Jolene Philo
I met Jolene a couple of years ago in a mom's group that I had recently joined that was (is) designed specifically to reach out to and care for moms of children who experience special needs.
Jolene was the guest speaker that day and as I listened to her story I was transported in time to when the events of her story began to unfold. By the end of her heartbreaking, yet triumphant story, I realized I had been on a journey. I had traveled the road of excitement, grief, worry, hope and triumph all in the span of 30 minutes. My face: streaked with tears, showed clearly the road I had traveled.
I immediately felt a kinship to Jolene as she too knew the road I was on. Jolene had been there before and where the path was quite new and unfamiliar to me, she was a veteran traveler and anticipated the turns and detours she knew I would encounter one day on my journey.
Before Jolene began to speak that evening, she explained that she might shed a tear or two but set our expectations that she would not be sorry as the tears were an important part of her story/healing and she wanted her tears to glorify God.
I felt humbled. I wanted her strength - I was still apologizing for my heart's raw expressions and grief.
I emailed Jolene after that meeting. We connected and have been email/blogging buddies ever since.
Jolene just released her second book which - can it be possible?- is even MORE informative than her first. Jolene is an amazing writer and she has such a diverse and experienced life story to draw from.
In Jolene's books, she tells you the story of all that occurred at the birth and in the subsequent years that followed the entrance of her precious firstborn into the world.
Her baby boy's first years were so heartbreakingly traumatic!
Some of the beliefs and practices of the medical community were horrific and would be deemed cruel in today's age of informaton and knowledge. It's no wonder that Jolene's son experienced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder many years later.
But don't let me ruin the book for you...
What I really want to to do is introduce you to that precious baby's mama, the author and my friend: Jolene Philo.
Tomorrow, I will share Part 1 of the interview she blessed me with where you will learn so much more about her story. In a few days, I'll share my personal review of her book.
AND... as an added bonus, Jolene has generously donated a copy of her new book - just released last month: Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guide to Raising a Child with Special Needs for me to give away to one lucky reader!
To enter the drawing to receive a FREE copy of Jolene's new book just do one or more of the following before December 20th:
* Comment on this blog post
* Sign up to "Follow" my blog (and leave a comment letting me know you did)
I hope you will check back tomorrow to read Part I of my interview with Jolene.
Also, if you get a chance, feel free to check out Jolene's blog http://www.differentdream.com/
I would love to win Jolene's book! I am a mom of a 7 year old daughter with autism. Our Children's Pastor (a former Special Needs Pre-K teacher) and his wife (our Church Director of Special Needs Ministries/Camp Director/Stone Soup Director and National Trainer and ABA therapist) asked me and my husband to serve as co-teachers in a parenting class for parents of children with special needs. We just haven't had much to contribute to the class to this point except being the class model. (Whatever happens in our family's life become the subject of the next week's lesson!) I would like to win Jolene's book so I could offer more to the class. Also, I put together a retreat for 70 moms of children with special needs this past summer and we are looking to repeat that again in 2012. I feel like I have a good understanding of why God has chosen this path for our family and I can share that with our class and at our retreat but, with so many diverse parenting styles and diagnoses, I would like to have as much input as I can get from other Christians to be able to effectively minister to other families.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for offering Different Dream Parenting!
Thank you so much for your comment. You are now entered in the drawing for Jolene's new book. I'll be announcing the winner on December 21st. I would also love to learn more about you and your little one since we have so much in common. Please email me when you get a chance. My email is brightencorner@hotmail.com.
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