March 17, 2025

Caregiving, Living Life Daily, Marriage, Special Needs Parenting

Cindi Ferrini

A parent or caregiver of someone with special needs, needs the ability to bounce back. There was a time we asked each other, “What would it take (not that we want to experience it) for us to hit a breaking point?” We don’t have a list of times we thought we were close, but we do have a few stories that stick with us to help us remember not to quit when things are rough. Here are a few ways we kept mindful of the ability to bounce back.

February 17, 2025

Joe and Cindi Ferrini

Learning To Love Listening

“Learning to listen isn’t a gift; it’s a skill.” “Anytime is a good time to learn to listen.”

These statements are great places to start in the month of “love” as we share cards, gifts, and time with others. It’s a skill that can be learned and we will be all the better for it. In our family, we are still learning and growing in this area both in our marriage as well as with our grown children, their spouses, the grandchildren, and our son with special needs.

February 10, 2025

Caregiving, Challenges, Special Needs Parenting

Jenn Soehnlin

God’s Invitation to Share Your Heart with Him

The playground was bustling with laughter and movement, but my boys, then just two and four years old, played in their own quiet way. After a speech therapy session, we stopped at a nearby park, a familiar part of our speech therapy routine when the weather was nice. My older son wandered the perimeter of the playground and discovered sweet gum balls—a spiky green fruit on the gumtree but which dries out and turns brown and drops to the ground.

January 27, 2025

Caregiving, Challenges, Special Needs Parenting, Spiritual Growth

Jolene Philo

The Lessons I Learned while Raising a Child ...

The lessons I learned while raising a child with EA/TEF have been many and varied. That’s to be expected since our son was born in 1982 with esophageal atresia (EA) and a tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF), two conditions that left him unable to swallow and required immediate surgery. Many of the lessons came about as a result of the surgeries and invasive procedures he endured between birth and age 5. Other lessons came later as he became more independent in adolescence and adulthood. I encourage you to use these ten lessons as a springboard for considering what you’ve learned as well.

January 20, 2025

Caregiving, Challenges, Marriage, Medically Fragile, Special Needs Parenting

Joe and Cindi Ferrini

5 Ways to Keep Your Marriage Strong into the ...

Kingdom Focus is what first comes to mind. Those of us who are married and have someone in our life with special needs for whom we have responsibility (often 24/7 and 365!) know that without focus, we are doomed. AND for those of us who are believers in Jesus, we add to that His Kingdom focus and our part in it.

For us, we have 5 top ways to work on our marriage and keep it strong. There are more, of course, but let’s not get overloaded!

5 Ways to Keep Your Marriage Strong into the New Year!

diagnosis

Jolene Philo

October 25, 2021

Caregiving, Challenges, Living Life Daily, Special Needs Parenting

Is That Everything That's Going to Happen?

Jolene Philo

October 25, 2021

Caregiving, Challenges, Living Life Daily, Special Needs Parenting

Is That Everything That's Going to Happen?

I stared at the cards, more than a little ashamed by my lack of preparation for our appointment. "I know how the story starts, and I know how it's going to end. But I have no idea about what's happening in the middle." But I know the One who does.

Joe and Cindi Ferrini

July 19, 2021

Caregiving, Challenges, Living Life Daily, Special Needs Parenting, Spiritual Growth

He Turns 40; We Turned the Unexpected Journey Into a Spirit of Adventure!

Joe and Cindi Ferrini

July 19, 2021

Caregiving, Challenges, Living Life Daily, Special Needs Parenting, Spiritual Growth

He Turns 40; We Turned the Unexpected Journey Into a Spirit of Adventure!

A spirit of adventure has helped us care for Joey, and sustain us these past 40 years, and hopefully into future years. We chose to make the journey an adventure something like this, both from and to these five things.

Jenn Soehnlin

February 12, 2020

Autism, Challenges, Grief, Hope, Living Life Daily, Mental Health, Special Needs Parenting, Scripture, Spiritual Growth

When You Find Yourself Asking God “Why?”

Jenn Soehnlin

February 12, 2020

Autism, Challenges, Grief, Hope, Living Life Daily, Mental Health, Special Needs Parenting, Scripture, Spiritual Growth

When You Find Yourself Asking God “Why?”

After months of pleading these questions and God not giving me an answer, I experienced a crisis of faith that scared me. Was God a good God? Was God even real? If He was, surely He'd be answering my questions and my prayers, right? One day while journaling my struggles, sorrows, complaints and whys, I felt strongly that God was telling me I was asking the wrong question.

Jonathan McGuire

October 14, 2019

Autism, Hope, Grief, Special Needs Parenting

Diagnosis, A Defining Moment

Jonathan McGuire

October 14, 2019

Autism, Hope, Grief, Special Needs Parenting

Except for posters on 9/11 saying “We Will Remember,” life has returned to normal for those who were not directly impacted. For those of us with a child impacted by disability, there is another date that is cemented in our minds. We each have our own twin towers moment, that moment when our world came crashing down.