Weekly round-up! {8/15/11}

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I'm not sure if she reads this blog (because, unlike my other one, I don't include pictures of her grandbabies here!), but HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY to my beautiful mother. I hope you had a marvelous day yesterday! I let the blog have a sabbath day on Sundays, so I couldn't include the well wishes until today.

Will We Protect the Little Ones?: If you've read this blog before, you probably know that I admire the way that John Knight points to God's sovereignty in disability with both his life and his writings. This post from the Desiring God blog is no exception:
Prenatal tests are not the problem. The problem is the bias of our culture against the lives of little ones born with Down syndrome. Our culture does not think that these littles ones should be given the opportunity to live.
And there is no neutral ground on this issue: you are either doing something to protect the lives of unborn babies with disabilities or you are letting the culture pressure parents about what they "should do."
'Environment' Poses a Knotty Challenge in Autism: This news article from the NY Times is the best one I've read about the complexity in possible causes of autism spectrum disorders. (And it makes me thankful for the One who holds all the answers.)
Recent research has taught us more about the complexity of the genetics of autism, but the evidence also has suggested an important role for environmental exposures. It has become a very complicated picture: Genes matter, but we usually can’t tell how. Environmental exposures matter, but we usually don’t know which.
Teens, Tweens, and Transitions for the Student with Disabilities: This isn't a recent post - it's about seven months old - but it speaks to issues of age-appropriateness that I discussed in my Q&A last week. Plus it's written by a special needs ministry veteran and advocate I respect greatly, Jackie Mills-Fernald. In the article you'll find specific tips for inclusion and wonderful nuggets like this one:
Instead of saying we have no program for an individual with disability, why not ask, "What do we need to do to make a place for them in the body, so even those with disabilities have a church life like yours and mine?" Jimmy has a life like that; a life where he is able to impact those in the church, community and globally with the love of Christ, even with his diagnosis of Autism, because Jimmy has a church family that sees past his disability and sees his ability and potential as a child in Christ and Kingdom builder.
Eye Contact and Churches Including Children with Disabilities: This article, also from the International Network of Children's Ministry, is written by another passionate advocate for special needs ministry, Barbara Newman. She writes,
While speaking at a conference in Saint Louis, I met a pastor who just finished up a phone conversation with a family friend. He had been asked to fly to their community and lead the funeral service for their five-year-old child who had just died due to complications from several areas of disability. He had asked this family if their own local pastor would also be participating in the funeral service. The family admitted that they had no local church. They had tried eight churches within an hour driving distance from their home, and each one had said, "Sorry, we do not have anything for you here." The church down the road, however, had agreed to host the funeral service. I looked that pastor in the eye and said, "It is amazing that the first time this child's body will be welcome in church will be in a casket".
 Wow.

Now, as usual, here are some glimpses this week of the body of Christ rallying around families with special needs in a good way,