Jill's House Video

Jill's House Video

Matt and I were interviewed by Jill's House as part of their Sponsor a Child Campaign. They put together this lovely video to explain the importance of a place like Jill's House for families who have children with special needs. I especially love the footage of the Waverly & Oliver at JH. You can view the video on You Tube HERE.

If you feel so lead, please consider making a donation to this worthwhile organization. It has made a huge difference for our family and many within our community. You gave find more information about donating at www.jillshouse.org

Comments

Kathryn said…

Such a nice video... I wish every state had a Jill's House.

March 6, 2014 at 8:50 PM

Julia said…

What a beautiful testimony of your story and Jill's House. It was very emotional for me to see you and your husband's raw emotions on screen rather than through words. Beautiful!

March 12, 2014 at 10:18 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.