God's enabling grace wasn't what my husband and I expected to see when we attended Dr. Paul Tripp's marriage video series, What Did You Expect?, at our church. After all, we reassured one another, we weren't attending to shore up our marriage. But as part of the research for my new book for special needs families that includes a marriage component. As you might expect, the Holy Spirit used the … [Read more...]
3 ways to rebuild your energy
I'm excited to share a modified excerpt from my new book (for digital release in February 2018) for autism moms, maximizing professional productivity while doing special forces parenting. To get an advance reader copy and other resources, click here. 3 year old resolutions... It's 2018 and I've just about lost my motivation to work on those resolutions. To be honest, they are a little boring … [Read more...]
Do you WONDER?
Are you curious about others who are different than you? “Auggie,” a ten year old boy who was the main character with a cranial facial disorder in WONDER was smart, compassionate, funny and kind; but was deeply hurt by the bullying and dismissive behaviors of his school classmates. Their preconceived ideas blinded them to the WONDER-ful person Auggie was. We all have value. No matter one’s … [Read more...]
Autism and Dementia: How Do We Cope?
Last week, on a gloomy Thursday afternoon, I sat in the prayer room on our retreat center’s property with a student from Miami University. It was the first meeting of a spiritual mentoring relationship. I lit a candle and made her a cup of tea. Frankly, I wondered if I had anything to give that day. The day before I’d visited my mom, who is careening headlong into full-blown dementia. I’d … [Read more...]
What I Learned Through the Deep, Hard Struggles
Lamentations 3:21-23 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. I love to start things. I love the challenge. I love to look at things when they are fresh and new and I also like to create things out of nothing. How about … [Read more...]
Letting Go of the Hurt
Let it Go. It's a bit of a theme song in our house. We sing that Frozen song for ev-er-y-thing. I am super great about telling everyone in my house when they need to 'let it go.' (Noticing only the faults of others; it's an unfortunate skill I have.) But, me? Letting go of the hurt, I don't have anything to let go of, right? I follow one of those special needs parent pages on Facebook. It's a … [Read more...]