How many books about kids with special needs have you read? Probably more than you realize! Terri Mauro, at about.com, wants you to share your faves with others in the special needs community. She’s posted over 200 reviews, but knows she can’t read them all. So she provides four ways for other readers to add to her resource list. Here’s what she says to do.

Add Your Review to One Terri Mauro’s Written

Check the alphabetical listing to see if she’s already reviewed the book you’ve read. If the book is in the listing, click on its link, read the review, and then click on the “Write a Review” button to add your opinion.

Write a Review of a Book Terri Missed

A new form is available so you can review a book Terri hasn’t had time to read yet. This feature is a great way to expand the list of resources available for parents, so give it a try.

Join the Book Chat

Terri has a forum category that’s all about books. You can go there to chat about what you’ve read, and you can read posts about Terri’s recent reviews. She’s even got a post about my book, A Different Dream for My Child: Meditations for Parents of Critically or Chronically Ill Children.

Read an Excerpt

If you don’t have time for a whole book, you can sample several by reading excerpts Terri has posted.  (You can even read a Different Dream excerpt called “Stay in the Day” there.) Maybe one of the excerpts will whet your appetite, and you’ll make time for the whole book. If you do, be sure to post a review when you’re done!

Happy reading,
Jolene Philo

One of the hardest things about being the parent of a child with special needs is the sense of being alone. Even though you know there are other families out there dealing with struggles similar to yours, it’s hard to find them when your child requires extensive care.

Twitter to the Rescue

Well, thanks to a Twitter group called The Coffee Klatch, you can hang out with parents of kids with special needs and talk to experts Monday through Friday. Marianne Russo and several friends introduce the discussions at 9:00 EST on weekdays (and occasionally on the weekends) and moderate the discussions.

How to Get Involved

Becoming part of the Coffee Klatch discussion is easy. Here’s how:

• If you aren’t signed up for Twitter, go to twitter.com and set up an account.
• Then go to www.thecoffeeklatch.com and click on the “Upcoming Events” link and check out their calendar to find a discussion you want to enter.
• A few minutes before the event is scheduled to start, click on “The Forum” link at www.thecoffeeklatch.com. Click on the “Sign In” button and when the discussion begins, start making comments and asking questions.
• Don’t be intimidated! I though it would be confusing, but I caught on pretty quickly.

After you’ve joined in a few discussions, come back and leave a comment about how it went.

Off to Twitterland,
Jolene

A Different Dream for My Child Book Review

To hear what one reviewer said about A Different Dream for My Child, you can listen to Parents Nook, a program which  airs on WTHU Christian Radio out of Maryland. The review is quite short, so it won’t take much of your time.

J-O-L-E-N-E

Two quick cautions before you listen:

• Philo is pronounced Fi (rhymes with high) Lo (as in low)
• To get to www.jolenephilo.com, you have to spell “Jolene” correctly – J-O-L-E-N-E

So have a listen and see what you think!

J-O-L-E-N-E Fi-Lo

The best part of marketing  A Different Dream for My Child is meeting new people. Every radio interview is another opportunity to meet someone who’s passionate about passing on news of the book to parents of special needs kids.

One of the most passionate of the many people who are passionate about special needs families is Eddie Baiseri. She’s the host of Take Five, a program on KBJS in Jacksonville, Texas. During the interview, which aired on October 19, Eddie asked questions that drew out the heart of the book with my answers.

If you want to know how to support parents of special needs kids and parents who have lost children , listen to Take Five with Eddie Baiseri and guest Jolene Philo. You’ll be surprised by how easy it is to help special needs families in significant ways.

What to Do When the Lights Go Out

by Cec Murphey

If you sincerely desire to follow Jesus Christ, life won’t always be easy. Many times the Bible promises victory, and you may need to remind yourself that there can be no victory without struggling and overcoming obstacles.

In my book, I used the image of God turning out the lights because that was how I perceived the situation. I felt as if I walked in darkness for 18 months. We all interact differently with God, and my experience won’t be the same as yours. Even so, most serious Christians have times when God seems to turn away or stops listening. And we feel alone.

Perhaps it’s like the time the Israelites cried out to God for many years because of the Egyptian oppression.  ”God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise…and knew it was time to act” (Exodus 2:24 NLT). God hadn’t forgotten, of course, but from their perspective, that’s how it must have seemed. It may seem like that to you if you’re going through your own form of darkness.

Here are a few suggestions to help you:

1.   Ask God this simple question: “Have I knocked out the lights by my failures? Have I sinned against you? After you ask the question, listen. Give God the opportunity to speak to you.

2.   Don’t see this as divine punishment (unless God shows you it is), but consider the silence an act of divine love to move you forward. This is God’s method to teach you and stretch you.

3.   Avoid asking why. You don’t need reasons and explanations–and you probably won’t get them anyway. Instead, remind yourself that this temporary darkness is to prepare you for greater light.

4.   Say as little as possible to your friends. Most friends will  want to “fix” you or heal you and they can’t. They may offer advice (often not helpful) or make you feel worse (“Are you sure everything is right between you and God?”).

5.   Stay with the “means of grace.” That is, don’t neglect worship with other believers even if you feel empty. Read your Bible even if you can’t find anything meaningful.

I chose to read Lamentations and Psalms (several times, especially Lamentations) because they expressed some of the pain and despair I felt.

6.   If you don’t have a daily prayer time, start one. Perhaps something as short as three minutes–and do it daily. Talk honestly to God. It’s all right to get angry. (Read the Psalms if you’re hesitant.)

7.   Remind yourself, “I am in God’s hands. This is where I belong and I’ll stay in the blackout until I’m ready to move forward.”

8.   Pray these words daily: “But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults” (Psalm 19:12 TNIV). Some versions say “secret sins.” These are failures and sins of which you may not yet be aware. One of the purposes of your darkness may be to bring those hidden problems to light.

9.   Ask God, “What do you want me to learn from this experience?” You may not get an answer, but it’s still a good question. Continue to ask–even after the lights go back on again. If you’re open, you will learn more about yourself and also about God.

10.  As you receive “light” about yourself while walking in darkness, remind yourself, God has always known and still loves me.

Cec Murphey’s When God Turns Off the Lights Blog Tour Gift Basket.

Leave a comment and you’ll automatically be entered into a drawing for this gift basket which includes:

When God Turned Off the Lights

1 Book Light

1 LED Nightlight

1 LED Flashlight

Select Dark ChocolateWheWhen

As a writer whose received two Cec Murphey scholarships, I’m pleased to be part of his blog tour. Today, you’ll meet Cec and learn a little about his book. Tomorrow, he’ll tell you more about the book, and you’ll be able to enter into a drawing for a free gift basket Cec is giving away.

Author Cec Murphey

Award-winning writer Cecil Murphey is the author or co-author of more than 100 books, including the “New York Times” bestseller 90 Minutes in Heaven (with Don Piper) and Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (with Dr. Ben Carson). He’s also the author of When Someone You Love Has Cancer and Christmas Miracles, both 2009 releases. Murphey’s books have sold millions and have brought hope and encouragement to countless people around the world.

Is it possible that God would use a time of spiritual loneliness and isolation in our life as an answer to our prayer for “something more?” That’s what happened with best-selling author Cecil Murphey. In When God Turned Off the Lights (Regal, September 2009), he openly shares from his journey that seemed to be stalled in darkness.

Murphey decided to write about his months of seeking God in the darkness because he suspected his situation wasn’t unique. “If this happened to me, a rather ordinary believer, surely there are others out there who have wept in the isolated blackness of night and wondered if they would ever see God’s smile again.”

Murphey could have handled this topic as a theologian and given pages of heavy, hard-to-read advice, but he chose to write from his heart and expose it for the readers to see. He talks honestly and shares his skepticism and frustration. He asks hard questions. And he lays out the steps of healing that brought him back to the light.

When God Turned Off the Lights is a book for those of us who ask, “What’s wrong with me? Why are others living in the sunlight while nothing but dark clouds and darkness envelop me?” Readers will learn:

Why God turns off the lights
Why we have to have dark nights
Why asking “why” isn’t the right question
What’s worse than going through the darkness
How to feel worthwhile and accepted by God

Each chapter of When God Turned Off the Lights ends with an inspirational personal quote from Cec. Here’s a sampling:

Although it may seem as if God is asleep when we go through deep darkness, could it be that God is most watchful in the moments of our despair?

Could it be that moving from why to what might take us one more step closer to the light?

Our task is to hang on. We wait until God takes us off hold and deals directly with us again.

God’s provision is based on unconditional love – not on my faithfulness.

When God Turns Off the Lights, Part 2

Come back for the second post in this series when Cec shares an excerpt from his new book, and you’ll learn how to enter a drawing for a gift basket he’s giving away.

Which Different Dream meditations captured the attention of Power Women Magazine host Deb Bailey? Click on Deb Bailey Interview to find out.

If you like what you hear, visit the Power Women Magazine website and see what else you can find!

Since A Different Dream for My Child was released, readers have been asking what motivated me to write it. To answer that question, I’m adhering to a lesson I learned as the parent of a special needs child: do not reinvent the wheel unless it is absolutely necessary. Between doctor’s appointments and feeding tubes, surgeries and special diets, there just wasn’t time.

Those days are long gone at my house, but somehow, I still don’t have time to reinvent anything unless there’s no other way. So today, instead of  creating a brand new post about why I wrote Different Dream, I’m directing you to a recent interview at Maria Keckler’s marvelous website WritingtoServe. Maria’s insightful questions did a wonderful job of drawing out both the message of Different Dream and how it came to be written.

And here’s an added bonus. If you go Maria’s website and leave a comment, you’ll be entered in a drawing to receive a free book. So head on out, enjoy the interview, and here’s hoping you win a free book!

My new book, A Different Dream for My Child: Meditations for Parents of Critically or Chronically Ill Children, was released on September 1, 2009. While it hasn’t yet made a big splash in the national ocean, it has created a respectable ripple in our local pond.

A day or two after Different Dream’s release, a local reporter  stopped by for an interview and to take a few pictures. The article, which contains a fairly complete and accurate summary of both Allen’s medical story and why I wrote the book, is available on line at this link.

The reporter ran the above picture. (Sorry it’s so big. It wouldn’t cooperate when I tried to size it down.) I was hoping he would use the photo he took of the five balloon bouquets the fam sent to celebrate on September 1. But never fear! You can see the balloons at www.jolenephilo.com by clicking on this link.

If you read the article and have comments or questions about it, leave a note in the comment box! I’d love to hear from you.

Philo in front of her high school alma mater

My hometown newspaper, The Le Mars Daily Sentinel was the first to run an article about A Different Dream for My Child.  The evening after it appeared, a FaceBook note arrived from a former classmate of mine. Her youngest child was born three months prematurely. She said how much she wished a book like Different Dream had been available for her family. Even though she’s my age and her son is in his twenties, she’s eager to buy the book.