July 4 offers unique opportunities for people with special needs to celebrate. + Put on a sun-visor, grab a bottle of water, and enjoy your hometown parade. + Grab strawberries and blueberries from a roadside stand or grocery store and put over ice cream or yogurt for a patriotic treat. + Pack a picnic and take a drive through your slice of America the Beautiful. + Play “Name That Tune” with patriotic songs. + Check the schedule for fireworks in your area and enjoy the grandeur. + Say a prayer of thanks for the privilege of living in the land of the free.

We can just sit around complaining about how hot it is, or we can have fun with these “dog days.” Take some purposeful steps to make these last few weeks of summer memorable for folks with special needs. (1) Keep a chart recording the high temperature of the day. Note: If a person is unable to read and write, have them cut out the weather summary from the newspaper or print from Weather.com website and glue in a notebook. (2) Count out one penny for each degree of heat. Save pennies to spend the first day the temperature drops. (3) Put an ice cube on a hot sidewalk and see how long it takes to melt. (4) Put a bandana in the freezer overnight, then tie it around your neck or put it on top of your head for an instant cooling. (5) Lounge under a misty sprinkler in a lawn chair. (6) Find a snow cone stand and enjoy an icy treat. (7) Take a quart of ice cream to a homebound neighbor. (8) Give thanks that God provided the inspiration for electricity and air-conditioning!!!

You can help bust boredom and encourage interaction and interest with this fun project for a lazy summer evening. Remember to let everyone lend a helping hand, even if they are not able to be perfect. Mix up some cookie dough, spread it thinly in 2 or 3 small pizza pans, and watch closely while the “crust” bakes. After cooling, layer these things: vanilla ice-cream, strawberry topping (tomato sauce), sliced strawberries (pepperoni), coconut (mozarella cheese), chocolate chips (sausage / black olives). For extra fancy touch, cut green candied cherries in half and insert a tiny bit of red candied cherry. Looks like green olives! Note: you can stir 3 drops of yellow food coloring in coconut to look like cheddar cheese. Freeze the pizza until very hard, then slice with pizza cutter and serve. YUMMY!

During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.

As he waited, he prayed, “Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen.”

After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, “Well, I guess the Lord isn’t going to help me out of this one.” Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave. As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.

“Hah,” he thought. “What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor.”

As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. “Lord, forgive me,” prayed the young man. “I had forgotten that in you a spider’s web is stronger than a brick wall.”

We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget the victories that God works in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways. Remember: Whatever is happening in your life, with God, a mere spider’s web can become a brick wall of protection. Know this: He is with you always. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” + Romans 12:12

“The Resilient Family: Living With Your Child’s Illness or Disability” - a book by Paul W. Power and Arthur Dell Orto - discusses “how a family can achieve resilience in spite of a multitude of daily challenges” (p. 7). Based on their professional and personal experiences, the authors write about the family’s journey that is a sequence of “ongoing losses, challenges, uncertainties, disappointments, and unexpected joys and returns” (p. 7). The authors recognize that each family and situation is different, so the book is not a recipe for doing everything “right.” Instead, the authors explore options for dealing with the flood of issues that can engulf a family of a child with chronic illness or significant disability. The first half of the book addresses questions related to trauma i.e. What can I expect? Why do I feel this way? How will I cope? What will I need? What could go wrong? The second half of the book addresses family issues i.e. How will we deal with problems? Where does spirituality fit? How do we work with professionals? How do we best deal with crises? What’s in our future? Numerous real-life examples of families struggling with illness or disability reveal the on-going challenges and the unexpected joys that arise in daily life. The authors help family members recognize and deal with a myriad of issues. For example, the authors shared this compelling insight about spirituality. “An awareness of our spirituality introduces a dimension to our life that doesn’t always remove the sadness, the anger, and the unchangeableness of what has happened in the family. But this discovery does provide a door that opens many rooms of different choices that can help to counteract the anxieties and negative realities of the situation. It also gives us a perspective that can transcend the many disappointments and frustrations accompanying caregiving” (p. 98). Power, P. and Orto, A. (2003). The resilient family: Living with your child’s illness or disability. Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books. 186 pages. ISBN1-893732-66-5.$12.95.