Ashley Bohinc The School Dance I remember the first time I became super aware of the way I looked. It was my first middle school dance, and, as an eighth grader, this was a pretty big deal. I had waited my entire middle school career to be allowed to attend a school dance (my parents…
Sarah Bragg Even if you aren’t an anxious person, I am willing to bet that you carry quite a few worries as a parent. We can create some wild stories in our minds based on our worries. And some of the wildest stories in our mind begin not with the phrase, “Once upon a time”…
November 6, 2019 Autism, Challenges, Special Needs Parenting This past April I wrote the first part of this blog, based on a workshop that I and my writing colleague, Sarah Broady, presented at Key Ministry’s Inclusion Fusion Conference that month and also presented at the Wonderfully Made Conference in October. The workshop is based on a conversation…
Being fourteen months younger than my sister with Down syndrome wasn’t always easy. We were a grade apart in school, in a town where everyone knew everyone else. I was occasionally referred to as “Syble’s sister” instead of by my own name. When people made jokes about the kids on the short bus or used…
Jon Acuff “I’d like to get a manicure.” This is a sentence I hear often as a dad of teenage daughters. Nails are a thing. I didn’t know that when I was growing up, because until I was 15 there were only brothers in my house. We didn’t talk about nails. We didn’t think about…
Kim Nunes Fighting for the Heart of Our Adopted Son Family A Year’s Progress What a year it has been! You can read more about our story on adopting Carlos almost two years ago in an article that was posted last year and the fight for his heart which is so very different than the way we have fought…
Jon Acuff Long before I got my driver’s license, my parents taught me about driving. Before pulling out in front of someone they’d say, “You can’t always trust that a blinker means someone is really going to turn.” When crossing traffic, they’d point out places I needed to focus. On the highway, they’d extol the…
Adriana Howard Do you remember that scene in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown where Lucy parades out in her Halloween costume? You know the one. Black pointed hat. Green witch mask. All in all, it isn’t a great look. I mean, the frown is liable to slide right off of her face if it droops any…
Dan Scott When we hear the word courage, we often think of these grandiose moments of bravery. Experiences like leaping off a high-dive, trying out for an ultra-competitive team, or taking your first step off a zip-line seem like the most appropriate ways for us to help our kids to understand courage. But what if…
Crystal Chiang Lots of relationships in life come without a manual. How exactly do people learn to . . . · Be a good spouse? · A good student? · A good parent? · A good coffee-shop customer? Without any instruction, you can wonder “am I doing this right?” And just like all of those,…