ourspecialmarriage@gmail.com
FacebookInstagramYouTubeTwitter

Transitions Can be Challenging

We know it has been quite a while since our last blog.  One of the reasons our lives became quite hectic over the last several weeks is that we moved! We moved from our family home of 20+ years where we raised our 3 children (and a dog) into a much smaller (and hopefully easier to take care of) home. So, all the sport’s equipment, children’s artwork, important files/papers, furniture, clothes, even paper clips had to be either, given (or sold) away, thrown away or packed in a box! We [...]

By |2019-10-18T13:39:59-05:00October 18th, 2019|change, family life, General, transitions, Uncategorized|1 Comment
Read More

Because of Mary

Often our blogs are about the unique challenges we face as parents of children with special needs.  Although we acknowledge that there are indeed multiple challenges in raising our children, we also know that our lives have been forever changed, in a good way, - because of Mary. We know of many individuals who have chosen a profession as a special education teacher, director of therapeutic horseback riding or in the medical field – because of Mary. A Day Program serving over 30 individuals with special needs was birthed in [...]

By |2019-05-16T06:48:57-05:00May 14th, 2019|blessing, family life, General, perspective|21 Comments
Read More

Tough Decisions

Parents of children with special needs are often faced with making difficult decisions: What type of a school should my child attend, should we try this new medical procedure, should we take advantage of specialized training even though it is far from home?  The reason some of these decisions are so difficult is that these decisions are quite unique to each individual family … and of course there aren’t guidebooks specific to each decision. For us, a big decision was, “Do we allow Mary to enter a group home living [...]

By |2019-03-07T17:25:18-05:00March 1st, 2019|decision, family life, General|Comments Off on Tough Decisions
Read More

Siblings – Part 3

Sibling relationships are, well, complex.  Our siblings can be our best friends, confidants, rivals or pain in the necks and often all at once.  You add the dimension of a sibling with a disability and the relationships become even more complex.  However, one of the questions most asked at our seminars, pertains to siblings.  So, to write this series, we asked our grown children (Emily -29, Albert – 25) to give us their insights.  In the past two blogs, we’ve shared the blessings and struggles that siblings have growing up [...]

By |2018-12-13T22:18:01-05:00December 13th, 2018|family life, General, siblings|Comments Off on Siblings – Part 3
Read More

Siblings – Part 2

Last week we wrote about the impact that having a sibling with special needs (SSN) has on our typically developing (TD)children.  To write this week’s blog, we asked our TD children for their input. We asked them a few questions and we’d like to share their responses.  Every child and every family are unique and certainly, their experiences are not necessarily the same as your TD children; but I think the responses are interesting and hopefully it might generate some discussion with your kids.  Because both Emily (age 29) and [...]

By |2018-12-09T09:19:05-05:00December 9th, 2018|family, family life, General, Harder, siblings|Comments Off on Siblings – Part 2
Read More

Siblings – Part 1

Often when we give our marriage seminars, someone asks a question about siblings: “Would they be resentful of all of the extra time we devote to our child with special needs?’, “How much responsibility for their sibling with special needs should we place on them?”, “How do we find balance in our families?” This concern weighs heavily on parents; we know it did for us.  Each family and every sibling are different, but as our “typically developing (TD)” children are now adults (Emily is 29, Albert is 25), we’ve had [...]

By |2018-11-29T15:45:38-05:00November 29th, 2018|family, family life, General, siblings|1 Comment
Read More

Go to Top