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The One Who Hears and Sees
It’s not often that I feel seen—understood, valued, heard—as a medical mama. But two conversations occurred recently that gave me pause. The first was with my son’s pediatrician. While I reviewed the updates to the long list of supplements and over-the-counter medicines that help keep my son’s body functioning in a normal way—rattling off names and dosages from memory— the pediatrician paused our conversation and said, “It’s a good thing you’re his mom. This is a lot.” She acknowledged my burden and my giftings in it. I felt understood. I felt valued. I felt heard. I felt seen. The second was with a nursing care manager with our health insurance…
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Leadership and Friendship—Are They Mutually Exclusive?
With whom can you be yourself—totally raw and without filters—without expectations? Someone recently asked me this question. Several names came to mind, but I realized my list was short. This person advised, “You need these types of people in your life, people who will listen to you without expectations or judgment, with whom you can climb down off the mentorship and ministry pedestal.” Regardless of the world in which you work or serve—corporate, construction, education, marketing, medical, ministry, research, restaurant, the arts, or the home—being a leader can make finding raw-and-without-filters friendships difficult. Why is that? First, leaders are visionaries. They lead the charge. They think outside the box.…
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What Parents of Special Needs Kids Wish You Knew
Hard is hard, period. “We are not competing in the ‘Suffering Olympics,’” seminary professor, author, and mother to a special needs child, Dr. Sandra Glahn, often remarks. What she means is that in terms of trials, hardship, and heartache, we are not in a competition attempting to win the medal of “Life’s Worst Circumstance.” But life as a parent of a special needs child is unique. It contains daily nuances, challenges, and worries that are far from normal. My husband and I recently adopted our son from China. He has both medical and emotional special needs. I often find it hard to explain why my son needs this or that…
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He is Bigger Still
The pediatric dentist had delivered bad news. Our son needed oral surgery on not just one or two teeth, but on multiple teeth. And given the extent of the dental work anticipated and our son’s medical history, the procedures would need to be done in a hospital and under anesthesia. I began reviewing the cost estimates the dentist’s office manager had given to me as my husband drove us home. Hospital operating room + anesthesiologist + dental work = big bills. And it wasn’t just about the additional medical and dental expenses. (Though those were sufficient stress alone.) It was also that, due our son’s other medical needs, he’d already…
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Mother’s Day: A Day to Honor Non-Traditional Mothers, Too
There’s more than one way to become a mother, but often that fact is neither touted nor commemorated, and that leaves many women feeling rather uncomfortable—and forgotten—on Mother’s Day. (Para español, lea abajo.)
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What is it like to be “Unseen”?
Do you live your life wanting to be seen or unseen? Whether seated in an office maze of cubicles, standing behind a podium before a grand audience, or mopping up spilled milk and cereal for the third time today, we want to be acknowledged, understood, and liked. Our current world of social media has not helped our helpless and desperate desire to be noticed. These days if we do not post a photo of our dinner out, our vacation, our birthday, our promotion, or our child’s new accomplishment, it’s as though it never happened. Additionally, we want our online friends to see, like, or love our posts. Only if the…
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Journey with Me to Israel
This month I take you on a photographic tour of the Holy Land. One year ago my husband and I traveled to Israel with Insight for Living ministries. And like many of you, we never expected the world to shut down for the next year (and counting). Thus in this season of Lent, as we prepare our hearts for Easter, I thought it only appropriate to virtually return to the land of our Savior. May you enjoy this journey.
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Don’t Be a Valentine’s Day Scrooge
I’m known to be a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to Valentine’s Day. If it was appropriate to proclaim, “Bah humbug!” to the day, I probably would. Consider Exhibit A: Buying kid’s Valentine’s Day cards for my son to exchange with his preschool classmates had me grousing and grumbling to my husband: “I stood in the grocery store Valentine’s aisle for ten minutes looking for cards that weren’t too girly, too scary (monsters), or too dumb.” “Why do they make parents do this?” “They will just throw these cards away anyway.” “I really don’t like these silly school parties.” On and on I moaned, muttered, mumbled, and whined.…
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What’s Your Plan for 2021?
With our personal vacations postponed, schools turned virtual, conferences cancelled, and employers and employees settling into work from home routines, the yearly planner became almost farcical by the second quarter of 2020. I think most of us threw our 2020 Planning Calendars in the trash by mid-April. Perhaps your Bible reading plan also got discarded as well. Life was (and still is) chaotic. But do you have a Bible reading plan for 2021? Have you already picked one and are cruising along? Or are you still looking for the right one? If the latter, here are some ideas to help you decide: Hard/Softcover Bible Reading Plans For those of us…
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Their Son Was a King
We became first-time parents in a government building in a foreign land. There was no pomp and circumstance. No parade. No party. No family. No fanfare. And although our adoption agency properly prepared us for such a low-level event, that first-day was not the norm for most first-time parents. Joseph and Mary became first-time parents in a cave[1] in a city faraway from their home of Nazareth. There was no pomp and circumstance. No parade. No party (except with shepherds).[2] No family.[3] No fanfare. And although angels properly prepared them for the significance of this birth, their first-day was not the norm for first-century parents, especially parents of royalty. You…
