Inspirational

Ultimate Protection
by Joanne Green

I monitor the foods he eats, that he will grow up strong.
I guide his moral development by teaching right from wrong.
I teach him rules of safety to ensure his choice is wise.
I dress him warm on colder days, and of course we immunize.

If only I could hold a shield to turn all hurts away,
I'd stand a martyr's vigilance to protect him night and day!

But, there comes a time when it no longer does him any good,
That I continue to hold the shield that he more rightly should.

That becomes especially clear when peer relations start;
When hurts don't hurt his body so much as they truly hurt his heart.
I could protect him, hold the shield, turn slandering others away,
Or I can pass the shield to him to keep those darts at bay.

When those comments hurt my boy, I die a bit inside.
But when I see him face his pain I understand with pride.

That ultimately the battle is his and he must learn to deal,
With ugly words and painful wounds that only he can heal.

I desperately want to protect him,
and I know I always will,
But, the only way I truly can,
is to provide HIM with that skill.

---

Angels Among Us
Author Unknown

The angels gazed upon the earth and planned a very special birth.

"We'll give this child the gift of grace, a tender strength and precious face.

A smile as brilliant as the sun, to shine God's love on everyone.

And eyes like stars, so twinkly bright,
Like diamonds in the sky at night...

This child will have a caring heart
And be a blessing from the start--

A special gift from God above
To hold and cuddle, and to love.

And there's a perfect place down there--
A home with tender, loving care,

And parents who will soon have guessed...

It is THEY who have truly been blessed!

---

Lullaby, by Nickelback

This song seems very appropriate here, but get your tissues out!

The only way it could have been any better, in my opinion, was if the baby that was depicted in the video had been one of the many born every day with obvious physical anomalies.

A Trip to Holland
Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability -- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans... the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, Gondolas. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After several months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go.

Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland!" "Holland?" you say. "What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It's just a different place. So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around. You begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. And Holland even has Rembrandt's.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that experience will never, ever, ever, go away. The loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

---

Last update:
Feb., 2013