Like a Rat in a Hailstorm

Parenting is not for the faint-hearted.

Can I get an "Amen?"

And parenting a child with Special Needs? Well, it brings joy and challenges all its own. And parenting an ADULT child with Special Needs? I can't even tell you...because every situation is so different. I mean, you can't spank them. You can't put them in time-out. I worry that people think it's fun and laughter all the time over here with my resident Jay Leno...because Joshua is such a funny guy.

Y'all know I only post the funny stuff, right?

I mean, it IS fun and we DO laugh...a LOT. But there are also times, many times, when we just don't know what to do. I was going to say that sometimes we feel like a rat in a hailstorm, but that's not right. Right? But you get the drift. How do you discipline a child who is a man...w/o emasculating him in some way? (sigh) I don't know. What I do know is that there has to be discipline...because we have to keep him safe.

I have written before about some of the best encouragement I received early on in this journey parenting Joshua. It came from my friend, Karen Alexander-Doyel, who said...simply..."just love him." And we did, and we do. But just like with all four of our children, love is more than a warm, fuzzy feeling. It's encouragement, guidance and reproof. It's teaching. And, yes, it's also discipline.

And it's mountain-top highs and walking thru the trenches and fighting the evil and praying all night and storming the gates of Heaven on their behalf. And it's being utterly and totally dependent on God, because otherwise we don't have a CLUE what we're doing. And so we pray, and we seek God...and we do our best in the strength HE provides.

"Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him." (James 1:5)