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When parents of kids with disabilities get ahead of themselves\u2014and let me be clear, I\u2019m speaking from personal experience here\u2014they remind me of Jodi, a kindergartener I taught long, long ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was the daughter of a family friend, and I\u2019d known her since she was three. She was a bright, curious, articulate, organized, and driven preschooler. Before she set foot in my classroom, I knew she would be hard to keep up with once she got there.<\/p>\n
The first day of school, I showed Jodi where to put her lunch box and tried to lead her into the classroom. She planted her little feet and looked me in the eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens first today?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou put your school supplies in your desk.\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll say the pledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
She waved my answer away. \u201cNo, not that. What are we learning first?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh,\u201d I said. \u201cReading.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens during reading?\u201d<\/p>\n
I gave her my Cliff Notes version after which she asked, \u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRecess,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd after that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMath.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s math?\u201dAt this point I put a stop to her grilling by saying, \u201cJodi, you\u2019re getting ahead of yourself. You need to trust me to explain what comes next when the time is right. Now find your desk and unpack your school supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grim-faced, she went to her desk and did as I\u2019d asked. By the end of the day, she had experienced everything she\u2019d wanted to know before school began. Her parents later told me she had an emotional meltdown after school and fell asleep during supper. Which goes to show that bright, curious, articulate, organized, and driven five-year-olds are still just five years old.<\/p>\n
A few years later, our son was born and diagnosed with\u00a0EA\/TEF<\/a>. Immediately after receiving the diagnosis, I prayed, \u201cGod,\u201d I asked, \u201cwhat happens next?\u201d<\/p>\n He answered when the diagnosing doctor said our son should be life-flighted to a university hospital almost a thousand miles away for immediate surgery. In the intervening two days, I aimed a barrage of questions at God.<\/p>\n Click here to read the rest of When Parents of Kids with Disabilities Get Ahead of Themselves at the Key Ministry blog for parents.<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/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.<\/em><\/p>\n Photo by\u00a0Edi Libedinsky<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_row_inner _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column_inner saved_specialty_column_type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#b4dbc0″ custom_padding=”20px|20px|20px|20px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_blurb title=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9hdXRob3IiLCJzZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJiZWZvcmUiOiJCeSAiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsIm5hbWVfZm9ybWF0IjoiZGlzcGxheV9uYW1lIiwibGluayI6Im9uIiwibGlua19kZXN0aW5hdGlvbiI6ImF1dGhvcl9hcmNoaXZlIn19@” image=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9hdXRob3JfcHJvZmlsZV9waWN0dXJlIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnt9fQ==@” icon_placement=”left” image_icon_width=”100px” content_max_width=”800px” _builder_version=”4.16″ _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)” image_max_width=”100px” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Jolene Philo is the author of several books for the caregiving community. She speaks at parenting and special needs conferences around the country. Sharing Love Abundantly With Special Needs Families: The 5 Love Languages\u00ae for Parents Raising Children with Disabilities<\/a>, which she co-authored with Dr. Gary Chapman, was released in August of 2019 and is available at local bookstores, their bookstore website, and Amazon. See Jane Dance!<\/a>, the third book in the West River cozy mystery series, which features characters affected by disability, was released in October of 2023.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_row_inner _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column_inner saved_specialty_column_type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#42313A” button_bg_color=”#EBDCB2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_comments][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_sidebar][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_direction=”159deg” background_color_gradient_stops=”#42313A 0%|#EBDCB2 100%” background_color_gradient_start=”#42313A” background_color_gradient_end=”#EBDCB2″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” border_width_all=”3px” border_color_all=”#1c1259″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ width=”100%” max_width=”100%” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”25px|0px|5px|0px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ module_class=”horizontal_optin_column_1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ 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” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][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=”4.16″ 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” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_signup][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ header_font=”EB Garamond|600|||||||” header_text_color=”#B6452C” header_font_size=”50px” header_text_shadow_style=”preset1″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_blog fullwidth=”off” posts_number=”3″ include_categories=”current” show_more=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ 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” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_blog][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jolene relates a story from her teaching years as an illustration of when parents of kids with disabilities get ahead of themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"2880","footnotes":""},"categories":[3559,3615,3561,3583],"tags":[2081,4210],"class_list":["post-42711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-different-dream","category-encouragement","category-special-needs-parenting","category-spiritual-support","tag-impatience","tag-waiting-on-god"],"yoast_head":"\nSubscribe for Updates from Jolene<\/h3>\n
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