by jphilo | Jan 18, 2016 | Daily Life
One Sunday morning our pastor described impatience, the attitude of demanding to receive what we when we want it, as a sin. His words made me feel quite smug. Because I’d just spent 3 months patiently doing hand exercises and patiently waiting for the thumb tendon I’d severed in a moment of impatience to heal.
Not once had I asked him to heal my thumb and heal it right now. Instead, I had entrusted its healing to God and hadn’t spent 3 months chomping at the bit. I was sitting pretty in the patience department. The pride thing not so much, but no need going down that rabbit hole. With my patience quotient at an all time high, I felt more than ready for the launch of the redesign of my other website, www.DifferentDream.com.
Just so you know, a redesign launch can bankrupt a person’s patience quotient faster than a person can click a button to begins the redesign launch. That’s not the best analogy I’ve ever made, but it’s the best an impatient person can do. Other than to explain to those who think they’re as patient as the day is long of how much patience is needed for a redesign launch.
- Enough to delay the launch two days so a tech guy can manually transfer two months of posts which the test website didn’t pick up automatically.
- Enough to figure out why ever blog post displays two of the featured image instead of one.
- Enough to not become a quivering mound of jelly when you discover several years of archived posts have disappeared.
- Enough to stay calm when Facebook refuses to pick up the featured image for posts you want to share, even though the blog continues to show two of the same image instead of one.
- Enough to not burst into tears when the website is no longer mobile-friendly.
- Enough to report all these things to the designer and tech guy in a calm and courteous manner.
- Enough to wait for the designer and tech guy to fix all the snafus and to thank them profusely when they do it. Every. Single. Time.
- Enough to accept the many compliments about the redesign.
- Enough to realize that God can use the launch of a redesigned website as a way to grow your patience.
And enough to invite faithful readers of this website to visit the other website and enter the weekly book give aways to celebrate the new look at DifferentDream.com.
by jphilo | Oct 12, 2015 | Book Updates
Life’s getting more and more exciting on our little Gravel Road these days. Not only is October 13 the official release date for Does My Child Have PTSD? What to Do When Your Child Is Hurting from the Inside Out, but the book also received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. You can read the entire review at Publishers Weekly or celebrate with me right here on our gravel road where I’m showing off the sentence I like best.
Philo can make a dramatic statement (e.g., trauma “changes the very structure of the brain”) and then evenly explain the physiology behind it. Though occasionally heart-wrenching, the book is organized so simply and logically as to be easy to follow and digest. ~ Publishers Weekly
Would you please join me in praying that the review increases its visibility so it gets into the hands of families who need it?
Also, if you’re part of a family who could use the book, or would like to give it to someone, Gravel Road is hosting a book give away. To enter, leave a comment in the box below about why you’d like to win between today, October 12, 2015 and midnight on October 31, 2015. The give away is limited to residents of the United States and Canada.
by jphilo | Feb 16, 2015 | Current Events
Are you raising a child with special needs? Perhaps struggling a little–or a lot–as your child’s needs mount and your energy and spirits flag? Then Laurie Wallin’s new book, Get Your Joy Back: Banishing Resentment and Reclaiming Confidence in Your Special Needs Family is for you. And so is the book give away contest you’ll learn more about in just a few minutes.
Meet the Author of Get Your Joy Back
Laurie writes from experience as a mother of four daughters, two of them adopted out of foster care and with significant mental health and behavioral special needs. She’s been a staunch advocate for her daughters with doctors, mental health care practitioners, educators, and at church for more than a decade. But somewhere along the way, the demands of special needs parenting stripped away her joy. Get Your Joy Back is the story of how Laurie lost her joy and found it again.
How You Can Get Your Joy Back
But Get Your Joy Back is more than Laurie’s story. It’s also a book about how you can get your joy back as the parent of a child with special needs. Laurie gently guides readers through a tour of the people who can drain parents of joy–starting with themselves and moving on to their children, spouses, extended families, professionals, the church, the community and even God. She gently encourages parents to forgive those joy drainers (Not that God needs our forgiveness, as Laurie makes perfectly clear. But we need to come to grips with the hard things He allows into our lives and the lives of our children.) and then to regain joy through practical steps and examples from her own life and the lives of other parents. The book is easy to read, not to long (because the author knows parents of kids with special needs don’t have much spare time), and packed with the perfect balance of empathy and motivation to change.
To read the rest of this review and enter the give away contest, visit Gravel Road’s sister site, DifferentDream.com.
by jphilo | Sep 15, 2014 | Reviews
This month marks the first anniversary of the publication of Sun Shine Down, Gillian Marchenko’s transparent memoir. In it, she tells about coming to terms with her third daughter’s diagnosis of Down syndrome, and her slow and reluctant falling in love with her baby girl. Today’s guest post celebrates Gillian’s daughter, the anniversary of Sun Shine Down, and the faithful presence of God in our troubles. At the bottom of the page, you’ll get the scoop on how to enter the give away for a copy of Gillian’s memoir.
Do Not Be Afraid
The phrase “Do not be afraid” is written in the Bible 365 times. That’s a daily reminder that God is in control! Whatever you a dealing with today, give it to Him and watch how God takes care of you.
A friend of mine posts this status on Facebook and it immediately gives me pause.
Although I’ve been to Bible college, I wasn’t aware that “do not be afraid’ is in the Bible 365 times. Wow. One for every day of the year. Amazing. My feet start to tingle and my face grows hot. I reread the sentences in awe.
“Thank you, God, for this,” I whisper.
Too often, as a parent of two girls with significant special needs (Polly has Down syndrome and a stroke and seizure disorder called Moyamoya. Evangeline has Down syndrome, too, and was diagnosed with autism just this last year), I let fear rule.
Truth be known, I’ve lived mostly afraid for the last eight years, ever since my ears first heard the words ‘Down syndrome.’ Since then there have been strokes, missed developmental milestones, seizures, brain surgeries, social regression, tonsils removed, vertebrae problems, biting, scratching, tears, and too many other situations and incidents to name. I learned quickly how to walk around with one foot elevated.
I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
‘Do not be afraid’ sends a wave of warmth through me. I decide right away to give it my own interpretation. I want to claim it as a promise from God. ‘Do not be afraid’ becomes ‘relax, nothing else is going to happen.’ ‘Do not be afraid’ means ‘enough bad and scary and difficult. Don’t worry about another shoe dropping.’ ‘Do not be afraid’, I imagine God saying, ‘I got this, and everything is going to be okay.’
Oh, how I love my interpretation. Oh, how I want ‘do not be afraid’ to mean those things.
But as follower of Christ, as someone who tries to read and understand scripture, as a person who wants to commune with God, I know better.
‘Do not be afraid’ isn’t in the Bible 365 times so a person will trust that nothing bad is going to happen to her family. Because this is life. We live in a fallen, broken world and bad stuff happens all the time.
365 days a year.
Some beloved verses in the Bible come to mind:
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” –Genesis 15:1
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. –Deuteronomy 31:6
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. –Isaiah 41:10
These verse don’t claim nothing bad or difficult will happen. In fact, all kinds of bad things happened in Genesis, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah.
Instead, these verses tell us not to be afraid because no matter what comes, God is on our side. “I am your shield, your very great reward.” “For the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” “I will strengthen you and help you;”
Now, this is the correct interpretation.
As a mom to kids with special needs, more shoes will drop. It is just life.
But I am encouraged. I am not alone. God is with me. God is with my family. And because I get to be in his presence through the blood of his son Jesus, I don’t have to be afraid.
When bad things come, I don’t have to be afraid.
“Thank you, God, for this,” I whisper.
“Do not be afraid,” he answers.
Sun Shine Down Book Give Away
Do Gillian’s words make you want to read her book? Then you are invited to enter the give way in which one reader will win the copy of Sun Shine Down Gillian is providing. Just leave a comment in the box below by midnight on Saturday, September 20, 2014 to be entered in the drawing. That’s all there is to it!
