Ahhh, the holiday hub-bub has come to an end. The tree and the decorations are down. The recycling truck hauled away the wrapping paper and boxes. The holiday leftovers are almost gone. The kids are back in school. My jeans still fit, though they're snugger than normal. Now's the time to sit down with a doughnut and cup of coffee–um, scratch the doughnut and make the coffee black–and ponder … [Read more...]
Light in the Darkness of Special Needs
Our son was six months old on his first Christmas. By then he'd racked up one ambulance ride, two surgeries, three hospital stays, three airplane trips (two of them life flights to the University of Nebraska Hospital and one airline flight to a scheduled doctor's appointment at the same medical facility), and dozens of 240 mile round trips to Rapid City for doctor's appointments and … [Read more...]
A Special Needs Thanksgiving Prayer
Blessed Thanksgiving from Not Alone's special needs bloggers. We are so thankful for you and your dedicated care of children with special needs! ~ Jolene Philo … [Read more...]
Face to Face
The first two Halloweens of our son's life were complete busts. The first one because he was hospitalized because of feeding tube complications. The second because he freaked out whenever he saw a kid wearing a mask. And he saw lots of them. Because I was an elementary teacher in a very small town. Where all my students rang our doorbell and said, "Trick or treat!" Right after I invited them … [Read more...]
God Is Enough
This week I'm visiting the vast, remote South Dakota country where we lived when our son was born. I'm driving on roads that look like they stretch out forever over miles and miles of short grass prairie in a county with more pronghorn antelope than people per square mile. Each day, I fight an irrational urge to travel the long miles between the tiny town of Camp Crook, where I am staying, and … [Read more...]
Have Allergies, Will Travel
Our son had been in NICU only a few days when we began to suspect he was allergic to milk. What led to the suspicion? Whenever the breast milk I'd pumped had to be supplemented with formula, his breathing grew wheezy, he ran a fever, and was fussy. The trend continued–not an easy one to resolve during the early months when he was tube fed and my breast milk was a precious commodity–for … [Read more...]