A few weeks ago Lisa Copen, founder of Rest Ministries, a website for chronically ill adults, asked me to participate in her Invisible Illness Week Web Seminar. She wanted me to encourage chronically ill parents who have special needs kids. I felt a little funny addressing those parents since I don’t have a chronic illness. But since my dad was chronically ill, and my son had special needs,...

In the first post in this series, I shared three commonalities of parents who live triumphantly with special needs children. Today we’ll look at three more. As was suggested in the previous post, don’t implement all the ideas immediately. Concentrate on one until you master or complete it before going on to a new one. #4 Triumphant parents advocate for their children. They advocate at school,...

When I wrote A Different Dream for My Child, the meditations addressing the death of children were the hardest ones to complete. Why? Because my child lived, and I felt hypocritical trying to comfort parents who have lost much more than I have. God’s Holy Work If my editor hadn’t insisted, I wouldn’t have tackled the subject. And even though several parents agreed to share their...

When a child is unexpectedly hospitalized, having a clear-thinking parent by her side is very good medicine. Here are  five things clear-thinking parents do to help their hospitalized children: #1 Stay Calm It’s hard to stay calm when a child is in distress, on the way to surgery or enduring a difficult treatment. But conscious or unconscious, children pick up their parents’ emotional...