Unexpected Kindness

This experience actually happend last summer, but feel that I need to write it down for my own memory. Whenever go out in public and I don't really want to haul Caleb's feeding pump with us, and don't want to take very long, then I do it "manually." Which just involved an empty syringe hooked up to his extension tube, which is hooked up to his G-tube. It usually just take a few minutes this way, because gravity is what is making it work, instead of the pump. Wherever we are, I usually try to find a quiet, semi private--if possible, spot to feed him. 99.99% of the time we get stared at--for LONG periods of time. I just try to smile at them and then they usually move on. We happened to be at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point last summer. It was time to feed him so I found a quiet cubby to try and feed him. As I was feeding him, an older Asian woman, and what I would guess was her granddaughter, walked by very slowly, she looked right at me and smiled. They passed and then turned around and came back, she quietly came over and kissed Caleb on the head, and then left again. A minute or two later she came back and they sat down a minute, she had her granddaugther to ask how old he was and if he was my only child. After I answered she just smiled again and left. It meant so much to me what she did, when normally we are just a "show" for everyone to stare at, she took the time to see Caleb for who he really is. Someone Special!!

A Special Needs Child
by: Julie J. Hunter


Their eyes are bright and vibrant and full of unspoken promises and of dreams yet to be revealed. In the eyes of these children I see a wealth of possibilities. I spy promises unspoken that are left to the imagination. Their tomorrows are something I am humbled by. Their realities are yet to be realized and I am left to ponder their delicate footprint that has yet to be revealed. To me, they are a wonderment that has been woven into an unbreakable web of pure love. These children leave us with the amazing gifts of a Heavenly Father that chooses us to share in the nurturing of one of His true angels. I am humbled by His choosing and wary of my impact. I walk softly, at times holding my breath. I do not want to fail these angels, these gifts. I am aware, for reasons, that I have yet to understand that I have been lent a beautiful key that open's a door to God's amazing love. This love is pure and kind and comforting. It does not discriminate or curse anyone who comes within its sanctified path. We are given these seemingly short moments in time to share in one of God's greatest gifts, the life of a Special Needs Child. If you let them in, they will change you in your core. These beautiful children will make you realize how wonderful our lives are and how much fuller our spirits are for having been lent these miracles. These children make us more complete human beings by simply allowing them to touch our hearts. You will have the unfortunate experience of dark days, and tremendous moments of grief and misunderstanding. But in the end, when all is said and done, you...we...will be more complete, more whole, more loved, more patient and kinder because we were chosen to meet, touch, hold, hug, adopt, parent, comfort, nurture and most of all love a "Special Needs Child." How could we ask for anything more.