Today my arm muscles ache, my blood sugar is higher than it should be, my feet hurt, and my heart is overflowing with happiness. Why? Because my dear niece got married on Saturday night. She is my daughter's life long friend, so when she asked her aunties to make forty pies for the wedding reception, I responded the only way an auntie can. "Yes," I said without hesitation, knowing full well … [Read more...]
The Email I Would Have Written Myself the Day Before Ben Was Born
Somewhere over the last 24 years, I lost the yearning to dream about what life would be like had Ben been born without complex physical and communication challenges. There was a period when I constantly wanted to press the rewind button to return to a simpler time, to before Ben was part of our world, so I could understand what I’d done so terribly wrong to deserve the burden of raising a child … [Read more...]
(Faith + Hope) > (Fear + Loneliness)
Let’s face it. If you’re raising a child with a disability, then your life is anything but typical. More like fragile, complex, overwhelming, exhausting. After battling the everyday challenges that never seem to leave you alone, there is not much left in the tank. You may also be in the situation where caring for your child for the rest of your lives is becoming more and more real. The older you … [Read more...]
One Thing I’ve Learned from Special Needs … Pray
If there's one thing I've learned from special needs ... pray. Pray. Before everything else. Pray. When I'm overwhelmed and in the midst of the chaos. Pray. When there's nothing else. Pray. With my eldest I can remember two distinct times of prayer when he was a baby. Two times. Two times I cried out to God in need in those early years. I'm sure I prayed, but life was just easier with a … [Read more...]
When Chronic Pain Makes Us Doubt God’s Promises
Chronic pain. Parents of kids with special needs deal with it every single day. Not only our children's pain, which is what springs to mind for most moms and dads when the topic arises. But also our own chronic pain. We all experience it. Our pain can be caused by the physical demands of caregiving. It can be mental and emotional pain exacted by sleep deprivation, the trauma of seeing our … [Read more...]
More Than I Can Handle
Sometimes, as an attempt to comfort your heart as you are struggling through a new diagnosis, or even years afterward, friends or family might offer consolation by saying something along the lines of, “God chose to give you a child with autism because He knew you were strong enough”, or one of my personal favorites, “He will never give you any more than you can handle”, or even the Biblical … [Read more...]