Special Consideration...

Dear woman at the school who chose to roll your eyes at me and look completely disgusted,

I would like to give you a chance to look at me with a different perspective, a perspective full of truth. The next time you see a parent who is physically struggling with a child of any age I ask that you ask yourself if maybe, just maybe this situation needs some special consideration. If I had had it in me I would have stopped you to try to explain what was happening but honestly all my energy reserves for the day were being used to contain my child.

Please I ask of you to make sure that you filter your responses. I have children who wake up around 4:45am...My youngest, because of her feeding tube schedule goes to bed between 9:00pm and 10:00pm, meaning that on a good night, after the dishes are done, house picked up, and time spent with hubby I get about 5-7 hours of sleep but I am up about 3-4 times during that time to deal with some need that someone has...So I am tired

I have children with mental health concern who require extra parenting, hours of therapy, and frequent visits to a variety of doctors. I myself have to offer these children constant special considerations...not because I expect less from them but because I have extra high expectations of how great their potential truly is!...So I am over booked.

We are waiting on the embassy in Ethiopia to tell us we can bring out oldest daughter home for good! We miss her and long for her to be here with us...So I am longing.

My youngest is unable to eat anything, details are not necessary, so she is on a feeding tube. Due to the feeding tube I have zero, let me repeat, zero people who are currently able to watch her for me...So I am alone.

I run into "you" everywhere we go, the store, school, the park, the drop off line at preschool. "You" are the face that I so disparately wish to avoid .."You" are the teacher who means well but truly does not get it..."You" are the friend who silently judges, but I feel it..."You" are the ones who think that my children's "issues" are made up..."You" are the one that I pray for.

So, Dear "You" I ask that you use the filter of the possibility that the mother you are rolling your eyes at is tired, is over booked, is longing, is alone. I challenge you that when you see that mother that makes you turn your nose up in disgust that you instead try out a smile...honestly it could be the ONLY friendly gesture she encounters in a days time.

What if that mother is not blessed as I am to know Jesus...because sometimes it is ONLY my relationship with HIM that keeps me placing one foot in front of another! What if that was your chance to be Jesus to someone and you missed it! What if your nasty judgmental attitude was how Jesus looked at you, I am sure your life is not perfect.

I would like to thank "You" for reading this...as I am sure that we are ALL guilty of judging a situation we know nothing about.