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Monday begins the next series here at Life. Rearranged:
Special Needs.
Women from around the blogosphere will be sharing their hearts and stories.
There will be a wide range of special needs covered, from a diverse group of women.
All walks, places, faiths.
All moms.
All sharing their journey.
None wasting their suffering.
This series isn’t for mothers of special needs children.
This series isn’t for mothers who are developing typically either.
This series is for everyone.
For those of you who don’t walk this beautifully painful road: You will learn. You will empathize. You will be changed.
For those of you hobbling your way along this life you didn’t know you would be living: You will be encouraged. You will feel comraderie. You will be changed.
When genuine hearts are bared, you can’t help but connect. It’s just the way we are wired.
I am downright humbled by the writers lined up.
These posts will be deeply personal. Powerful.
I look forward to the community that will be created.
From both sides of the fence.
I agonized a bit over which charity to select for our accompanying fundraiser.
The special needs represented in this series will run the gammet.
But my heart kept coming back to Free Wheelchair Mission.
As a mother to a child with special needs, I cannot help but find myself in a constant place of thankfulness.
I live in a country with resources readily available.
Sure, I’ll complain about how much my deductibles are. How overpriced everything is. How often I have to fight with insurance to get things covered.
But the question of having the services (and potential equipment) available to my daughter is not ever an issue.
When my son needed heart surgery, leading pediatric cardiologists at UCLA Medical Center weren’t even a question.
Physical therpists, Occupational therapists, Speech therapists, orthopedic surgeons and an entire TEAM of professionals assigned to my little girl? That’s just part of the gig. It has never been an option that those services would be available to her. Ever.
The special walker to get her up and off the floor?
Anything and everything that my children have ever needed was a phone call (and sometimes a check) away.
Always.
And so it goes for all mothers of special needs in this country. Yes, there are often angry Mama Bear phone calls to the Powers That Be…tears at the bills that just won’t stop coming the mail…and enough appointments for your baby that you’re convinced they need a personal assistant to manage their schedule…but ultimately, at the end of the long and weary day…RESOURCES.
I often marvel at how blessed we are that we live here. That Jill wasn’t born in India where her fate would have been sealed at birth. My sweet girl would have lived a life lying on dirt roads begging.
I don’t know why God put us here. Gave us this. And not others. I will never understand His sovereignty.
But I accept it and do my best to help others.
Because that He is clear about.
And so, I chose Free Wheelchair Mission…an organization that provides a life-altering (really, think about it) resources to people where words like therapy, orthopedic surgeons, and speech pathologists are not even a part of their vocabulary.
Life changing.
As mothers of special needs babes, I think we can all support this cause. Even if our need is not physical. Because it is still a need.
And we move mountains to get our kids what they need. Without question. We just do. Always.
To provide that in a small way to someone else?
Priceless.
So join us, will you?
Subscribe to the blog or Like on Facebook so you don’t miss any of them.
You’ll love it. Promise.
Monday.
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I’m not sure if I’ve ever commented before, but I just had to say:
I. Can’t. Wait.
This seems like the kind of encouragement I need to read.
Thank you in advance.
Jeannett – I am sooo excited for this series! Special Needs awareness/ministry is something I’m very passionate about. I am not the mother of a special needs child but for some reason God has really placed these sweet kiddos and their families on my heart. I look forward to the precious stories these mother’s will tell. And for what it’s worth….I think your choice of organization for the fundraiser is absolutely perfect!
super excited for this series. totally awesome, jeannett. :)
I look forward to this series. As a mother of a child with Down Syndrome and a rare significant health issue, I like to learn about other families’ experiences. Sometimes having a child with special needs can make you feel isolated so just the reminder that you aren’t alone can help bolster you. Thanks for taking a deeper look into this topic.
This is so great! Our family was thrown into the “special needs” category when my daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia last June and lost the use of her legs due to chemo (? docs really don’t know). We are so grateful for the therapy (5x/week) and equipment that has been so very easy to obtain. A wheelchair, straight leg braces and a walker (and forthcoming forearm crutches) …all to help my daughter to walk again. Just yesterday at therapy, her therapist tried forearm crutches with her and she did great with them. We have been given “life altering” equipment and I am so with you on helping others. The photos you posted break my heart; imagine the possibilities for this man if he had a “real” wheelchair. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Just checked out Free Wheelchair Mission website. Wow and what a stupid comment I made about a “real’ chair. Just shows how incredibly spoiled we have been in the last year. The Gen2 chair is my idea of a “real” chair, but Gen1 is so, so, so much better than crawling on dirt/rock/yucky roads!
I have been following your blog for a few months now, but this is my first comment! I can’t wait for this new series!!! Thanks for being another reminder of how much we have to be thankful for…
I can’t wait! Let me know if you need/want some guest posters here. I did a write up a few months ago about the help that my daughter has gotten – she was born with severe hearing loss and uses hearing aids. I could revisit the subject too if you’d like. Or I could just watch from the sidelines. It’s all good. :)
looking forward to every word.
praise jesus!
I am really looking forward to this series.
Can’t wait. I know it will be wonderful on so many levels. (Note to self….have tissues handy on Monday.)
thank you for this upcoming series. you are amazing. and the God we serve is beyond amazing for using you in this way! <3
I am looking forward to reading the stories for this series. While I am not a mother (yet) I provide respite care for two families that have kids with special needs. I see what these families go through, and just recently, the one family went out of town, leaving me with their 6 year old special needs son and 4 year old daughter for 44 hours straight! Talk about a motherhood test. It was such an eye opening experience. It was definitely more draining than I thought it would be. I have actually been rethinking my career and toying with the idea of switching it to something with special needs kids.
Very excited about this series and this mission! Amazing!
Sorry it took so long to help. I had a different fund raiser going on, and had to wait for my Sugar Daddy to give me his paycheck! Love what you are doing with this series. Seriously. My heart broke for people I visited with this Summer in El Salvador who were desperately in need of wheel chairs. Thanks for continuing to raise awareness + action.