Life's lessons shared to help others
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Born without arms, Annae Jensen Jones had two choices when it came to performing chores around her house as a little girl.
She could complete her responsibilities happily, or she could complete them grudgingly. What wasn't a choice: using her disability as an excuse to not do them at all.
"My parents always taught me that I have the same potential as anyone else," said Sister Jones, a member of the McCall Ward, Calgary Alberta East Stake. "When you are faced with a trial like this that you can't run away and hide from, you just have to deal with it the best you can. . . . I can either be happy about it and deal with it or I can be unhappy about it and end up not reaching my potential."
That can-do attitude is one reason Sister Jones has been featured in a new documentary, produced by The War Amps — a Canadian organization started after World War I to help amputees (the organization formalized its CHAMP program for children in 1975) — and distributed throughout Canada.
The film shows her journey to independence. Sister Jones, who married her husband, Gareth, May 4, 2002, holds a college degree and worked for two years as a technical writer before her daughter, Elizabeth, was born. "I enjoyed work," she said, "but I know this is where I could have the greatest influence."
Because prosthetic limbs do not work for Sister Jones, she uses her feet for everything she does: driving, preparing food, working at a computer and, of course, changing diapers.
Gareth Jones said he often forgets his wife has a disability because she approaches life with a problem-solving attitude. "Whatever she puts her mind to, she can do," he said.
Her challenges are not bigger than anyone else's, said her mother, Sharon Jensen. Annae, she said, does the same things as anyone else, she just does them differently.
Take, for example, the time Annae wanted to learn to ride a bike as a child. Her father, Thomas L. Jensen, suggested they buy an "adult tricycle." The option was unacceptable to Annae. "It would have been much too embarrassing," she said.
Instead, the family — which included Annae's older brother, Russel, and her younger sister, Jana — bought a regular bicycle and added an extension to the handlebars so she could steer with her shoulders. Annae's parents went inside and left her to learn on her own. After a few weeks and many falls, Annae could ride. "They weren't there to catch me if I fell," she said. "They wanted me to be independent. They did what was best for me."
That experience is included in the War Amps documentary featuring Annae's story.
The War Amps CHAMP program teaches children living with amputations to develop a positive approach to life without feeling inferior. In the many years Annae has been associated with the organization, she has epitomized that, said Adele Fifield, director of the National Amputee Center for The War Amps.
"She has been there to share what she has learned," she said. "Annae is a tremendous role model, not only for amputees but for everyone."
Sister Jones said she remembers, as a little girl, watching her older brother play basketball with his friends. She was filled with envy and bitterness. Right then she made a determination: "I didn't want to feel like that anymore," she said. "Happiness is an attitude."
No matter what happens in life — and a lot of sad things happen — people have to keep them in perspective, she said.
"We experience trials for a purpose," she said. "(Heavenly Father) sent me this way for a purpose, whether it was for me to learn or for others to learn, I know I have a purpose."
With patience, she said, she has tried to learn her purpose.
After finishing school, for example, she submitted papers to serve a mission for the Church. When she received word that, for safety reasons, she could not serve a full-time mission, she wondered what the Lord had in store for her. She had faith that He would bless her for accepting the decision.
A few weeks later, she began dating her future husband. She knew it was right. The couple married the next year in the Cardston Alberta Temple.
Sister Jones said she wasn't nervous to become a mother. "So many good things had happened in my life — getting an education and getting married," she said. "I knew Heavenly Father had always helped me with the different trials I have faced. I thought, 'Why won't He help me with this?' "
That didn't mean that both Sister Jones and Elizabeth didn't have to make adjustments.
"She knows I use my feet. She knows she uses her hands. . . ," Sister Jones said of her daughter. "She knows if she wants to be picked up she has to hold on."
And, like her mother, Elizabeth is happy. On a recent morning the almost 2-year-old swung her feet over her chair and laughed out loud as she tried to feed herself without using her hands. Sister Jones also laughed as she recounted the story later to a reporter, a moment cherished for its simplicity.
"I always wanted to be a mother, always wanted to get married," she said. "You just don't know what Heavenly Father has in store for you."
E-mail: sarah@desnews.com
