"I bought more candy-grams, Mom," Alec says with a big smile as we drive home from school just two days before Valentine's Day. "Alec, you already bought twelve candy-grams," I frown. "Do you really need more?" Alec's school was selling the candy-grams as a fundraiser for the holiday. For twenty-five cents you could send a single hard candy with a note of friendship. This particular … [Read more...]
Second Homes
There is a place I sometimes used to call my second home: the waiting room. I’ll never forget the hours I spent with my special-needs son in waiting rooms—rooms with foam-filled sofas, tattered magazines, crying children, and tired-looking people who were staring at smudged, blandly painted walls. If there were windows, I watched the outside world whirl by—beautiful women out and about, men in … [Read more...]
Those Closest To Us Hurt Us The Most
Those closest to us hurt us the most. Maybe it’s because they say foolish things in an effort to protect us or because they know us so well, they know what “button” to push to hurt us, or feel the freedom to speak too freely! Those in our outer circles, whom we don’t know well, may randomly hurt us for the moment with their actions or words, but we can more easily brush that off because we don’t … [Read more...]
One Day at a Time
2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. One Day at a Time. Say it again. One Day at a Time. Say it slower. One- Day- at- a -Time. I think we all need to be reminded of this. As parents of children with unique needs our lives are filled with so … [Read more...]
Fortune Cookie Theology for Parents
I love Chinese Food. Truly I do. White rice or fried rice, hot and sour soup or egg drop, General Tso's chicken or beef with broccoli—it all works for me! But my favorite part of the meal is (by far) at the very end. The fortune cookie. Oh, I know, lots of people think they taste like cardboard and just throw them out. But I can't wait to open one and see what it says inside. Sometimes the sayings … [Read more...]
Special Needs Parents: I give you permission
Are you a parent to a child or children with special needs? If so, I have a message for you today. I GIVE YOU PERMISSION. I give you permission to be tired. I give you permission to cancel a therapy session. I give you permission to feel weak. When it comes to your child with special needs, I give you permission to allow a little grief to co-exist with other emotions like love and … [Read more...]