This is the 9th day of a very difficult hospitalization and surgery for my newest son, Ronnie. I have been spending every waking moment at the hospital, and fortunately, the end is in sight. I believe Ronnie may be able to come home tomorrow. I hope you don’t mind that I pulled a post out…
Category Archives: Family Life
Blooming Things
As I sat on my front porch last night enjoying an unusually pleasant late July breeze, I really looked at my yard and all the plants growing in it. I noticed that many of the plants and flowers had flourished despite the near drought conditions we have experienced this summer. Perhaps it was because I…
Here Stuff, There Stuff, Everywhere Stuff
My 17 year old son, Corey, has been gone the last two weeks working for the Youth Conservation Corps. He’s got one more week before he comes home, and as a surprise for him, I decided to clean his room from top to bottom. I admit that it was as much for me as for…
What do you do when your family doesn’t accept your special needs child?
I have been very lucky that my immediate family is very loving and accepting of Austin. At home he is not treated any different than any of the other grandkids. When we venture out into the world well, there it is a different story. But home is our soft place to fall. Maybe it’s because,…
Freedom Hopes
This Fourth of July week I’ve been thinking a lot about the word ‘freedom’ as it pertains to my children with significant disabilities. It’s not flags and fireworks I’m thinking about, but rather the freedom of choice. I want my children to be able to make choices, to live life their own way. I want…
Where do you go on summer vacation?
Before I had kids, I loved planning trips almost as much as liked going on them. Researching places, hotels and things to do were all part of the thrill. Now that we have kids, summer vacations are a whole other kind of fun, and there’s a lot less planning. That’s because Max is most comfortable…
Fathers
Today’s post is an excerpt from my book that highlights the fact that I have the best father in the whole world. THE INTERVIEW Matthew fussed in his infant seat while I struggled to put myself together. In the eight weeks since his birth, I polled my friends who had gone back to work after…
I’m just like every other mom, right?
Last Sunday we had a rough experience, or at least *I* did. Whenever something like this happens it really highlights to me how different we are from other families. It seems like in between these moments (because there are lots of them) I tend to forget how different we are. Crazy me, I just go…
Beach Chickens
One of Ashley’s favorite things to do at the beach is to feed the seagulls. I’ve taught all my children from a very young age how to throw food to one seagull, and almost instantly 20 more will appear. We’ve fed them from hotel balconies – we’ve fed them while we were on the beach…
Whoa! Even More Special Needs Mommy Confessions
You know, just in case you hadn’t gotten enough confessions the last time. • I’ll let Max get away with stuff—like having three chocolate ice-creams in a row—because I feel sorry for him. As if having all that ice-cream will somehow make up for the fact that he has cerebral palsy. • I’d like to program…