Read below for a guest post from Lamar Hardwick. Growing up there were two great influences that shaped my life. The first was that my father was in the army, which meant we moved around quite a bit. Anyone who was raised in a military family knows about this experience. The second is that my father was also a pastor. Both of these things shaped my life in profound ways because at a very … [Read more...]
The Only Name That Matters
“Cerebral palsy. Autism. Epilepsy. Intellectually disabled. Cognitively impaired.” I read the words over and over in a whisper. In fact, those words seemed to leap off the page despite the rest of the wording that filled the legal document I was holding. They were only eight words, but those were the eight words used to define my son. Our son has just turned eighteen years … [Read more...]
Obsessive-Compulsive Deliverer
We tend to think of OCD, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, as a bad thing. But I'm choosing to remember that I have an Obsessive-Compulsive Deliverer to see me through it. Yes, in its extreme form, OCD is not easy. It can affect so many different areas of life and people in different ways. Many people think they have OCD. There are so many jokes about it. I get it. I know there are varying … [Read more...]
What Is This Thing Called Prayer?
Last night my dear friend Alysia called to talk. As a youth group leader I mentored Alysia throughout her middle and high school years. In college, she joined our leadership team. During those years I was raising three sons. Joel, our youngest, was diagnosed with autism on that journey. After graduating with a nursing degree Alysia married and had seven children. She and her husband are … [Read more...]
Inclusion, Is It Meaningful?
When Charlie my son, who is diagnosed with autism, was newly diagnosed I searched the Internet, books, anything I could get my hands on to learn what this “autism” was. I wanted to tackle this head on. I realized early on it didn’t matter about the label, it mattered more what my son’s struggles were and how I was going to help him. So first, I learned more about my son’s things that he was doing … [Read more...]
Max’s Two Words about Autism
“Max!” I said with the kind of enthusiasm I hoped would be contagious, “We are going to like this new doctor. He has a daughter with autism!” I tried to mask my own nerves, wondering how we would get through the next-day’s appointment in the city. I watched Max for a reaction as he bounced in his seat and started eating his dinner in a style reminiscent of a wood-chipper. Sometimes dinner in … [Read more...]