Finding Joy in the Garden of Disabilities and Special Needs
I kneel in my garden bed. It has been freshly tilled and spread with a layer of composted manure. We have an ample supply, given that we have four horses on our farm. As rust-breasted bluebirds flit to-and-from nearby nesting boxes, I’m thinking about raising vegetables, flowers, and kids with special needs for the past […]
Making Every Day a Great Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day 2021 has come and gone. Yet I linger thinking about my mother. In Part 1 of this two-part blog piece, I expressed what it was like to lose my mother suddenly on Mother’s Day 2002. Today, I talk about ways we can make every day a mini-Mother’s Day. Because a healthy, happy mother […]
Out of Africa [About Covid-19 and Raising Kids with Special Needs]
One year ago, on March 1, my husband, my 87-year-old father, and I boarded a KLM flight from Chicago to Tanzania (via Amsterdam) for a two-week African safari. After a year of planning and excited anticipation, we were about to experience the most marvelous part of creation we had ever witnessed (except for having kids?). […]
Ways We Hold Hope in the Loss and Grief of Disabilities
In 1997, a 6-year-old girl stood on the threshold of the room where Todd and I sat waiting, hearts beating wild with anticipation. She wore a red velvet dress with matching bow in her brown hair. Next to her stood a boy wearing a pink Lion King sweatshirt. We learned he would turn 4 the […]
Three Tips for Keeping Your Marriage Together (and Having Fun!)
Maybe your marriage is one where you feel only slight stress on occasion while loving and raising your special needs child/children. If so, I’m thrilled for you! But that’s not me. My husband and I, nearing our 26th anniversary, are also nearing our 22nd anniversary of adopting three kids from Russia, all with permanent, multiple, […]
I Didn’t Want a Different Dream
My friend and fellow author, Jolene Philo, runs a helpful website dedicated to special needs kids and their caretakers. I’ve read all her books and have found her knowledge extremely helpful on my own journey in caring for special needs kids that led to my own special needs. After 21 years (this month) of caring […]
Silver Hair and Wisdom Hard-Won
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV I sit across from him at our favorite Italian restaurant, waiting for our pizza to come out of the wood-fired oven behind […]
Unexpected Harvest: When You Wonder What God Has in Mind for Your Life
Harvest. Our garden provided abundantly throughout the summer and keeps giving. Lettuce, spinach, beans, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, pumpkins, raspberries. Each summer, this garden reminds me of the same truth—I can’t out-give God. I plunge seeds into the dark earth in spring. And then this. So much blessing. Too much blessing. I must […]
When You’re Scared and You Don’t Know What To Do
Since this weekend? Seems we’re consumed. In our nation . . . What he said. What he didn’t say. When he said it. Or didn’t say it. Why he took so long to say it. Is he fit? Is he unfit? Are we safe? Are we unsafe? Is the world safe? This opinion. That opinion. […]
Make Hay While The Sun Shines
They say, “Make hay while the sun shines” and this is true. Those of us around here with horses need hay cut at just the right time. We watch the weather, hoping for three, back-to-back sunny days for hay harvesting because horse hay must be dry. Otherwise, hay molds and can’t be fed to horses. […]
Foreign Affairs and What’s Right With the World
Terrorist attacks. My two sons and my husband are heading to London and Paris in two weeks for a WWII trip . . . I pray. I reflect . . . I put a poster board together for him Saturday, the day before he walked the aisle. The day before he took his seat among […]
Sacrificial Love and Letting Yourself Be Held By the Very Able Hand of God
Anne asked me. Said she needed me to come. Her past few phone messages in my voicemail sounded different—not quite desperate but certainly bold in expressing her request. “I need to see you.” Five strong words. Does a new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s do this to a person? When you’re 69? Do you suddenly wonder how […]