Special Needs Charts

While the kiddos were playing quietly today, I sat down with the chart of special needs.  We have to fill out the chart of various special needs, and indicate if we are open to this need, possibly open, or closed to it. There is also a place for notes.

Needs like HIV, partial blindness or vision issues, dwarfism, cleft lip/palate, heart conditions, etc I am vaguely familiar with, or at least can pronounce the concept, if not give specifics about the condition.  Other needs like thalassemia and hydrocephalus?  I have no idea.

So I just sat down and googled, and copied and pasted some definitions into a document so that Philip can read over them.

How do we sort through this?  How do I determine which needs I am more able to handle than other needs?  How much is too much? Do I limit it to correctable needs?  How do I differentiate between needs that my family can readily accept into daily life and other needs that are too disruptive to my "perfect" little family life?  What about mental or developmental needs? How scared am I to face something new and adapt?  How ready am I to open myself to something God may be wishing to bless me with, even if it's outside my comfort zone?

How many trips to the doctor's office do I want to make?  Am I up for specialists and repeated surgeries and treatments and medications?  How much of a learning curve do I want here?

The easy answer is "a missing baby toe is acceptable." And if that is what we are up for, that's fine.  But, how do we listen to what God is asking of us?  How do we, with open minds and hearts, make responsible and realistic decisions for our family?

I really don't know.