Waverly's Weekend Away

Waverly's Weekend Away

Waverly is at Jill's House this weekend. I have written about JH previously - it is an incredible respite center for children with special needs. I was hesitant about having her stay for 2 nights, but after dropping her off tonight I was reminded what an amazing place it is. She is going to have a fantastic time!!

Comments

Anonymous said…

So excited to hear your thoughts after Waverly's actually stayed! Praying for her time there and for your time while she's away. I just had a long conversation with a friend about JH as they were desperately needing something similar...only there just isn't. Here or anywhere else, really!

Have you seen the cool amusement park in TX specifically designed to be special needs friendly (and is entirely wheelchair accessible)? And a few hotel chains are making rooms customized for families with special needs - some really cool steps in a better direction!

Anyway, praying for you guys and really can't wait to hear more about JH!

Lisa

June 4, 2011 at 12:48 AM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.