We were young.
We were first time parents.
We were expecting a healthy baby.
We were blinded by fear after our newborn’s life-threatening diagnosis.<\/p>\n
In those early days, we couldn’t imagine having 20\/20 hindsight about our child with special needs. 10 years later, we had an inkling that hindsight might<\/em> develop. 20 years after that, we sensed it was<\/em> developing. Even so, we were surprised that it took until 2020 for our 20\/20 hindsight to come into sharp focus.<\/p>\n It was worth the wait.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Nearly 38 years after the birth of our beautiful baby boy, hindsight reveals how his special needs diagnosis transformed us from a young, scared, and unsure couple into braver, confident parents. Here are 5 of the many means God used to complete the transition.<\/p>\n The day our child was born, we discovered that bad things do happen.<\/strong><\/em> In the years to follow, we discovered that we and our child could survive and thrive despite<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n multiple surgeries, procedures, and tests for our son, Despite all that and more, we are still here. And we are thriving.<\/p>\n In the years after our son’s birth, we learned that surgeons are a blessing from God<\/strong><\/em>, and surgeons who saw our son as a person and not a condition were a double blessing<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n To read the rest of this post, visit Key Ministry’s blog for parents raising kids with special needs.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Do you like what you see at DifferentDream.com? You can receive more great content by subscribing to the monthly Different Dream newsletter and signing up for the daily RSS feed delivered to your email inbox. You can sign up at the bottom of this page.<\/em><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_row_inner _builder_version=”4.4.2″][et_pb_column_inner saved_specialty_column_type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.2″ background_color=”#b4dbc0″ custom_padding=”20px|20px|20px|20px|false|false”][et_pb_blurb title=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9hdXRob3IiLCJzZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJiZWZvcmUiOiJCeSAiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsIm5hbWVfZm9ybWF0IjoiZGlzcGxheV9uYW1lIiwibGluayI6Im9uIiwibGlua19kZXN0aW5hdGlvbiI6ImF1dGhvcl9hcmNoaXZlIn19@” image=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9hdXRob3JfcHJvZmlsZV9waWN0dXJlIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnt9fQ==@” icon_placement=”left” image_max_width=”100px” content_max_width=”800px” _builder_version=”4.4.2″ _dynamic_attributes=”image,title” header_font=”Rubik|500|||||||” header_text_color=”#44465f” header_font_size=”14px” header_line_height=”32px” body_font=”Rubik||||||||” body_text_color=”rgba(0,6,69,0.6)” body_link_text_color=”#ffffff” custom_css_main_element=”font-weight: 400;” border_radii_image=”on|100px|100px|100px|100px” border_color_all_image=”#ffffff” box_shadow_style_image=”preset1″ box_shadow_vertical_image=”20px” box_shadow_blur_image=”40px” box_shadow_color_image=”rgba(68,70,95,0.27)” locked=”off”] Jolene Philo is a published author, speaker, wife, and mother of a son with special needs.<\/p>[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_row_inner _builder_version=”4.4.2″][et_pb_column_inner saved_specialty_column_type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.2″][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”4.4.2″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#42313A” button_bg_color=”#EBDCB2″][\/et_pb_comments][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”4.4.2″][\/et_pb_sidebar][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”#42313A” background_color_gradient_end=”#EBDCB2″ background_color_gradient_direction=”159deg” custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” border_width_all=”3px” border_color_all=”#1c1259″ saved_tabs=”all”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ width=”100%” max_width=”100%” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”25px|0px|5px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ module_class=”horizontal_optin_column_1″ _builder_version=”4.3.4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.2″ header_text_align=”right” header_text_color=”#45107a” header_3_font=”Dancing Script|700|||||||” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#B4DBC0″ header_3_font_size=”45px” custom_margin=”10px||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false”] It took almost 40 years for 20\/20 hindsight about our child with special needs to come into focus. Only then could we see how our parenting had changed us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"#1: Bad Things<\/h4>\n
years of sleep deprivation for us,
mental health issues for all,
and huge medical bills.<\/p>\n#2: Surgeons<\/h4>\n
Subscribe for Updates from Jolene<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.3.4″][et_pb_signup mailchimp_list=”JolenePhilo|89f719a52b” layout=”bottom_top” first_name_fullwidth=”off” last_name_field=”off” email_fullwidth=”off” module_class=”custom_emailoptin” _builder_version=”4.4.2″ form_field_focus_background_color=”#42313A” background_enable_color=”off” custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”16px” button_text_color=”#42313A” button_bg_color=”#B4DBC0″ button_border_width=”2px” button_border_radius=”0px” button_font=”|||on|||||” button_use_icon=”off” button_custom_margin=”5px||||false|false” button_custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” border_width_all_fields=”2px”][\/et_pb_signup][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.4.2″ custom_padding=”0px|||||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.2″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.2″ header_font=”EB Garamond|600|||||||” header_text_color=”#B6452C” header_font_size=”50px” header_text_shadow_style=”preset1″]
Related Posts<\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.2″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.2″][et_pb_blog fullwidth=”off” posts_number=”3″ include_categories=”current” show_more=”on” _builder_version=”4.4.2″ header_text_color=”#42313A” meta_font=”||on||||||” read_more_font=”|||on|||||” read_more_text_color=”#B6452C” read_more_font_size=”12px” pagination_text_color=”#B6452C” pagination_font_size=”20px”][\/et_pb_blog][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![\"It](\"http:\/\/differentdream.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/hindsight.jpg\")
\n\n20\/20 hindsight about our child with special needs was a long time coming.\n\nWhen our son was born in 1982, the doctor said he had a tracheoesophageal fistula TEF, now known as esophageal atresia (EA) or EA\/TEF.<\/strong><\/a>\n\nWe were young.\nWe were first time parents.\nWe were expecting a healthy baby.\nWe were blinded by fear after our newborn's life-threatening diagnosis.\n\nIn those early days, we couldn't imagine having 20\/20 hindsight about our child with special needs. 10 years later, we had an inkling that hindsight might<\/em> develop. 20 years after that, we sensed it was<\/em> developing. Even so, we were surprised that it took until 2020 for our 20\/20 hindsight to come into sharp focus.\n\nIt was worth the wait.<\/strong><\/em>\n\nNearly 38 years after the birth of our beautiful baby boy, hindsight reveals how his special needs diagnosis transformed us from a young, scared, and unsure couple into braver, confident parents. Here are 5 of the many means God used to complete the transition.\n#1: Bad Things<\/h4>\nThe day our child was born, we discovered that bad things do happen.<\/strong><\/em> In the years to follow, we discovered that we and our child could survive and thrive despite<\/strong><\/em>\n\nmultiple surgeries, procedures, and tests for our son,\nyears of sleep deprivation for us,\nmental health issues for all,\nand huge medical bills.\n\nDespite all that and more, we are still here. And we are thriving.\n
#2: Surgeons<\/h4>\nIn the years after our son's birth, we learned that surgeons are a blessing from God<\/strong><\/em>, and surgeons who saw our son as a person and not a condition were a double blessing<\/strong><\/em>.\n\nTo read the rest of this post, visit Key Ministry's blog for parents raising kids with special needs.<\/strong><\/a>\n\nDo you like what you see at DifferentDream.com? You can receive more great content by subscribing to the monthly Different Dream newsletter and signing up for the daily RSS feed delivered to your email inbox. You can sign up at the bottom of this page.<\/em>","_et_gb_content_width":"2880","footnotes":""},"categories":[3559,3615,3583],"tags":[3826,4000,1626],"class_list":["post-31137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-different-dream","category-encouragement","category-spiritual-support","tag-ea-tef","tag-ea-tef-awareness-month","tag-transformation"],"yoast_head":"\n