After a decade of caring for their traumatically brain-injured daughter, Harold and Janette Schuringa of Oakville think they know the answer. And an epic adventure on the Camino de Santiago last year with then 33-year-old Jen confirmed their hunch. To flourish, Jen needs challenge, community, and faith. This was not a question that Harold and…
Sunshine, good coffee and incredible scenery. For seven days in December, I was able to enjoy the beautiful country of New Zealand’s North Island. Our second-born child currently lives in Wellington on a holiday work visa, and it had been 566 days since I had hugged my kid. Cue our team of nurses, a willing…
A curb, door and stairs are all barriers. The Americans with Disabilities Act sought to make us barrier free, but people complained about the ADA regulations. The real barriers are in hearts and minds. The walls A man came to worship, but he could not go all the way into the Temple because of his…
I received my first Bible when I was seven years old. It arrived book by book as each volume was produced in Braille. The first were the Gospel of Matthew and Acts of the Apostles, and I read them voraciously until the next ones arrived. When they did, I stood back and gazed admiringly at…
When a close friend began to follow the teachings of a faith healing ministry in Texas, I was guarded and suspicious. I had a vague idea of what they would say – that disability was the result of sin and if you prayed hard enough, you could be healed – but I was shocked by…
When I start getting Rachel and Janneke ready for their day, one of the first things I do is ask, “What do you want to wear today?” Often, I am simply answered with a smile. Sometimes they can give me an indication with eye gaze if I present two options. Their eyes might rest longer…
In the spring, my daughter Georgia gave birth to a beautiful eight-pound baby girl named Enid. While still in hospital, tests were run following up on abnormalities seen on in-utero ultrasounds. We, Enid’s family, were bewildered when she was diagnosed with congenital Cytomegalovirus (CMV). We had never heard of it. “Don’t google it,” the pediatrician…
Robert Bruinsma remembers the day his friend, Sam, told him he was going to die. It was a few days before Christmas 2017, and Bruinsma was visiting Sam (not his real name) in the hospital. Sam told Bruinsma that his request for medical assistance in dying (MAID) had been approved and would be carried out…
I bought new shoes recently. They are unlike any shoes I’ve ever bought before. They are sleek and streamlined on top, rugged with aggressive tread on the bottom, and they have high-tech elastic “speed laces” with a quick-action toggle and a nifty secret pocket on the tongue in which to hide it. The only thing…
It’s the last month of school for many Ontario students, and it’s the last month of Janneke’s last year in elementary school. She’s our youngest child, so this is a significant time for us as a family. We’ve accessed different schools over the years for all four of our children: government-funded systems (public and Catholic)…
Observing the slow shift from winter into spring is therapeutic. I enjoyed time outside recently with my mother–in-law. We made a point to just sit in the sun for a while. With delight, she pointed to the crocuses popping their heads out of the soil in the gardens around her long-term care home. May marks…
Our oldest lives downtown Toronto, and on my visits, we’ve enjoyed walks in High Park, exploring the side streets, and finding good coffee. In one small shop on Bloor St. in Toronto, I found a game that includes nine cubes that look like dice. Instead of dots for numbers, each side of each cube has…
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