If you would like to find out what we have doing lately, go read this… and then read this.

Life in Christ is so good!

I feel like I have really neglected this blog. It’s not intentional… I don’t have any reservations about writing, no desire to take a break from it…..it has just turned out to be on the lower end of my list. I also have other blogs that have been gathering dust as well. Our family blog, my homeschool blog, our foster adoption blog….all are being neglected at this point in time. It also is not that I don’t have multiple thoughts running through my head at any given time… they just end up being either thoughts that stay in my head or thoughts that I share with the person closest to me…and that is where it ends. So, if for some reason you have been waiting for me to share my thoughts, I am sorry the posts have been sporadic. I also thought I would share what is taking my attention at the moment:

In August, Steve and I made the decision that I would return to work half-time. I had taken a year off from my teaching job in the school system, so that we could homeschool our son. I had a desire to be with our son at home and a desire to use the skills and talents that I have acquired over the years with other children as well. So, going back into the school system half time seemed to be able to fill that desire. I could work in the morning (while Steve is teaching a few subjects to our son) and I would return after noon to complete the remaining subjects (when Steve started his day at ASU). Sounded great in theory, but it has actually been a hard schedule to accomplish. We’re doing it, but we are also exhausted. I had forgotten how much of your life is invested in the people you spend time trying to help. A half time teaching job doesn’t really exist. It does on paper, but in reality, I have brought work home with me many nights since August.

The other aspect of this schedule is that we don’t want our son to get shorthanded. We want him to be fulfilled and know that he is important. So, with this schedule, we make sure that we are spending time together. We’re taking a pottery class together and spending weekends as a family going on trips…it seems like we are always going somewhere!

So, this should explain my absence here on the blog. It is not wanted but it is needed at the present time. I am sure that life will begin to balance out soon for us as we adjust to new schedules and possible changes in our lives. I may have time to blog and yet I may not….and for now that is the reality of my live right now.

In all this we know that God’s love for us is real. He is showing us new opportunities and is blessing us all the time! I will look forward to sharing all that He is doing in our lives very soon. We continue to look for opportunities to love and bless others as we have been blessed by God. Sometimes it is a hard task, but looking for those moments of sharing the love of God with others is really what drives our thoughts and actions.

I really would like to continue writing about life in Christ from an artistic standpoint. I am reminded every day of the creativity of God. Hopefully, you will be reading a post about this soon!

Be blessed in your walk with Him,

I was reading an article this evening that disturbed me. It is written about a church in PA that has created a Sunday school class specifically for special-needs children. At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a bad idea. In fact, you may see the idea as one that takes into consideration the needs of others. Give the child something they can do while mom and dad are able to worship without interruption. A few quotes from the article state:

“We have been finding that more and more families who have such a special child are not attending church because most churches do not have a program for them to attend”

Hmmm…

“Parents find themselves spending more time trying to redirect behavior,” “They are not really getting anything out of their weekly visit to church.”

To me this seems to be a problem of structure, not the child’s behavior. Why are we taking a child with special needs out of a situation that potentially would make us uncomfortable? And why did a whole different class need to be created for them? Were they not welcome in the typical Sunday School class? Why do parents of special needs children feel they cannot gather with believers?

Maybe the answers to these questions would be best left to the individual to decide. And honestly, this issue hits a bit close to home for me, as my child was asked to leave a Sunday School class because his behavior did not fit what was acceptable in the class. This left me feeling like the one place that I thought my child would be accepted was not a realistic desire on my part.

My thoughts are these: Give the child the love and compassion of Christ. Help him or her to feel accepted as a worthy member of the body of believers. If you have to change the structure, then do it. But don’t make the child feel that they are not welcome by separating them from their peers and the rest of the body. There is so much that a child with special needs can offer the church as a whole. They can encourage us to grow in ways that were not possible before. Don’t deny them or yourself the joy and the privilege of what God can do through them.

Read the article and let me know what you think……

Matthew 19:13-14

All of us go through situations in our life that are hard. Each day presents a new challenge the moment we awake. Some may see that challenge as trying to find the answer to the tough questions. Such as: “Will God heal me today?”, “Will I be able to find a job to support my family?”, “How will I face the person at work that is tormenting me?”, the list could go on and on. We all have very unique and interesting circumstances.

But I am wondering if maybe we are missing the challenge here. Could it be that the challenge is not in the specific circumstance, but how we deal with what comes our way each day?

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” I Peter 5:6-7

We are encouraged to present before God our cares. Actually, it is stated we are cast ALL our cares upon Him. Are we really taking this seriously? How often do we attempt to take on our own cares? It is the natural inclination, is it not? To say “I need to do this to make things better” is such an automatic response for each of us. But…We have the freedom available to us that enables us to turn from our cares. Why do we not take advantage of the reality that was given through the cross of Christ? Are we telling Him that it wasn’t good enough and we need Him to do more?

There is a situation from my own life that I’d like to illustrate for you. My husband and I have been trying to conceive a child for 3 years without success. Every time we looked into the eyes of a pregnant teenager or of a woman that did not want the child she was carrying, we wondered why this was happening. We questioned ourselves and yes we even tried to find a way to “fix it”. But today, are walking in the peace of Christ. We are traveling through new and exciting experiences. Have we resigned ourselves to the idea of not conceiving a child? Absolutely not. We have chosen to embrace each day as an opportunity to show love to others, in whatever way God places those experiences before us. Right now, that opportunity is the possibility of being foster parents in our community. So, that is what we are embracing at this moment with the knowledge that new experiences could be placed before us as well.

So, I encourage you today to listen to this important advice:

“Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” I Peter 5:10-11

My friend, Amy, has written a great post today called The Wall. Go there and be encouraged. Thanks Amy for rekindling the passion in which I wrote this post!

In my previous post, Systems, I discussed some thoughts about a type of system that many of us take part in, that is, the traditional church system. I alluded to the fact that my husband and I have discussed other systems as well and I’d like to share my thoughts with you.

The second system that has gotten my wheels turning a bit, is the educational system. This is a difficult one for me to tackle because I feel that I have been raised in the middle of a system that I didn’t even think to question, as I have written about in my post, Identity. But in the past few years, I have had reason to question how this particular system works. (or how it doesn’t work). The main motivation for asking those questions was after realizing that it wasn’t working for my own child. No matter how hard I tried to force him to fit that mold, it wasn’t going to happen. Now, that we have made the change to teaching him apart from the school system, I see so much progress. And He is evolving each day into the man that God has created him to be. It is a very inspiring transformation.

I would have to say that my main problem with how the system operates is that children are not allowed the freedom to follow their natural bent or curiosity. They must fit the “norm” and if they don’t, there must be something seriously wrong. Now on the flip side of the coin, I don’t believe that children in the public schools are expected to be respectful. Yes, it is included in the rules of the classroom posted on the wall, but it does not penetrate their heart. How could it? How can one teacher of 20+ students possibly know and be able to speak to the heart of each child in his/her classroom? (As I write this, I can see the correlation between this system and the previous one I have written about.)

Here’s an interesting perspective on Margaret Spelling’s views on this system:

My main point is that what we are able to see in our child is where his heart is, and frankly, for the last 9 months, it has not been pretty. But we are beginning to see changes, positive changes that if he carries them throughout his life, will make an impact on those who come in contact with him.

I have a special place in my heart for people with disabilities.

It all began as a child, having an uncle with Down’s Syndrome, and being able to experience, as a family, what it means to enjoy life with a person with a disability. My grandparents were told to put him in an institution and that he would not live past 30 years of age. They didn’t follow that advice. Currently, he is living very well in a group home at the age of 48.

I have worked with the special needs population in a variety of ways over the past 15 years: in an adult group home setting, in self contained classrooms as a teacher assistant and as a lead teacher. Now, currently I am working with children from birth to age 5 for the school system and for Easter Seals/United Cerebral Palsy.

So, you can probably see why this article touched me. Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces and the joy they brought to everyone around them is why I love working with children with disabilities. (Be sure to watch the video clip after reading the article).

I hope it blesses you as much as it did me.