His World

Her day started at 5:17 am. Our special needs child woke up at his usual early hour and immediately needed attention.

She got him dressed because he isn't capable of dressing himself.  Then she cooked and served him his breakfast.

At breakfast she carefully got him to take all his pills and supplements. Later in the day at another meal she will make sure the rest of his meds and supplements are taken.

This was the first of the three meals she cooked for him today. Because he is on a special CFGF diet coupled with a host of food sensitivities she has to meticulously and carefully prepare and cook every meal for him

Since I'm a minister and today is Sunday, I left home for the church at 7:00. As she does every Sunday, she finished his morning routine and set out for church by herself. On the way to church she stopped by to pick up a mentally challenged adult and give him a ride to church. Afterwards she gave him a ride home.

Before she could be ministered to herself at church she had to go to our special needs ministry and make sure we had "buddies" lined up for all the special needs kids at church.

She came home, prepared Jon Alex's lunch and then picked up the house getting ready for the bible study we host in our home on Sunday nights. She cleaned, vacuumed, and did laundry. I called my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day, knowing my wife had taken of her gift earlier in the week. My grandmother called me to thank me for the card that my wife picked out and sent to her without me even being aware of it. While I was on the phone, she researched the internet looking for a particular food he can eat that is hard to find.

Over the  afternoon she got Jon Alex's clothes ready for school for this week. Then she made sure we had everything in order for our guests this evening. She gave Jon Alex his bath and let him watch his favorite Wiggles video. While he watched she worked on her to-do list for the retreat she is planning for moms of special needs next month. She sent out emails to her team and continued to work on the plans.

It's now 8:34 pm as I write this and she just hung up the phone from ministering to a woman in crisis over the phone for the last 30 minutes. She has spent the last three hours serving, mentoring, and pouring into others-- all while catering to my son's needs the entire time.

She is Wonder Woman, Super Woman, Ruth, Mary and Martha all rolled into one woman.

She is my wife.

Jon Alex depends on her for everything. He can't talk and has very limited mobility. But when I asked him' "what should we do for mommy for Mother's Day," he actually hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

She is my wife.

But she is his world.

In nine hours she will get up and do it again. Unless he has one of his "difficult" nights. Then her night may not end.

Eighty-six percent of special needs children are being raised by single females according to some statistics.

So to every super-wonder woman out there,  here is my Mother's Day message to you:

You may not have had a typical mother's day experience, or even received any  recognition or experience at all. You may have woken up in tears or gone to bed in tears. Today like every other day, you laid down your own life for the sake of your child. You are  your child's world, and today in heaven I wish you could have seen the standing ovation and heard the thunderous applause. I wish you could of seen the Father clapping his hands on your behalf and heard the whisper, "well done."

I know I did. 

I was standing up and clapping right along with them for you.