Hope

Choosing Acceptance of Special Needs

Choosing Acceptance of Special Needs

Acceptance is a word that has several meanings, and which can mean different things to different people. Within the context of a blog about children and young people with special needs, these meanings can be complex and very individual. But the meaning that I love the most is the meaning that Jesus brings to it, the example He gives us about how we should accept each other.

Seven Ways to Lift the Exceptional Burden of Special Needs Families

Seven Ways to Lift the Exceptional Burden of Special Needs Families

Anger, guilt, anxiety, loneliness, stress and exhaustion. Pick a feeling and a special needs caregiver has experienced it, and not occasionally or seasonally, but often daily. We could all use a helping hand from a friend or a stranger or a church parishioner, someone who gives us a tiny boost of hope when we need it the most, but special needs caregivers are in an exceptional category. Here are seven tangible ways you might consider lifting their exceptional burden just a bit.

Quarantined Life or Contained Life? A Choice In Difficult Times

Quarantined Life or Contained Life? A Choice In Difficult Times

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.

Sowing Seeds of Promise for My Daughter's Future

Sowing Seeds of Promise for My Daughter's Future

My father, brother, and nephews possess much knowledge to grow soybeans, wheat, and corn, but some vital aspects of farming are out of their control. Similarly, my husband and I plan and plot care and opportunities for our daughter who has developmental disabilities, but there are some things out of our control. We wait, pray, hope, and support our daughter, until the time when we reap what we have sown into her as a child.

What Do You Expect?

What Do You Expect?

We’ve had to adjust a lot of expectations around here this year—and that’s an understatement. I’ve become aware that the COVID-19 adjustments we’ve made these few months have diminished my expectations in a great many areas of my life. But then I got a reminder about praying with expectancy, urgency and boldness.