IDD specific.

What do you see the future of
individuals with special needs?

And the system as a whole?

Becky Davidson: You know,
honestly, I have not given that

a whole lot of thought our focus
has been more on ministerial

side of things. And actually, I
don't know much about that. And

so I really can't speak into
that.

Kosta Yepifantsev: It's kind of
like this macro perspective. I'm

always thinking on like, a macro
level. So I know, I always throw

people

Becky Davidson: like I really
don't know much about that. You

know, I know what we get for
John Alex. And we are so I'm so

so grateful for that because it
enables me to be able to do

rising above and that but I know
the need is great. I know. And

if that were to go away, I don't
know what, you know, I'd have to

we'd regroup but that's what we
do. We regroup and go on.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So I want to
talk about the rising above

podcasts, which is currently in
the top 5% of podcasts on Apple

podcasts and has over 100
episodes. Tell us more about the

mission of the podcast and how
your online presence is

expanding.

Becky Davidson: Well, I have to
tell you, that was news to us.

So thank you for finding that
out. Thank you. Yeah. But you

know, it's so funny because I
was thinking back the other day,

I was like, how did we even
start a podcast? I don't even

Don't remember how we got
started. But I think it was just

like, hey, let's just, you know,
people were doing podcasts,

let's do a podcast. And so what
we do with the rising of a

podcast is we share family
stories. That's our heart.

That's our track. You know,
there are other podcasts who

share, you know, here's some
resources here where you can go,

here's where you can go for this
or that. But that's not what we

do. We want to share family
stories, we want other people to

see themselves represented in
someone else. So for the mom

who's just gotten a diagnosis of
autism, to hear from another mom

who's further down the path, and
who is surviving and thriving

and doing it. Well, what we hear
is that so encouraging for that

young mom to go, Okay, there's
somebody who's doing it, I'm

going to be okay, it's going to
be alright. And so on our show

we have, I mean, I have people
who have just gotten a diagnosis

all the way up to I call myself
a veteran, because I've been

doing this for so long, you
know, and just sharing stories,

sharing how we've made it
through, and just some of the

success stories, but the hard
part, too, I mean, we don't just

look at, oh, it's so great. Yes,
we want to look at that. But

there's also it's hard, we want
people to have that opportunity.

There's, you know, stories are
so powerful. When I can know

someone's story, I can have such
a better understanding as to why

they respond the way they do,
why they act the way they do.

And it's just important. And so
we just kind of started, but

it's growing in ways that we
didn't even

Kosta Yepifantsev: top 5% That's
great. So and I know that you

guys have this international
presence as we as we were

talking, but like, is Cookeville
doing a good job supporting

families with special needs. You
know,

Becky Davidson: I I think we
live in one of the most amazing

spots because we have just seen
businesses come alongside

especially since you know, the
exceptional being CG and Michael

and what they're doing. I mean,
like, I love them. So CG serves

on our board of directors and
just love their heart and love

what they're doing structured
athletics for challenged

children, which is another
organization that provides

sporting events, sporting
activities for individuals with

special needs. Our community is
so blessed with organizations

that love and serve special
needs families, and we can't do

what we do without the
community. So I think really, I

think Cookeville does an amazing
job loving our families.

Kosta Yepifantsev: And so you
talked a little bit about the

resources, two things, one,
could you give the website to

your organization, and then also
what type of resources are

available online.

Becky Davidson: So our website
is rising above ministries.org.

What we do now is we have an
amazing app, where you can go to

our app, and that houses all of
our resources. And so just go to

wherever you get your apps, and
you'll just do rising

ministries, you'll find the app
there. And on our app, we have

something called you have been
talking about soul care and how

important that is, well, we
created something called respite

for your mind. Because so many
of our families, you know,

you're not going to be able to
get respite, you're going into a

doctor's appointment, your
child's having a meltdown, and

you need something to just like
focus you back into Okay, I'm

going to going to be okay, we
have these audio clips that you

can listen to that just to help
you refocus back on truth. So we

got it respite for your mind. So
that's available there. We're

adding more and more and more to
that we have videos just

encouraging videos, encouraging
resources we take in a lot. We

have small group curriculum,
we're such big believers in

community that we have small
group curriculum. So we have

this now translated into Arabic
because we have families in Arab

speaking countries. In Spanish,
you know, I lead a community

group, we have community groups
that meet via zoom all

throughout the week, lots of
different groups for moms, for

dads, different groups. I'll
lead a group on Wednesdays in my

group, I have moms literally
from coast to coast. I had moms

in my group yesterday, one from
New Jersey, one from California,

then spat, you know, scattered
all about the US. I had a mom

from Stockholm, Sweden, and
three moms from Beirut, Lebanon,

in my group, why? And we sat
down, we looked at each other

because we were like, We all
come from different cultures. We

all come from different
backgrounds. I mean, our friends

in Beirut, their struggles are,
are we going to have electricity

today? I mean, that's the legit
for them. But we sat there and

we were looking at each other
yesterday on this screen just

going, you know, our lives are
so different. But yet, they're

all the same too. And we can
come together and just share and

it's amazing. So those are all
those things that you can find

on our website. We provide
community, there are online

community groups, we have
retreat experiences. So when we

do a retreat, like our dads are
getting together this weekend

for a retreat, we record
everything. We love our friends

at Cookeville creative so shout
out to Luke and Casey at Google

Creative because they are
amazing. And so they do all of

our recording for us than we
have it available on our

website. So if you can't come to
Cookeville or come to one of our

events, no problem. You can see
the content through our websites

or through the app.

Kosta Yepifantsev: You know,
this may be a technical question

and kind of complicated. So if
you don't know the answer, it's

not a big deal. But companies
like pacesetters like community

options, there's like tons Yeah,
you know, there's Hilltoppers

and Crossville there's quality
or access program in Jamestown.

How was rising above different
And