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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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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…
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How to Embrace Necessary Change
Seasons of life change, careers change, organizations change, and relationships and friendships change. Change is—as they say—inevitable. How do you deal with change? Do you embrace it, reluctantly (and stubbornly) submit to it, or run full-speed in the opposite direction of it? I’m a loyal person by default. Perhaps you are as well. I’m loyal to good people, good organizations, and good products. There’s nothing wrong with loyalty per se, except when that loyalty exceeds the season for which that allegiance is needed. Thus I find I struggle with change. Well-known author, leadership coach, and clinical psychologist Dr. Henry Cloud believes that if we do not embrace necessary change (i.e.…
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My Superhero Complex
This blog was originally posted on February 8, 2016. But as many of us are feeling so weary from “doing it all” lately, I felt it time to recirculate this article to remind us (myself included) of our need for rest and reliance in our real superhero. “The caregiver needs rest, too,” our Canadian ministry cohort advised. “You need to take time out,” my former internship director urged. “You need to rest,” my husband kindly said. Who? Me? Nah, I’m fine. I just need a bigger cape. I bet you, like me, have an invisible superhero cape. I wear mine daily and take on all of the responsibilites that come…
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Invoking Culture Change
“I thank God that Thou hast not made me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.”[1] This was a common Jewish prayer recited in the first century. It made clear the pecking order at that time. As a woman and a Gentile, I would have been considered the lowest of the low. What is your reaction to this prayer? Perhaps it’s one of the following: Oh, that’s horrible. How bigoted. How unbelievably biased. I’m so glad times have changed. To that last response I ask, “Have they? Have times really changed?” The apostle Paul addressed the crassness of this caste system in his letter to the churches of Galatia:…
