WHY WEIRD?

It was never my choice.

When my son was born extremely premature at 26 weeks, our family entered a world I knew nothing about- a world that now includes disability, cerebral palsy, autism,  sensory needs, and communication differences that are a direct result of a traumatic premature birth. Years of therapy taught him how to live the most abundant life. Attending therapy appointments became my full time job for years. However, those therapy sessions gave me an education I could have never found in a classroom. Compare this to a college student attending a clinical lecture on brain development and having a toddler sized human life lab experiment dependent on  everything I’d learned in the lecture that day.  His therapists were the professors. I was the student. My son was the lab rat. If you’re appalled I just referred to my son as a lab rat, you’re probably not ready for anything else this ministry offers-  The child rearing and parenting style required to provide the most abundant life for my son looks very WEIRD. My son is WEIRD. The way he communicates is WEIRD. The way he eats is very WEIRD. Things that were cute as a toddler now look really WEIRD at 7 years old. Everything is just WEIRD.

But God.

Instead of facing this journey with dread, misfortune, discouragement, and a “woe is me” attitude, the Lord ignited a fire in this mama that, quite frankly, the world is AWARE of, but NOT READY for. Until this ministry could blossom, I had to dig deep in scripture and let go of every fear that I might offend people that faithfully serve the children of their church. Here’s the good news- if you believe that God’s Word is your final authority, and hasn’t, doesn’t, nor ever will change, you’ll have no problem realizing that we are ALL WEIRD. Even you. 

This is not a special needs ministry guide or an attempt to advocate for another ministry to be added to your church to support inclusion.  This ministry is a scripture supported answer with practical solutions to disciple every single child that steps foot in your door, whether they are labeled special needs or not. Every kid is WEIRD. Every kid has a special need. And, that is Jesus. Psalm 139:14 reminds us we are  “fearfully and wonderfully made.” We are not adding or changing anything in the scriptures. We are simply digging deeper into what the world sees as WEIRD is actually what God calls WONDERFUL.