Child Archives - Rest Ministries - Chronic Illness and Pain Support

The Five Essential E’s When Your Child is Ill

January 30, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

A New DVD Offers Help and Hope for Parenting Children with Special Medical Needs Parents who have a child with a chronic illness or special medical condition are faced with some very difficult and special challenges. The creators of the popular Love and Logic parenting program have just released a new DVD to help parents learn how to encourage their children to solve their own problems, become more confident, and accept responsibility for their own healthcare. Lisa Greene, mother of two children with cystic fibrosis, spent many years learning how to deal with the special challenges of children who fight over food and medications. The new Parenting Children with Special Medical Needs DVD she created with Foster Cline, M.D., and Charles … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Books, Links, Parent of Ill or Disabled Child, What's New? Tagged With: Bullying, Child, children with chronic conditions, children with illness, chronically ill child, Family, Home, kids in hospital, kids in the hospital, kids with cancer, Learning, Logic, Parent, parenting a special needs child, sick kids, when your child has a medical condition, when your child is chronically ill

AMC Theaters Offers Movie Times for Those with Sensory Sensitivities

January 12, 2012 By admin 2 Comments

I love movies. If I am watching a movie at home I feel like I need to be folding laundry or working or something. But sitting in a theater, I feel as though I am allowed (required even!) to sit in the dark and give it my full attention. Not everyone gets to enjoy this temporary getaway, however, when it is all a bit too much for your child's sense--or even your own. So I was thrilled to see that AMC Theaters and the Autism Society have teamed up to allow families who are affected by autism (or other disabilities--anyone qualifies) a chance to see movies in a environment that won't overload their senses. The idea for this program all started when one parent who had a child with autism asked for a special screening at AMC Columbia Mall … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Events, Our Best Tips, Parent of Ill or Disabled Child, What's New? Tagged With: add, adhd, asperger's, Autism, Child, disabilities, Disabled, entetainment, movies, sensory integration disorders, sensory processing disorder, sid, spd, theater

Devotion: May God Settle Us On This Mother’s Day

May 8, 2011 By admin 2 Comments

"The Lord is exalted over all the nations, His glory above the heavens. . . He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord." (Psalm 113:4,9) Mother's Day. It's a mixed bag of emotions depending on your life experiences. Some people will think of their own mother and her precious role in their lives; others will grieve the mother that is no longer here on earth; and some of you will think of the mother you still have here on earth--but who never fulfilled the role of "mom" in the way you dreamed. Many women will get precious handmade gifts from their little ones; others will sit along and wait for a phone call from their adult child that never comes. And still, some women will grieve extra … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Devotionals, Founder's Blog Tagged With: Adoption, Child, Christian, God, Jesus, Mother, Mother Day, Woman

A Different Kind of Mom: Making a Difference at Home and in the World for Christ

March 24, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

I remember sitting at my first MOPS meeting for Mother's with Preschoolers. After years of waiting to have a child, my husband and I had been blessed with a newborn through adoption. The irony is, all of the moms at the table had new babies. We needed support way before our children reached preschool age! Our of about 10 of us however, I found is disheartening to hear all but myself and another mom say, "Don't you just hate being a parent some days?" Gasp! And these were Christian women. "All I feel like is the maid and the cook" they shared. Looking back, now I realize that I was still in some of the "bliss" of motherhood." Yet, ironically, the only two of us who were content at the moment were both working at home--in the middle of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Adoption, Advocacy, Articles, Founder's Blog, Hobbies-Crafts, Ministry - Personal, Parenting, Reflection, What's New? Tagged With: Child, Christ, Christian, christian faith, Family, God, lisa copen, Ministry, mission, moms on a mission, moms with missions, moms with purpose, MOPS, Mother, mothers of preschoolers, Parenting, Rest Ministries

Devotion: Growing Older Should Be Celebrated!

February 18, 2011 By admin 1 Comment

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:16) It comes as a shock, and it shouldn't. We look in the mirror and see new wrinkles, graying hair, sometimes a person we hardly recognize. We wonder, "How did I get this old? It seems just like yesterday that I was a child, a teen, a young man." Today I must admit simply that I am old. Not an easy admission because when I was young I remember what I thought of old people. Old people were out of touch, could not do anything fun, mostly sat around getting older. Now I am one of them. Growing older does not have to be a burden. Though there are some things we simply must accept in an aging body, we … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Devotionals, What's New? Tagged With: Child, Christian encouragement, Chronic fatigue syndrome, Chronic Illness, Chronic pain, Crohn's disease, daily devotion for women, daily scripture readings and meditations, encouraging scriptures, finding bible scriptures, finding peace through trials scripture, free daily bread devotionals, free daily devotion, God, illness ministry, inspirational bible scriptures, inspirational poems and scriptures, inspirational stories, invisible illness, Jesus, Lord, meditation, more daily devotionals via email, Ohio, Old age, our daily bread devotion book, Rest Ministries, short inspirational devotionals

How Can I Get Kids Out The Door To School When I Can Barely Move?

January 24, 2011 By admin 2 Comments

My husband used to take care of the kids in the mornings because I have a hard time with mornings. But he works the third shift now and I now have two children in school. I have to wake up at 6:30 after little or no sleep and have the kids on the bus by 7:30 a.m. It is becoming increasingly difficult and I keep waking up later and later. This makes it harder because then I have to get them both ready in less time. Sometimes they balk. One is an occasional bed wetter, which makes it worse each morning. So far I have managed to get them to the bus each morning on time. But, I know it is just a matter of time that they miss the bus on my account. I really need prayers. Karlynné Hi, Karlynné, First I have to confess that my husband … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Founder's Blog, Help! Q/A, Parent of Ill or Disabled Child, Parenting, What's New? Tagged With: Alarm clock, Caregiving, Child, co-parenting, disabled mom, Every Sunday, explaining cancer to kids, explaining illness to children, Family, getting kids ready for school, getting out of house in morning on time, Health, Home, mom with disability, organizing kids, Parent, parenting when chronically ill, parenting when ill, Shopping, Windows

What Has Chronic Illness Taught You? Here Are a Few Things I’ve Learned

June 18, 2010 By admin 3 Comments

Duncan Cross of the Patients For a Moment Blog Carnival recently asked us to answer this question "What have you learned about yourself, your illness, & other sick people?" Well... this could be not only an entire book, but a volume of books. So where does one start? Rather than going deeper with this question I'm going to simply answer it off the top of my head & will see what I come up with. I have learned that people often ask "Is it hereditary?" not out of ignorance but because there is some part of them that wishes to rule out the possibility that they could get the illness themselves. I have learned that people who are ill are just like everyone else. We still have dreams, we still have moments when we are grumpy, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Founder's Blog, Person w/ Illness, Reflection, What's New? Tagged With: Blog carnival, Child, Chronic (medicine), Chronic Illness, Conditions and Diseases, Duncan Cross, God, Health, Illness, Learning, lisa copen, Rheumatoid arthritis, Shopping, Wheelchair

Amazing Mother Who Lives without Arms

June 16, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

If you live with chronic pain & limitations, chances are you have those days where you have felt like your lack of abilities were impairing the kind of parenting that you always imagined you would do. Living with rheumatoid arthritis, I have dealt with not being able to lift my son some days when he was a toddler, not being able to go down the slides or climb many steps, & being unable to open a bottle of milk while he was screaming for it. It can be disheartening & frustrating. But I've never once had to fold laundry with my toes. Let me introduce you to this amazing woman who actually lives with no arms at all. That's right she does not have arms, & yet she is an amazing mom (with a pretty fabulous husb& we think too!) We hope … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Attitude, Parenting, Person w/ Illness, Videos, What's New? Tagged With: Arthritis, Child, Conditions and Diseases, Disability, Disease, El-Shaddai, Experience, Family, Finding God's Rest, Give-Aways-Contests, Health, hope in illness, illness zaps strength, John Quinones, love letter from god, mom with illness, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Nancy Mcguirk, Pain, Parenting, parenting when in chronic pain, parenting with illness, ptsd, Rheumatoid, Rheumatoid arthritis, teaching tool, The Rest of Your Life, tutorial, Video, what would you do, What Would Your Church Do? Illness Scenarios Teaching Tool, YouTube

Not the Brady Bunch – How to Live With a Bipolar Mom

May 31, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

By Libby East When I was little my family would watch reruns of the Brady Bunch & I would think "gee I wish I could have a family like that". It was so nice to think that a family's biggest problems could be whether Marsha gets class president or Jan gets to be a pom pom girl or if Cindy will find her favorite doll. And the best part about all of these problems was that they could all be solved in a thirty minute episode. Even though they were a blended family they seemed perfect in my eyes. You see my family was far from perfect. My mom is Bipolar -- Manic Depressive. I have sisters who are twins & they are five years older than me. Where did bipolar come from? I don't know. They say that they remember her being normal & … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Fear, Mental Illness, Parenting, What's New? Tagged With: art, Bipolar Disorder, Brady Bunch, Child, Christian, chronically ill mom, Family, God, Health, Home, List of The Brady Bunch characters, Marsha, Mental disorder, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Parenting, Programs, Television

Can Your Or Your Kids Set a New Record? Fun Summer Project

May 20, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Summer is coming soon & if you are a mom or dad with a chronic illness you may be wondering how you are going to fill in some of that spare time your children have. Here is one web site that get the kids, even if they are only 6 or 7 years old, to start thinking about what they could do to set a record. The Universal Record Database is touted as "the definitive site for human achievement." While I don't think seeing how many spoons you can knock off the counter with your nose in 20 seconds can be defined as a human achievement. . . who am I to judge? The fun thing about this site is that you can do almost anything, video tape it, & stick it up as a new record. One gal decided to see how many plastic spoons she could hold in 1 h& (45). … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Links, Our Best Tips, Parenting, Person w/ Illness, Silly Stuff, What's New? Tagged With: Book of Revelation, Campsite, Child, Chronic, Chronic Illness, Conditions and Diseases, Corregidor Island, Disability, Disabled, event, Health, invisible illness awareness, Isaac, Kitten, Limousine, Lynn Jones, Milk, moms with illness, power of words, Rescues and Shelters, Website, you are not alone, Zion

How Do I Stop Feeling Guilty When My Parents Won’t Accept My Boundaries?

April 14, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

I believe I've set proper boundaries with both parents (they're divorced) & I'm at peace with that in itself, but I'm still having a hard time emotionally letting go of my extended family. How can I stop feeling guilty? My mother doesn't see that my need to still enforce boundaries isn't unforgiveness, but caution & a desire to ensure my children's safety. On the other side, my father & step-mother are pressuring us to move closer to them so they can spend more time with their gr&children. I can't win with either parent & I feel like I'm being treated like a child. I'm almost to the point of cutting ties with both of them. My husb& has been 100% in agreement with my st& & is very supportive. However, I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Help! Q/A, What's New? Tagged With: caregivers, Child, Children, Christianity, Chronic Illness, Emotion, Family, God, Guilt, Jerusalem, Jesus, Parent, Relationships, Religion and Spirituality, Stress, tension

Have You Experienced Getting or Keeping SSI for Your Children

March 9, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Doug Smith, author of PDs Disability Workbook, is looking for your experiences & stories. He states on his web site, "We urgently request your suggestion of private non-profit organizations who sponsor support groups for parents of children with disabilities receiving SSI (Supplemental Security Income)." Parents are contacting him asking this information & he would like contacted at dfacts@earthlink.net if you are willing to suggest an organization that has served you well while you were getting or receiving SSI for a child with disabilities. Please give some details of how the organization helped you. Related articles by Zemanta ChildRC.com Provides Useful Financial Resources for Families of Children with Cerebral Palsy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advocacy, Caregiving, Links, Medical Professional, Our Best Tips, Parent of Ill or Disabled Child, Parenting, Person w/ Illness, What's New? Tagged With: Child, children with disabilities, Developmental Disability Ministries, disabilities, Disability, Disabled, Jake Shimabukuro, Lisa Saunders, Media, Non-profit organization, parenting when ill, Prayer Support, Speakers & Authors, Support group, Support Groups, Thank You (Gift Books), Thorn in the flesh, Website