Caregiving, Challenges, Living Life Daily, Love, Special Needs Parenting
Cindi Ferrini
Counting the Cost

How many of us counted the cost (both emotionally and financially) of what it would take to raise a child and/or care for an aging parent? Many are doing both…Because we love our child, we don’t often consider the cost because we simply do what is needed and want the best for them.

Counting the Cost
Caregiving, Challenges, Down Syndrome, Special Needs Parenting
Evana Sandusky
For When You Don’t Feel Thankful

My daughter arrived in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the middle of the night on the eve of Thanksgiving. A tough respiratory virus attacked her lungs, and she needed a substantial amount of oxygen support. And now, this unexpected illness meant Thanksgiving was going to be completely different than we had all planned.

For When You Don’t Feel Thankful
Challenges, Hope, Scripture, Special Needs Parenting
Kara Dedert
When Thankfulness Seems Impossible

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? 

When Thankfulness Seems Impossible
Autism, Caregiving, Challenges, Hope, Special Needs Parenting, Spiritual Growth
Sunita Theiss
Discovering What God Already Knew About Me, ...

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.

Discovering What God Already Knew About Me, Through My Children’s Diagnosis
Caregiving, Challenges, Living Life Daily
Jolene Philo
Enjoying the Holidays with a Food Allergy

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?

Enjoying the Holidays with a Food Allergy

Special Needs Parenting

, , ,

Halloween & Special Needs: How to Make it Fun for Every Child

, , ,
Halloween & Special Needs: How to Make it Fun for Every Child

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?

, , , ,

It’s Not Just “Us” 

, , , ,
It’s Not Just “Us” 

“While we’ve had many years of travel speaking together on marriage, discipleship, and other topics, we are seldom alone and ‘just us’”Joe & Cindi Ferrini write on the struggle of never truly being along as special needs parents, and the importance of making time “just for us.”

, , , ,

Is She Going to Be Okay?: A Parent's Perspective on Down syndrome Awareness Month

, , , ,
Is She Going to Be Okay?: A Parent's Perspective on Down syndrome Awareness Month

I vividly remember the moment the pediatrician gently told my husband and I that our newborn was not the picture of health we envisioned. Just hours after her birth, I was resting in the hospital bed dressed in a stylish oversized gown. I was counting down the hours until we were discharged with only normal, first-time parent worries crossing my mind. Then, everything changed.

, ,

Finding Joy and Strength as a Parent of a Child with Disabilities

, ,
Finding Joy and Strength as a Parent of a Child with Disabilities

Parents of children with disabilities face unique challenges that can make the journey of parenting even more demanding. While advice like “practice self-care” is common, it doesn’t always provide the deep, meaningful support parents truly need. So, here are some unique and uncommon ways to find joy and strength as a parent.

, ,

Emotions Are Information: A New Way to View and Interpret Big Feelings

, ,
Emotions Are Information: A New Way to View and Interpret Big Feelings

Margaret Vasquez explained that emotions aren’t who we are. Rather, they are similar to physical sensations. When we feel something hot, cold, sharp, or painful, our bodies are alerting us to approach with caution something in our environment. When we feel emotions––big and small––our mind is alerting us to something internal that deserves our attention.