Growing Hope In The World Of Special Needs
When we first learned that we would be living in The World Of Special Needs, I remember feeling intimidated, alone, and scared. I didn’t even know anybody with a special needs’ child!
The purpose of Carter’s Hope is to show new parents that they are not alone. Each of us has felt those same feelings, but we have learned that living in the World Of Special Needs can be an extraordinary experience.
We would like to invite you to read through our Stories Of Hope.
I saw the following on a friend’s Facebook status, and thought that it applied perfectly to Carter’s Hope. I don’t know who Terri Banish is, but she has nailed it with this.
We could use some more Stories Of Hope to be published on our website. If you are interested in participating, please click the link above that reads “Submit A Story”
I STILL WOULD HAVE CHOSEN YOU
By Terri Banish
If before you were born, I could have gone to heaven and saw all the beautiful souls, I still would have chosen you.
If God had told me, “This soul would one day need extra care and needs”, I still would have chosen you.
If He had told me, “This soul may make your heart bleed”, I still would have chosen you.
If He had told me, “This soul would make you question the depth of your faith”, I still would have chosen you.
If He had told me, “This soul would make tears flow from your eyes that could fill a river”, I still would have chosen you.
If He had told me, “This soul may one day make you witness overbearing suffering”, I still would have chosen you.
If He had told me, “All that you know to be normal would drastically change”, I still would have chosen you.
Of course, even though I would have chosen you, I know it was God who chose me for you
This site has been long-awaited, and I’m so excited to announce that it is now up and running! Carter’s Hope was started in an effort to provide support to those new parents who are finding themselves in the world of special needs. As of right now, I am just trying to build a communtiy of people who can share stories of hope and encouragement, but hope that this can only grow into new ways to offer support.
I didn’t find out that I would be living in the world of Special Needs until soon after my third child, Carter Jay, was born. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I had zero knowledge about raising a child with Special Needs, and in the beginning I felt somewhat alone. I scoured the web looking for information on what to expect, or what to do when you have a baby with special needs. I found that there were many, MANY sites out there that made our situation seem pretty grim.
I’ll admit that it took awhile to mourn the baby that I thought I would be having, and to accept Carter completely for who he was. Emily Perl Kingsley had it spot on when she wrote that having a child with special needs is like getting on a plane for one place, and landing in another. Once I accepted that this was where we were, I learned to absolutely love having a Special Needs child, and the new perspective on the world that he brought. I learned that no matter what the doctors, or therapists told me, there was always, ALWAYS hope. His life was not something that should have been pitied for his challenges, but rather a life to be celebrated. There was a whole new world out there that was just waiting for me to discover it…to embrace it.
As my journey continued, I found several blogs that were written by moms of Special Needs children. Each of these ladies would write about having hope, about enjoying their children no matter what the challenges, and about loving the world of Special Needs. I found myself in their same shoes. Of course, it isn’t all sunshine and roses, but the good stuff is really good. Unfortunately, our journey in the Special Needs world came to an end after only 14 months. Our son, Carter, passed away due to complications after surgery. Since the day he left, I have felt a pull to do something to show others how wonderful the world of Special Needs can be, and that idea led us to start Carter’s Hope.
We would like to invite you to share your story. Whether you are just starting out on your journey, have been on this path for awhile, or just have some suggestions on how we can offer additional support, we would love to hear from you!
