This Weight. It's heavy. The weight of special needs was something we've gotten used to along the way. It was gradual, never too life threatening. But this. It's daunting. We long to be at home, away from the hospital, but there is no doubt being home, alone, is its own kind of hard. When I was young I remember thinking how difficult it is to keep a baby alive. Oh, young, naive Stephanie. Silly … [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...]
Capture the Wonder of Every Day
A few Sundays ago, I listened to the parable of the ten bridesmaids as it was read in mass. The message to “be prepared” came through loud and clear. On that particular Sunday, though, this gospel reading took on a very different twist. You see, three days prior, my father had passed away at the age of 100. He had lived at home rather independently (with some daily support) up until 12 days … [Read more...]
Love in the Age of Worry
Love in the Age of Worry “He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” – Psalm 91:4 NLT I’d planned to write about Jesse this week. I'd planned a piece about theoretical fear. Jesse is my youngest child, and has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ADHD. As He is wont to do, God changed the plan. On a Tuesday … [Read more...]
We’ve Moved to KeyMinistry.org
We are now part of the Key Ministry family and all our new content will be featured there. We'll leave this site up as a resource and hope you'll join our team of writers at our new home. … [Read more...]
The Bumpy and Unexpected Journey with Special Needs
Most of us clasp our hands around our airplane seat divider exposing our white knuckles trying to act like we’re really reading that book in our other hand and really comprehending it when the ride starts to get bumpy. But not for Joey. He loves the bumps! Sure, we’re doing just fine! But for Joey, it really is fine. Bumpy is life with a child with special needs. They have many needs, … [Read more...]