Throughout the day we were blessed to have conversations with:
Their Stories
The mom of a severely disabled little boy. This child came to his adoptive parents in pretty bad shape. He was critically ill, non-verbal, extremely anxious and agitated, and severely delayed in his development. This mom's passion for her son is inspirational. She is not settling for what experts are telling her this child "can't" do. Instead, she is reaching for whatever he can possibly do through unrelenting love and compassion. He is still medically fragile, but as both she and her husband are EMTs, they are knowledgeable and take his medical concerns in stride.
Biological parents raising a young man diagnosed with autism and his little brot
her.
This mom is brand new to the area and looking for friends and fellowship with those who care and who understand. She moved from an area that had very little available to help her son. She is eager to begin attending the Special Needs Parent Support Group that we host monthly.
The leader of a local chapter of Classical Conversations - an organization which "supports homeschooling parents by cultivating the love of learning through a Christian worldview in fellowship with other families" who was interested in our child development, nutrition, and biblical parenting perspective both for personal reasons and for her group. She attended one of our workshops at the EXPO. She was totally engaged the entire time and asked pointed and thought-provoking questions that benefited all the attendees.
An occupational therapist wanting to learn more strategies she can use to help her clients.
A mom who has several teens who started life addicted to drugs their mamas took while pregnant with them. This adoptive mom is looking to spend her summer focusing on how to help them gain better social skills and life skills and academic skills.
A mom of a six year old who is struggling with behavior problems. Moms in her situation are questioning if the problems stem from a spiritual issue, a parenting skills issues, or
is there something else going on. We love to help them peel that onion.
Refueling
This is a window into what often goes on when we get to serve at events like these.
These moms an
d dads got some refueling and left with renewed hope for the future for their children and family life. We also invited moms and dads to the support group at our church this coming Wednesday. There we share the love of Jesus and offer a safe place of r
efreshment among parents who understand the often lonely journey of raising a child with special needs or challenges. The next Oasis meeting is Wednesday, May 17th.
Josh, Kim, and Jonah help in ministry
We also were delighted to have our son and his wife and our little grandson man the ministry table while we presented our workshops: It is always a blessing to reflect on not only what God taught us to help our Amy through her developmental challenges but also to help our Josh through health issues that led to learning struggles. They are both God's stories of mercy and grace and faithfulness.
Who else?
Please pray that God will guide us to the folks He is choosing to join this ministry partnership through giving and prayer.
More events
We would love to be fully funded to the point of being able to go to more events like the ones we have described in last newsletter and this newsletter where parents hang out and are looking for love, encouragement, strategies, solutions, and Jesus (whether they know it or not).
Awana Speakers in the Fall!
Praise that AWANA in Bowie, Maryland and in Charlottesville, Virginia have already invited us to participate in their big conferences in the Fall. These conferences represent lots of local churches where we can also follow up to offer our unique brand of hope and help to their communities as well.
Sneak preview...
Amy as main speaker!
Amy is working on a presentation that she wants to deliver to groups where she will be the lead and we, Tom and Julie, will be backing her up. She wants to bring a message of God's amazing grace through her spiritual and physical development. She would appreciate prayer as she works on putting together this message that will include pictures, videos and inspirational words.
Thank you so much for your encouragement through your prayers, kind words in person and through email, and your financial support. We could not do this without you!
