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
Caregiving, Challenges, Grief, Hope, Special Needs Parenting
John Fela (Felageller)
A New Home

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.

A New Home
Autism, Caregiving, Challenges, Special Needs Parenting
Mark Arnold
Halloween & Special Needs: How to Make it ...

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?

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

Spiritual Growth

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Building Faith in God to Endure Even More

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Building Faith in God to Endure Even More

This year has required endurance. There were many stressors in 2020 that individually would have been difficult enough for most people. There have been several events this year that have led me to cry out for things to be different, normal, or better. Yet in prayer, I have felt God ask me one question: Are you ready to endure even more?

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A Strategy for the New Year: Remain in Him

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A Strategy for the New Year: Remain in Him

I recently spent some time in the book of John and read anew the verses where Jesus asks us to remain in Him. In John 15:4, Jesus says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” As the waves of 2020 crashed against me, they tossed me out of my remaining posture. Time and again I found myself worried, questioning, and lamenting outside of the vine where I was to remain.

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A Nativity Role for Every Child

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A Nativity Role for Every Child

What nativity play part is there for a disabled child, and what does the answer to this question tell us about society as a whole and church as a part of it? An excellent question, with insightful answers from Mark Arnold.

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The Slow Process of Building Houses and Hearts

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The Slow Process of Building Houses and Hearts

Building a house is a slow process. But edification, building relationships, is a similar slow process. While we use lumber, nails and bricks when building a house, we build one another up word-by-word, and affirmation-by-affirmation.