Equipping Parents for The Journey
When you have a child in a tough situation—maybe they have been placed with a teacher that is not a good match, they are being bullied at school, they have recently received a diagnosis that impacts them in the classroom, etc.—the first parenting response is often to jump in and “fix” it. But rather...
When you are a parent of a child with special medical or developmental needs, necessary decisions can come with high stakes and so many unknowns. We can find ourselves downright terrified. Terrified for our child’s future. Terrified that we can’t be enough. Terrified of all the “what-ifs” and things that could go horribly wrong....
April is National Autism Awareness Month, something near to the hearts of so many families we know. If you are not directly impacted by autism in your family, you probably know another family raising a child or loving an adult on the spectrum. Raising a child with autism can be an isolating, frustrating, and...
We recently invited Julie Hornok, a friend of our church's special needs ministry, to sit with us and talk about her new book and the ministry she leads for parents of kids with autism. Julie shares her personal journey of watching her daughter Lizzie slip away from world at about 9 months, and the...
Recently, we had the opportunity to invite Dr. Andi Thacker to speak at a networking luncheon for churches and staff involved in special needs ministry around our community. This presentation contained so much information that anyone working with or volunteering in any children’s and student ministries would find value in spending an hour listening...
As we enter the Advent Season, we’re often reminded to “Prepare Him Room”. We set up special activities like the Advent Wreath or the Jesse Tree that walk us through Scripture each day leading up to our celebration of the birth of Christ on Christmas morning. These activities help keep our hearts focused on...
Last year, our family and two other families took a week-long trip to Disney World between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We spent a whole year working with a Disney-certified planner to plan the vacation down to the minute. We knew where we were going to stay, what parks we were going to go to each day,...
Written by special guest Jamie Ake—wife, mom, and amazing woman—learning to walk with Christ every day. Thank you for sharing your heart with us, Jamie. Let me give you a quick tour of my life… I am the mom of a child with special needs who has been diagnosed as medically frail. Like most...
Marriage. I remember when I was in high school and college I was always looking at the guys around me as potential dates. I wanted to date but only wanted to date Godly men who had potential for being my spouse. When I met Michael and we started dating, I remember my focus turned...
If you walk past one of the GIFT Ministry Classrooms on a Sunday morning, you’re probably going to see what appears to be chaos. You might see someone spinning in an egg chair. You might see one of our Tweeners working on an iPad. You might even see someone lying on the floor with...
