[00:00:00] Rayna Neises: This is Rayna Neises, your host of the Season of Caring Podcast, where we share stories of hope for family caregivers, breaking through the busyness and loneliness of caregiving to see God even in the middle of the season. Today I’m excited to introduce you to our special guest, Tracey Glenn. Tracey is ranch raised and Christ saved. She’s a speaker and an author. Her books include Gathering the Wayward Heart and her 12 week devotional series, Seeking Peace in Every Season, Seeking Love in Every Season, Seeking Joy in Every Season and coming in 2025, Seeking Hope in Every Season. Tracey has an associate’s degree in psychology and a computer design certification and has completed The Living Water School of Biblical Evangelism. Tracey is an entrepreneur and co founder of a business that provides services for children with special needs. She grew up on a cattle ranch in Southeast Arizona and still resides in Arizona with her husband, Link. They have three children and four grandchildren. Tracey is currently a caregiver for her adult special needs daughter, a former homeschool mom of her adopted son. Tracey gives God the glory for everything.

[00:01:08] I’m so glad to have you here today.

[00:01:09] Tracey Glenn: I’m excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:01:13] Rayna Neises: So share with us a little bit about your caregiving and what that looks like for you.

[00:01:18] Tracey Glenn: Well, our middle daughter is, special needs. We actually just in 2021 found out what syndrome she had, which is D Y R K 1 A syndrome. And she needs, basically all types of care. She cannot be left alone. I have to prepare her food and do basically everything for her.

[00:01:47] Rayna Neises: And you said you just found out the diagnosis, but how old is she now?

[00:01:53] Tracey Glenn: She’s 25. She’ll be 26 in March.

[00:01:58] Rayna Neises: So that’s a long time not having a diagnosis.

[00:02:00] Tracey Glenn: Absolutely. Yeah, she was at age 12 when I insisted that they test her for autism. She had nine of the 12 characteristics of autism. It was at age 12 before we got that diagnosis.

[00:02:17] Rayna Neises: Wow. And that can be difficult. There’s so many questions and really so little understanding of what even is coming or how to meet her needs, how to support her best without a diagnosis. That can be, I’m sure that was really challenging. Share with us a favorite caregiving story.

[00:02:35] Tracey Glenn: Well, I think, I don’t know that, I guess this is my favorite caregiving story. It’s kind of how God really stepped in. When she graduated high school, we found a home in Tucson for her to live in. And she had been there, A couple years, and in January of 2020, our COVID year,

[00:03:04] Rayna Neises: Yes.

[00:03:04] Tracey Glenn: was, She was attacked by another member at a day program, and he kicked her in the leg and he broke her leg. left hip. Well, we didn’t know she had broke her hip. She tried to walk on it for several days. Then when one of the, house people said that, she had thrown a fit and thrown herself down, I was like, no, that’s not her. And so they took her in for another x ray. She had a broken hip. We got her healed up from that and then we moved her back in in June.

[00:03:38] And literally three weeks after we moved her back in, she broke her right hip. And I, And I just remember driving in cause, my husband and I would take, shifts. So I would take the day shift. He would take the night shift. And I remember, I just felt like God telling me, I called him and I said, I just really feel like God is telling us that we need to bring her home.

[00:04:08] And I truly believe that he was telling us that we just needed to bring her home so that we could care for her.

[00:04:15] Rayna Neises: would have been hard enough, but to have those accidents and have it. I mean, hips are just so hard to heal and so painful. I’m just really thankful that she’s doing better we’re not seeing long term effects from that. Now.

[00:04:29] Tracey Glenn: She is doing really well. And so we found out, because it was, what, a year after she had broke her first hip that we got the diagnosis of the syndrome and part of that syndrome is Osteoporosis, so That is when we started doing the bone density tests. I just think that God just was really saying bring her home And you know, I’m glad I have her home Because I, when I tuck her into bed at night, I know she’s safe, and that accounts for a lot.

[00:05:08] Rayna Neises: It really does.. Caregiving is hard. It’s very demanding, but at the same time, letting go and not being able to really know what’s going on is difficult too. So it’s a whole different experience. hard, I guess.

[00:05:21] Yes.

[00:05:25] What would be one thing that surprised you about caregiving?

[00:05:30] Tracey Glenn: I think the ups and downs of caregiving, it’s never easy because we can’t just leave. We have to plan, and thankfully, I have another lady, because Kaylee is considered long term care. So I have another lady that comes in to help with her. She’ll come in a few hours every day. And then if, the hard part is when we want to leave and, you know, like we’re getting ready to go to the ranch here pretty soon.

[00:06:00] We went last weekend and took her, but when we go back, we’re not going to take her. And so it’s nice to have somebody that can come in and help her. And so it’s difficult not to just be able to leave without thinking of having somebody come in and be able to stay with her because she’s 24 hour care and you know, so there’s ups and downs, but God really uses all of it to show his glory And I mean that I think that’s the surprise for me you would think that either it would all be Down or all it’ll help you, but it’s not and it’s our perspective You know that drives how we handle those Ups and downs.

[00:06:53] Rayna Neises: For sure. I think for me and my caregiving, I felt like, well, I’m going to eventually get this down, you know, like eventually it’s just going to be, you know, this is what we do. And I’m such a routine person myself and routine is good for people with dementia, but at the same time, every day is different.

[00:07:13] Tracey Glenn: Yes.

[00:07:15] Rayna Neises: And as soon as you think, Oh, this works, then it doesn’t,

[00:07:19] you have a day where it doesn’t. So

[00:07:22] yeah, there’s a lot of ups and downs for sure.

[00:07:25] Tracey Glenn: When I left the hospital the first time with Kaylee after the broken hip, I was having a lot of what if questions. So what if she gets an infection, what, you know, and the, there was a lady that came in and she was saying that though the, because we live an hour from the hospital in a rural rural community.

[00:07:53] And she was like, no, the insurance said they will not cover a caregiver, And I was so angry at her and I took my anger out on her I was so convicted by that, that I got up and I walked up to her. She was in her desk and I walked up and I told her, I was sorry. I apologized. I felt like God really telling me, you go apologize.

[00:08:19] And because I humbled myself, because I apologized in that time, I feel like God opened the door. That put her on my side. And then she really fought. To get me those, you know, I had a physical therapist come in and a nurse and all of that, that the insurance said they wouldn’t cover, she fought to get me, and I think that to me, that was such a profound humbling.

[00:08:50] You know, and to not get caught up in the what ifs, because we don’t know. We’re creating a problem before it even exists.

[00:08:59] Rayna Neises: Yeah. I think one of the things that’s neat about that is just realizing that when the stress gets to us, which it does as caregivers, that sometimes we are going to not be the best us, right? We’re

[00:09:14] not going to be the best person we can be. And so I love that God really just spoke to you and just said, you know, that’s, you were out of line. And then that you took that step to go ahead and apologize.

[00:09:25] Tracey Glenn: yeah, and it made a difference

[00:09:28] Rayna Neises: It’s so important that we, it does. Yes. And I think that’s part of why it’s so important that we stay close to Him so that we hear those promptings, because there’s always things happening. And so being able to really hear that voice and be obedient to it makes such a big difference. Can you share one time when God really showed up for you in your caregiving?

[00:09:52] Tracey Glenn: Well, I had gone through a period where I was listening to the prosperity preachers, and I don’t do that anymore, but you know, they kind of have a running theme of, if you just pray hard enough, you’ll get there. You know, and so I was really praying that God would heal her and I remember sitting in church one day and It was the story of Paul and how God told him when he wanted to take his when he wanted God to take his affliction away and he said my grace is sufficient for you and It was like God was saying Tracey my grace is sufficient for you I gave you this child, and you know, Kaylee, I say all the time that when Link and I went through a really rough patch in our marriage, that God used Kaylee to keep us together, and I truly believe that, and, and I truly believe that he was just saying, I’m not, she, he, I’m not going to heal her.

[00:11:02] My grace is sufficient for you.

[00:11:05] Rayna Neises: I love that. It is so important. We want to ask, I walk the same, I’m sure even in future things, you’ve had that same kind of struggle with, does that mean he’s never going to heal? Or does that mean it’s just, it’s, it is a hard thing . I was only 16 when my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and I prayed and prayed that she would be healed. I remember about three years in, you know, the Lord just said, no, Raina, this is, this is what we’re doing. This is what it looks like. This is I’m in the middle of it and I know what’s happening and this is what I have for you. And it’s hard to hear, but at the same time, it’s this I think it kind of releases you from feeling like, you said, when people are telling you, it’s your faith that matters, you know, if you had enough faith, it would lead this way, whatever it takes that burden off of us and just gives us confidence that, okay, we can trust him, even if Even when we wish it was different, we can trust him

[00:12:01] Tracey Glenn: Absolutely.

[00:12:01] Rayna Neises: And it is amazing how He uses the hard things to bless us. Like you said, in your marriage, I mean, Caregiving is one of those things that can put a lot of stress on us. But it can also bring us together when we have that common purpose. I know one of the things that I am so appreciative is that Farmers, the one who said, Hey, if you need to move and live with your dad and take care of him, then you need to do that. It was, It’s amazing for him to give me permission, to say it’s okay to be away from home and to take care of your dad and to have that support then just really drew us together of being able to, to just do what needed to be done.

[00:12:38] Tracey Glenn: Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, if we were fighting and she would come in smiling, she was always so happy. I mean, now when she was first came home, she was miserable because she didn’t want to be held. And we, you know, we couldn’t hold her. We had to leave her in our little carrier. And, it was difficult.

[00:13:02] The beginning years were really difficult and we had no idea what we were dealing with. And the hospital had released her as normal, even though they told her she was going to have an issue, The beginning was very, very difficult, but as she got a little bit older, she has always been such a ray of sunshine.

[00:13:24] She really is.

[00:13:27] Rayna Neises: That’s amazing. I love that God creates them just the way he needs them to be. And he uses them as they are. You know,

[00:13:34] he doesn’t have to change any of us. He doesn’t have to, we don’t have to do something different. We just need to be used by him for the calling that he’s given us. And that’s, that’s really neat that she can play that role for your family and really encourage you like that.

[00:13:48] So what’s one thing that helps you to live content, love well, and care without regret?

[00:13:54] Tracey Glenn: I get up so early in the morning, I get up about three or four just so that I can have time with God. If I didn’t pray continually and continuously get in his word and, quiet my self before him, I, I just, I, you know what? I can always tell whenever I don’t. If I ever fall out of that routine and I don’t take the time to do it, I am shorter tempered and I just have a more difficult time dealing with the day to day.

[00:14:32] Rayna Neises: You will never catch me up at three or four o’clock in the morning, but I would agree with you a hundred percent. I just start my day a lot later and then I stay up late.

[00:14:43] But I agree that that time with him really can make such a difference. And, you know, we hear that over and over again as caregivers and so many times. We feel like it’s too much to do, like I can’t, I can’t fit it in. So I love that even though this is year after year, day after day, you found that routine that works for you and you know how to keep it. Sometimes I have to probably make it shorter than other times because other things that are going on, but always finding that time is so important. is so important.

[00:15:14] Tracey Glenn: yes.

[00:15:14] Or if I sleep in, I don’t wake up early, I have to make it shorter, but

[00:15:24] Rayna Neises: I would, I can’t even imagine getting up at four. I have no words for that.

[00:15:32] What’s one last thing that you’d like to share with caregivers, maybe who are just in the beginning of the season or maybe in a really rough season.

[00:15:42] Tracey Glenn: has a purpose for everything. The purpose that I really see that came from Kaylee is she is the reason why we have our business. If we hadn’t have had Kaylee, if we hadn’t have had the struggles that we had, then our business wouldn’t exist and we have helped so many people, so many other families who are struggling with a special needs child or a difficult child or, you know, whatever it might be.

[00:16:15] And so God, I think when we change our perspective and we see the hard times as growing times. You know, it’s when Kaylee started having seizures at a young age, it was difficult. I look back now and I think those were times that I drew closer to God for sure. And when we see that in that way, that God is teaching us, I can have compassion for other people who are going through that and I can help other people get through that.

[00:16:58] And I think when we look at our trials that way, that they could possibly, God can use them to help others, then. That changes our whole perspective on everything we go through.

[00:17:17] Rayna Neises: Yeah, I agree. I love that scripture. And in fact, the scripture, the Lord really brought to me as I was creating A season of Caring was the scripture where he talks about that the comfort that we’ve been given, we can give to others. And it’s only because we’ve walked that, that we have received that comfort from God.

[00:17:33] And we know what that comfort can do and how we can share that with other people who are in a similar journey. So I think it’s really powerful when we realize, this isn’t just about us, but this is bigger than us and the person even that we’re caring for. We can have an impact in encouraging others and just helping them along the way. It’s, so important to realize we’re not alone and only because people are sharing. Do we know that

[00:17:57] Tracey Glenn: Right.

[00:17:58] Rayna Neises: so Tracey tell us how my listeners can get in touch with you and find your books and all the things that you’re doing.

[00:18:05] Tracey Glenn: Well, I think the best way is just Tracey glen.com. I have my books there. I have all of my speaking there, and that’s the best way on Facebook. I am Tracey Glenn, Author Speaker, and on Instagram. It’s Branded in Faith.

[00:18:28] Rayna Neises: Well, thank you again for sharing a little bit about Kaylee and what your journey as a caregiver looks like

[00:18:33] Tracey Glenn: Well, thank you for having me.

[00:18:37] Rayna Neises: Thank you for joining us for stories of hope with Tracey, A Season of Caring Podcast has been created to share stories of hope for living content, loving, well and caring without regrets. If you have financial, legal or medical questions, be sure to consult a local professional and take heart in your season of caring.

*Transcript is an actual recount of the live conversation