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?
There are big changes coming to churches that will affect special needs families. There are also opportunities that I'm excited about! Let's talk through those so we can better understand what's happening in our churches and how our calling as missionaries to other caregivers has never been more important!
I could almost hear the voice speaking into my heart. That was weird for me because I can count on one hand the number of times when God has spoken to me that manner. That simple truth—that Jesus cares about the small things—allowed me to comprehend the passage in a new light. And this new perspective can be applied to the very human endeavor of parenting children with special needs and disabilities.
We all love our children with special needs, caring for them with all the love we have inside of us. While love is the biggest most important thing we have going for us in this unexpected journey, there are indeed other things needed to get us to the finish line! Here are five that have been important to our family.
During the recent Christmas season, as I pondered the state of the world and all of the trauma that I went through in 2020, a message from a messianic rabbi about the Magnificat led me to ask a truly hard question similar to what Mary could have also asked: do I believe the God who carried me through so many difficulties and challenges in the past will carry me through new ones as well?
