Thoughtful Reflections on Faith and Life
For some families, it is possible to care for their children with autism at home with just some additional support. In other cases, the behaviours that go along with autism make such a situation impossible and there is a need to send the child to a group home. The second scenario is our story. Twice. … Read More “The Guilt of Relief” »
There was no trouble coming up with a Good News post today. This has been a tremendous day on so many levels. It began with our Easter Service at Queen Street Baptist Church. This was my first Easter as the pastor at QSBC. There was a great turnout for church and everything came together well. … Read More “Good News: A Fantastic Easter” »
As regular readers of this blog know, we have two children with autism who live in a group home. We have Logan and Abby over for overnight visits every other week. It is really a highlight for our family. People often ask where they are on the spectrum. Both are on the severe end. Logan … Read More “Good News: My First Conversation With Abby” »
We have two children with autism, both on the severe side, both considered nonverbal. They live in a group home together with two other children. We try to have them over for a visit every week. This is what an average visit looks like. I show up at the group home. Abby is usually … Read More “What a Visit With Our Children With Autism Looks Like” »
Every Sunday I publish a good news post, some reflection of a good thing that happened to keep me in the spirit of thankfulness. I did that yesterday. But something happened today that I can’t wait until Sunday to talk about. Yesterday we had our Thanksgiving dinner. Amanda cooked a delicious turkey with all the things … Read More “Good News: Bonus Edition” »
A week ago, I would have had trouble imagining the good news for this week. There was some pretty rough stuff happening on a number of fronts. But now looking back, I am amazed at what a great week it has been. Here is partial list of the good things that have happened this week. … Read More “A Very Blessed Week” »
I was giving great thought to what I should share for my weekly good news post. Our family is still going through a difficult time. I am still in the process of finding a full-time job. The end of August to the beginning of September is our tightest time. What could possibly be good? Sundays … Read More “Got My Good News!” »
Two years ago, I began writing regular good news posts on my blog. They started as daily posts and eventually moved to weekly posts. The original context was that I was going through a dark time. Our son was needing to go into a group home (our second child to go into a group home) … Read More “Trying to Find Good News” »
What does autism look like? I could tell you but I would rather show you. In this episode of my video blog, I introduce you to my son and daughter who have autism. You will see that neither of them are camera shy. I love these kids and autism does not take away from how … Read More “A Glimpse of Autism” »
I didn’t have time to do my good news post yesterday, so here it is. To make up for it, I actually have three things that I want to share. Yesterday was a very busy day. I was preaching at Toronto Chinese Baptist Church in the morning and Woodford Baptist Church in the evening. The … Read More “Good News Times Three” »
I have been taking a class on ethics as part of my military training. I really have been enjoying it, both in what I have learned and the fellowship with other military chaplains. My plan was to stay at the base where I have been staying but at the last minute, I decided to make … Read More “Surprise Visit” »
My good news for this week is about our children, Logan and Abby. I have been talking about how they were moving into the same group home. That did take place and today was their first home visit since their move. I was greeted at the door, with Logan exclaiming, “Hi Dad!” Abby was excited … Read More “Together Again” »
I struggled with my good news post even though Easter Sunday is the pinnacle of good news for the Christian. As an ordained pastor and Bible teacher, I should be focused completely on the resurrection of Jesus. Of course that is important and we had a fantastic Easter service today at our church. But I … Read More “Bitter Sweet Memories” »
Some weeks are easier than others to write my good news post. This was one of my easier weeks. We received a number of fantastic blessings this week. One of the most important for me has to do with Amanda. She had some serious health concerns recently. Having seen someone else with similar symptoms, we … Read More “So Many Blessings” »
In Ontario, we have a holiday called Family Day. It is not a holiday that I grew up with, but it is one that I am glad that we have. Sure, every day should be family day but it is nice to have a specific day to push us in this direction. Although we had … Read More “Family Day” »
Being a pastor is a high calling. It can be both an enjoyable and fulfilling career. One of the challenges of being a pastor is that there are many bosses, whether official or not. A congregation can make a pastor’s time good or bad based on how they feel the pastor is doing. The pastor … Read More “Pastors, Families and Priorities” »
Christmas is a bittersweet time for our family. It is at this time that we really feel the impact of autism. Christmas looks a lot different for us than it would if Logan and Abby didn’t have autism. If they didn’t have autism, they would live with us instead of in group homes. Being twelve … Read More “An Autistic Christmas” »
I have recently moved from doing a daily good news post to a weekly good news post. This allows me to focus on one really good thing for that week. However, as I write this there are three really good things that I have to share. The first thing is that I am very happy … Read More “Three Good Things” »
Since I don’t share as much personal stuff on this blog, I thought that for my good news post I would give a quick update and prayer request for each of our five children. 1) Logan is our oldest and he is now in grade eight. He has been in a group home for about … Read More “Five Blessings” »
Sunday is my time to share a good news report from the past week. I will confess that this is a hard week to find good news. It has been a difficult week at the Bedard household. That is as much as I will say about that. Tonight as I was feeling at my lowest, … Read More “Praying at the Cross” »
I am an introvert. There I said it. I need time to recharge. But in our crazy life there is not much time for that. I have three jobs plus guest preaching. I have a wife and five kids. Where will I find the time? Amanda gave me the time. Last week, Justus was away … Read More “Gift of Time” »
For my good news item, sometimes it is something big and sometimes it is something small. Today’s good news will be small to you but big to me. Logan and Abby generally come for a visit from their group homes on Saturdays. Since lunch seemed to pass us by, we decided to pick up a … Read More “Walking With My Girl” »
Today was the last day of VBS at Queensway Baptist Church. It ended with a community barbecue tonight. That was a lot of fun. While Justus missed out on this and Amanda was working, me and the girls were able to go. I really appreciate our church and the work they do. It was nice … Read More “A Nice Wrap Up” »
Today was the last day of swimming lessons for the kids. It was two weeks of swimming lessons every weekday and it was amazing to watch the development in their skills. It was a steady improvement every day. It helped that they had a great teacher and that she both made it fun and kept … Read More “Aqua Kids” »
Was today a better day? Well, not really. I am not going to go into details but I will say that the police may or may not have been involved. Don’t worry, I did not break any laws. However, it was enough to dampen my mood. Later in the day it was time to make … Read More “Joy From Faith” »
We are not the richest family. We do not have all the gadgets and gizmos. You probably won’t drive by our house or car and struggle with envy. But money is not everything. Last year at this time, I was sure that I was dying. I was walking with a cane and had dropped a … Read More “Thankful For What I Have” »
Last night Justus had a friend sleep over. That is always interesting as it turns his 8 pm bedtime into an 11 pm bedtime. However, Justus asked if his friend could come with us to church in the morning. I was very proud of him for asking. How many of us are afraid of asking. But … Read More “Proud of My Son” »
The high point of my day was going to watch the children’s swimming lessons. I was going to stay home but Amanda talked me into going. It was incredible seeing the improvement in swimming for all three kids. They are way better than last year. It is an exciting age as they learn not gradually but … Read More “Swimming Lessons” »
As I have mentioned before, Saturdays really are my favourite day of the week. This is the day Logan and Abby come for a visit. It is so good to have them here. I love listening to Abby sing and watching Logan play around on the iPad. I also get to see glimpses of the … Read More “Saturday is Family Day” »
It was getting toward the end of the day. Another hour and the girls would have to go to bed. Justus was out with a (girl) friend. Faith ran to the TV and slipped in a DVD and turned to me with a big grin. She put in an old 1949 Batman & Robin serial. … Read More “Me, My Girls and Batman & Robin” »
My good news for tonight is that Amanda and I had nice quiet evening. What did we do? We watched Sherlock. I think Sherlock may be the best show I have ever seen. The only bad thing about it is that there are only three episodes in a season. If you have never watched Sherlock, … Read More “Elementary” »
Unfortunately I did not make it to church today as I got sick just as we were leaving. This was disappointing for two reasons. One was that Amanda was on the worship team and this was the first time she was in a long time. She did a great job as always. The second reason … Read More “Proud Dad” »
Tonight Amanda took Justus for his first worship team practice. Justus has some natural talent for music (although not a lot of patience for lessons) and he has a great interest as well. What I am most excited about is not how Justus performs but rather how people at our church have reached out to … Read More “Connecting With Music” »
As you may know, my wife had a pretty serious health scare a while back. She had to take some time off work and even then was only able to go back part-time. Today, Amanda was able to go back to work full-time. She is still undergoing tests and we don’t know what happened, but … Read More “Full Time” »
We had a good visit with Logan and Abby. Our time with Abby was fairly typical but after she left, we had something we have not had for some time. We went out into the backyard and spent time together. This is easier as we have been doing some spring cleaning and have made much … Read More “Backyard Friends” »
I just had an experience I never thought I would have. Amanda and the girls went out. Justus was out with his friends. That left Logan and I together. We needed milk so I had to go to the store. I have not gone out with Logan in a long time but I thought I … Read More “Logan Made My Day” »
Amanda spent the morning at the hospital today. I won’t go into details as to the nature of the problem. She has more tests tomorrow and we may know more then. Where is good news in this? There is no good news in being sick. But there is good news in that I was able … Read More “A Morning at the Hospital” »
Almost every Saturday I have an easy good news item. The reason is that Logan and Abby come for a visit on Saturdays. It is so fun to have them here. We get lots of hugs and we get to watch them do their thing in their autistic ways. Abby always asks for snacks and … Read More “Always Loving Logan and Abby” »
Today was an interesting day for me, one that brought back memories. For years (or at least as long as he has been aware of them), Justus has been bugging me about my model trains that have been in a box in our crawl space. These trains mean a lot to me. They were my … Read More “Train a Child…” »
When I am around Logan and Abby, we always have a great time. They are fun, happy and loving kids. We know them well, we have our way of communicating with them and we know how to interact. There is always lots of laughter, hugging and playing. Most of the time that is enough. Most … Read More “The Hardest Thing” »
I always look forward to the weekend so we can have our visit with Logan and Abby. I really feel it when we miss a visit. In fact this weekend it was moved from Saturday to Monday and I was already missing them. It was great to have them here. It was interesting to see … Read More “Logan and Abby” »
This morning, Abby went into surgery to have three extra teeth removed. She did well, but was pretty cranky about the whole thing. Of course who wouldn’t be? It will be interesting to see her without this third set of teeth that were coming in. This reminds me of the first time Abby had surgery. … Read More “Abby is Not Dead” »
Today is Emma’s seventh birthday! Emma really was our surprise baby. We actually did not know she was coming into our family until the day she was born. But we are very happy that she did come to us. She is a lot of fun. She is definitely our girly girl. She is all about … Read More “Happy Birthday Emma!” »
Tonight was a good evening. The kids asked us if they could go to Once Upon a Child for some secondhand toys. We agreed but went with dread. Shopping with the kids is a nightmare. We experienced that in full force on Sunday trying to get Amanda a Mother’s Day gift. But we went anyway. … Read More “Date Night” »
Amanda went out with some friends tonight and so it was up to me to take care of the kids. Evenings are not always the best as they are tired and we are tired and this can make things unsettled. I kind of like having Amanda around to help out. But I did my best. … Read More “A Nice Evening With the Kids” »
