An Uncomfortable Family Update

An Uncomfortable Family Update

Good heavens, this is not how I expected to title my first blog of 2022! Yet, alas, I’m online today for some “real talk” with friends who will “get it.” Our daughter Carly is 23 and has Angelman Syndrome. Her needs are complex and relentless. We have been extremely...
Guest Post: Not Yet

Guest Post: Not Yet

The waiting room. We have all been there. Most of life is waiting for the next thing, the next season, the next phase. The waiting room is sterile, awkward, and a place of palpable fear. For those of us who are suffering, waiting is incredibly painful. We are waiting...
Robust Support Starts with Knowing Your Purpose

Robust Support Starts with Knowing Your Purpose

Ephesians  3:16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. Caregivers who develop a sense of their purpose see several benefits. For example, when we understand the reasons why we are designed for and...
Special Needs Dad Shares Hope for a Redeemed Life

Special Needs Dad Shares Hope for a Redeemed Life

Our guest writer today is Ken Atkins, a man who grew up in the pleasant surroundings of a small North Texas dairy farm during the late 1950s. From there, he wandered through a career that included schoolteacher, newspaper writer and editor, advertising executive and...
Open Communication: The Currency of Love in Caregiving Families

Open Communication: The Currency of Love in Caregiving Families

My family has learned that we communicate a lot nonverbally. Carly, my sister who has Angelman Syndrome, is (for the most part) nonverbal. So we’ve learned to read the people and situations around us without needing to say much. The problem with that is that we often...
Christmas Music to a Special Needs Parent’s Ears

Christmas Music to a Special Needs Parent’s Ears

Philippians 2:4Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. “How are you really doing?” Oh, how I love to be asked that question, in that way! On a regular basis, I hear words of longing expressed by parents caring for...