Are you scrounging for thankfulness this holiday season? Holidays can be a challenge for those walking through hard days. Perhaps you feel like you've been handed the short-end of the stick; your child is struggling, you’re exhausted and it seems like everybody else has life with a bit more gravy. It’s easy to focus on our circumstances, take stock of what we have and where we are and end up feeling completely void of thankfulness. Is there a cure for this?
I first suspected I had ADHD as a teenager, but finding the right professional to take me seriously was much harder than I expected. Previous attempts only ended in frustration and tears.
Enjoying the holidays with a food allergy sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? After all, eating together is an integral component of the holiday season. I looked forward to making our traditional holiday foods until I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy in 2012. What was to enjoy about the holidays when the foods associated with it were off limits to me?
It was a short, ten-minute drive from the hotel to the residential facility. I maintained composure while I navigated the busy public roads, and then residential streets. I had a whole range of emotions racing through my body, mind and spirit as we pulled into the campus. This was not just a pleasure drive or a routine errand, this was a significant milestone in the life of my son and our family.
While Halloween is a fun time of year for many children, it can be a really difficult time for some, including many children with additional/special needs. For them it can be a confusing, anxiety-inducing, or even utterly terrifying time. But it doesn’t have to be like that. If we stop for a moment to think about the things they might find hard and how to put things in place to help them, children with special needs can safely join in the fun, too. So what are some of the things about Halloween that children with additional needs can find hard?
As I look at my life as a caregiver, I can see the temptation I have toward sinning in four specific ways. And even though it’s much easier not to talk about the uncomfortable topic of sin, Scripture says we can confess our sins to each other (James 5:16). So today I’m confessing to you some of the sins I struggle with in hopes that it will encourage you to look at your own life and see if these patterns are evident in you as well.
I have been numb with depression lately. Except on those days when I am energized by anger. Some of it has to do with the pandemic and continued quarantine; some of it has to do with family relationships and health challenges. And then a daily meditation popped up, challenging me to choose a contained life.
Like many special needs parents, John Felageller has experienced times when medical or education professionals have treated his perspective on his son with special needs as less important and valuable than theirs. In this third post in his series, John addresses what may be the most difficult experience of all for special needs families: when you have struggles working with children's or special needs ministries. John offers valuable takeaways, including recognizing when you need to give back and serve others who are most in need.
My son James has his hair cut about four or five times a year. As long as we keep to a routine, all is fine. Any change would be enormously difficult for him, and therefore for us. The reason I share James’ haircut story is to illustrate that routine and familiarity are fundamentally core to the coping mechanisms of many children and young people with additional needs. And just like the routines followed by special needs families, churches have opportunities to make similar choices regarding children and young people with disabilities in church-based work as well.
