A beautiful fall day, colors exploding all around us as Joel and I drive through the sleepy college town of Oxford, Ohio. I'm lost in thoughts about the “day program without walls” we're building for Joel, when Joel’s voice interrupts the anxious flow of what I'm thinking. “Look! The trees are falling!” I'm too immersed in thoughts of what seems like an impossibility to go through the … [Read more...]
…And Grace My Fears Relieved
Amazing Grace is one of my all-time favorite songs. Written by a former slave-trader who lived a less- than-stellar life before he met Christ, this usage defines grace as God’s eternal, life-saving, undeserved favor. The origins of grace in Latin are related to thankfulness --and in Greek, to rejoicing. God is thankful and rejoices over us when we recognize and accept his graciousness (Isaiah … [Read more...]
Helping our kids with disabilities find and establish friendships
Friends are an integral part of a happy and fulfilled life. We laugh with them, we cry with them, we play with them, we pray with them. As Charles Swindoll says, "I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun." Helping our kids with disabilities find and establish … [Read more...]
The Summer “Gentling:” Or, How Disability Will Jack Up Your Original Blog Title If You Wait Long Enough.
I came up with the title, “The Summer Gentling” on one of summer’s earliest days. I came up with it because for one blazing second I thought that things would be quieter or easier when my children weren’t bound into a schedule of academics and activities. I thought that waking late and laying around and playing in the pool were the panacea to stress, and my complaining, holler-y kids would become … [Read more...]
The Goodbye Salute: Noah Transitions to Middle School
In the gymnasium at North Bend Elementary, a smallish school in a mostly agrarian county in northeast Maryland, we parents sat packed together in tight rows. We were prepping for a transition. In the front of the gym, on the floor, were rows of children from kindergarten through fourth grade. They were present as witnesses to this celebration of the fifth graders. Today, the school would laud … [Read more...]
The Angel of the Lord Encamps Around Those Who Fear Him
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.” Psalm 34:7 A dream image from years ago fills my mind’s eye as I sit in Lectio Divina with this verse. In the dream, a group of friends and I are gathered on lawn chairs in a horse-shoe shaped field, ringed on one end by houses. It is a beautiful night, the rural sky inky-black and star-studded; the summer air soft … [Read more...]