To every stranger that steps in, especially in such unexpected ways …Thank you! Max and I aren’t planning to go anywhere, exactly. It’s more that we’re planning to go everywhere. But now a days the criteria for doing so has changed. When I was a kid you could pack up your woodcarving tools, wheel them…
I am come that they might have life. And have it more abundantly. John 10:10b, KJV I had my first social media dust-up a few months ago. It freaked me out to the point of making all my accounts ultra-private, and stopped me from commenting on anything for quite a while. I had the audacity…
We have the awesome privilege of getting away together as a couple to speak around the country on the topic of marriage. We love what we get to do, but even so, as we are surrounded by 500-1500 people, we are not alone! We love that we have various ministries in which we are involved,…
My son, Sam, always best handles instructions or requests of him if he feels he has a good, solid understanding of what’s going on. Not just the nuts and bolts of the situation, but most importantly, the reason for it. If we ask or tell him to do something, one of his first responses is…
Finding out our son had autism was a major blow to the idealistic picture we held of what parenting might be like. Parenting, in general, is far from easy, but parenting a child with autism can be particularly demanding. In my last blog, I shared our journey about what extreme parenting sometimes feels like, and…
This year, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner in a wheelchair. Not to raise funds for my favorite disability organization. Not as a show of solidarity with my friends who get around in wheelchairs. Not in memory of my father, who used a wheelchair to get around for 38 years. No, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner in a…
Her hand tightened the grip and playfully shook the hand of her son, who held onto her with one hand while the other flapped briefly a little mid-air. He rocked back and forth from one leg to the other while looking anywhere but right at us. Tears welled up in her eyes as a flood of…
A very full day and evening with Joey ended with a nice ride home and a very cooperative time getting him changed and into bed. He flopped into bed like one of his Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls! And so did I! I couldn’t have “done” that day alone. I had helpers. And as I…
There’s a post going around Facebook; it’s the “Have You Ever …” version for special needs parents. It’s a mixed list of “Have you ever … Diffused a Meltdown or had to <insert whatever> for your child.” I reposted it because I thought there was a little community in it. Some, “Hey, you aren’t alone!”…
The day I discovered I was pregnant with our first child was one of the happiest days of my life. My husband and I had been married for three years and were ready to expand our party of two. My pregnancy was a healthy one, and I was thrilled about our next stage of life….