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Listening Well

Recently, we went out to dinner with a group of people we were just getting to know.  The group was an eclectic mix, for sure; a businessman, educator, person in the medical field, someone from retail, a counselor (Laurie) and a software entrepreneur (Brian).  It was interesting to us that we were able to land on a topic that seemed to be crucial in each one of these diverse areas. The conversation centered on how “listening” was vital in any relationship (business or personal) and how we, as a society, [...]

By |2019-06-08T13:37:46-05:00June 8th, 2019|conflict, General, listening, teamwork, Uncategorized|1 Comment
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Thin Places: Seeing the Divine in Every Day Life

I was introduced to the notion of thin places several years ago by a dear Christian friend of mine from Ireland.  The concept of thin places has its origins in Celtic spiritualism and later in the Christian movement in Ireland. Thin places are points in time where the distance between the heavenly and earthly realms grows thin and you encounter the sacred. Thin places can occur in the midst of everyday conversation and happenings or in experiencing God’s beautiful creation in the outdoors – a sunset, a mountain vista, an [...]

By |2019-05-30T06:10:35-05:00May 30th, 2019|General, happiness, joy, perspective|15 Comments
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Because of Mary

Often our blogs are about the unique challenges we face as parents of children with special needs.  Although we acknowledge that there are indeed multiple challenges in raising our children, we also know that our lives have been forever changed, in a good way, - because of Mary. We know of many individuals who have chosen a profession as a special education teacher, director of therapeutic horseback riding or in the medical field – because of Mary. A Day Program serving over 30 individuals with special needs was birthed in [...]

By |2019-05-16T06:48:57-05:00May 14th, 2019|blessing, family life, General, perspective|21 Comments
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“Lord, I can’t do this!”

“Lord, I can’t do this!”.  I don’t know how many times I have stood in my kitchen (or bedroom, or wherever) and have uttered these words.  Perhaps it was when Mary had a meltdown in public or I had to clean up a mess she had made or when someone said something hurtful or dismissive to her. I’m sure that sometimes, it was just an emotional reaction to something I didn’t want to do.  But there were times when it was a literal statement, “This is beyond me, Lord. I [...]

By |2019-05-10T06:59:04-05:00May 10th, 2019|General, Grief, Harder, Uncategorized|Comments Off on “Lord, I can’t do this!”
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Adjusting our Perspective

We haven’t written our blog in the last few weeks as we were in China. We toured the country and visited our daughter, Emily, who lives and works in China. No matter how often we have said the words “our daughter lives and works in China” (and she has been there 3 years!), it is still hard to believe. She lives in a working-class city in inland China … and from what we can tell, where almost no one speaks English! We are very proud of her and the work [...]

By |2019-04-25T11:05:42-05:00April 25th, 2019|General, perspective, Uncategorized|5 Comments
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Tough Decisions

Parents of children with special needs are often faced with making difficult decisions: What type of a school should my child attend, should we try this new medical procedure, should we take advantage of specialized training even though it is far from home?  The reason some of these decisions are so difficult is that these decisions are quite unique to each individual family … and of course there aren’t guidebooks specific to each decision. For us, a big decision was, “Do we allow Mary to enter a group home living [...]

By |2019-03-07T17:25:18-05:00March 1st, 2019|decision, family life, General|Comments Off on Tough Decisions
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Reclaiming your Hope

Perhaps one of the greatest casualties that result from a difficult life situation is the loss of HOPE.  Hope is a powerful force.  According to the book of Psalms, strength and courage come from hope.  Hope keeps us going, growing, dreaming and loving.  A loss of hope is a great loss. We remember back when Mary was little and her prognosis was overwhelming, we were very short on hope.  At that time, someone gave us the verse, Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. [...]

By |2019-02-18T20:10:41-05:00February 8th, 2019|faith, General, hope, perspective, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Reclaiming your Hope
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Celebrate at “Night to Shine”!

One of our kids (not sure which one) used to have a t-shirt that said “Believe there is Good in the World”! I think it is important to both believe there is good in the world and to BE the good in the world. Sometimes, with all that is in the news lately, it is hard to always see the good that is out there. We’d like to encourage you by sharing an incredible example of “Good in the World”, especially for those of us who are parenting a child [...]

By |2019-01-31T08:25:33-05:00January 31st, 2019|General, thankful, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Celebrate at “Night to Shine”!
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Conflict in a Marriage

Recently, Brian and I have been going through a difficult patch. Not uncommon in most marriages and not challenging our commitment to each other, but difficult nonetheless. Our differences in style and time management and personality traits (which has existed for 30+ years), now just seems to be a source of irritation. We’ve tried to talk through some of these issues, but haven’t been able (yet) to come to a “convergence of the minds”. Have you ever been there? We still love each other, but I confess that my heart [...]

By |2019-01-24T18:57:53-05:00January 24th, 2019|conflict, General, prayer|Comments Off on Conflict in a Marriage
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Staying Connected!

Recently, we met with a family that was looking to relocate to our area from out of state.  They have a son with a disability and wanted to know about services and funding. His disability is quite different than Mary’s as his challenges are physical and Mary’s are primarily cognitive (and behavioral).  Because of this and the fact that he is 17 years younger than Mary, we didn’t know all of the answers to their questions.  But we knew people who did know the answers and quickly made some phone [...]

By |2019-01-10T13:55:15-05:00January 10th, 2019|case worker, General, teamwork|Comments Off on Staying Connected!
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