Read below for a guest post from Lorna Bradley. “Later you get pie!” Words to live by shouted by a cheering spectator as I ran mile after mile in a recent half marathon. Seriously, spending my calorie bank after a race makes me very happy. One of my favorite parts of running races is the motivational signs. Okay, that and the finish line. I enjoy reading the funny signs along the … [Read more...]
Uncertainty in a Special Needs Life: surviving its ups and downs
Yesterday I uttered two words I have never said side by side in the same sentence: “Good IEP.” In all my years as a special needs mother, those two words are about as unlikely a duo as, “happy hemorrhoid” or “joyful jogging.” But there it was. My response to my husband’s query about our 20-year-old’s annual IEP review. “It was good,” I repeated, still amazed these words had managed to come … [Read more...]
What It Means To Be Independent
"She's never going to be independent." That's the fear I have, more often than I'd like, about my oldest daughter. Mostly it occurs to me when she's some combination of PMS/Bipolar and we have mornings like we did yesterday. Mornings when she's alternately weeping and giggling---in one breath accusing me of hating her and, in the next, begging me for pancakes. Here's what independent means … [Read more...]
Are You There God?
Often times when things are going good we don’t talk to God as much, but when things start to crumble we look to Him and often ask “why” or “how come.” My journey through life in my 46 years so far has had some ups, downs, curves, twists, turns, and sometimes sharp drops out of nowhere. I grew up primarily in a divorced home with 2 parents that were struggling in their own right. Before age … [Read more...]
Lord Help Me! It’s Time for School Again!
It's 5:15 am when the alarm goes off, chasing off the last remnants of a beautiful dream of walking on warm summer sands in the light of a glowing sunset. And just like that, Summer. Is. Over. My eyes strain to focus on the ceiling above as I fight an urge to pull the sheets back over my head. But no, I must get up! I must get up because… it's time for school again! I imagine other … [Read more...]
Guarding Closely Who Defines Our Children
All day long my enemies insult me. Those who ridicule me use my name as a curse. ~ Psalm 102:8, NOG ~ In the book THE HELP, set in early 1960's Jackson, Mississippi, a housekeeper named Aibileen carries out a subtext in the story line by supplying her homely charge, Mae Mobley, with the love she is so sadly lacking from her own mother. Each day, Aibileen rocks the young girl, counteracting … [Read more...]