92: Encouragement For The Special Needs Parent with Jamie Sumner

March 23, 2020

In Episode 92, Daniel and Christina interview author Jamie Sumner about the joys and challenges of raising a special needs child with Cerebral Palsy. According to the CDC, 1 in 6 children ages 3 to 17 has a developmental disability (Source). Parents raising kids with special needs live exhausting, often unseen and challenging lives. Jamie reminds them that they are not alone. Because of God’s grace, parents can find joy, beauty and hope every day.

With a mixture of humor, honesty, and hope, Jamie Sumner brings comfort to other parents – like herself – who need to hear that God has made them more than capable to raise their special kids.

In This Episode, You Will Hear About:

Encouragement for special needs parents.
What it looks like to bury your fear in trust so it rises again as bravery.
When you should advocate for your child and when you should take a step back.
How to show your special needs child that their future is lit with a brilliant, heavenly light.

Resources Mentioned During the Episode:

Purchase a copy of Jamie’s newest book, Eat, Sleep, Save The World: Words Of Encouragement For The Special Needs Parent
Check out Jamie’s other books, Unbound:Finding Freedom From The Unrealistic Expectations of Motherhood and Roll With It – a big-hearted middle-grade story about an irrepressible girl with cerebral palsy whose life takes an unexpected turn when she moves to a new town.
To find out more about Jamie and her family, visit her at www.jamie-sumner.com

Quotables and Tweetables:

There’s a graduated scale for every part of life. Work, love, looks, talent – they’re all a competition if you let them be, But our kids, our special needs kids, have set us apart. We all have unmet expectations for ourselves and for them. But our children cut the ties that bind us to the weight of those expeditions. @jamiesumner
It is we, their parents, who must lead the life of Lazarus. We have died a thousand tiny deaths as we watch them fight their war. We are the dead. We come back again to testify to all that God has and is doing for our children. @jamiesumner
Our children are our testament. They are the worlds God gave us to house and nurture and wait for. Patient is all about the long game. We may or may not get to see their full potential until heaven, but that does not mean it is not there. That does not make it any less extraordinary. @jamiesumner
It’s okay to be angry. Really. It’s an emotion, just like sadness or joy or grief or hope. It’s what you do with the anger that counts. So feel it and then let it pass. Entrust it to God. Entrust your child’s care to Him. Count to ten, or a million, and then pray. Let Him provide another way to handle the difficult situation or person. You simply have to be still long enough to let Him go about His work. @jamiesumner
But parenthood is not—for us or anyone—a simple equation. Sometimes the odds work in our favor and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes the specialists give us a thumbs-up for all the good work, and sometimes they add to the growing list of new mysteries to solve. This is why we are so often called to shake up what we’ve got, like a life-size Etch-a-Sketch, and make the most of each new design. @jamiesumner
Parenting a child with special needs can always go one of two ways. You can let the reality of it drag you under, let those sad lyrics sink into your soul, or you can let the brightness of the beat, the essence of your kid, overshadow—or I suppose I should say outshine—the rest. @jamiesumner
Go now and live in laughter and exuberance for the future that is yours in Christ. Hug your kids and help them see this promise too. This is your calling as a parent: to show your children that their future is lit with a brilliant, heavenly light. @jamiesumner
Fear of the unknown is a key player in the special needs game and perhaps the most seductive. There is just so much unknown. It hovers, like a distant tidal wave in the ocean and we watch with our toes in the sand, waiting to see if it will come crashing down. But what would it look like if we buried that fear in so much trust that it rises again as bravery? Because, if, or when, our greatest fear is realized, we cannot let it sink us. @jamiesumner
Sometimes advocating as a parent involves silence and distance to encourage independence, and other times it involves stepping in to make change happen for the better. It takes a lot of prayer and stillness to discern what times call for what measure. @jamiesumner

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Meet Jamie Sumner:

Jamie Sumner has written for the “New York Times” and the “Washington Post,” among many other publications. She is the author of the nonfiction book on motherhood, “Unbound,” and the middle-grade novel, “Roll with It.” She is also a mom to a son with cerebral palsy, and she writes and speaks about disability in literature. She loves stories that celebrate the grit and beauty in all kids. She and her family live in Nashville, Tenn. Visit her at www.jamie-sumner.com