Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to "Joni and Friends".
As you know, our Joni and Friends International Disability Center is a real destination for visitors who come to southern California. Because of that, we have a fantastic team of docents who give wonderful tours of our headquarters (there’s so much interesting stuff to see and learn). Well, our newest docent is Jessica – she is the mother of two boys with muscular dystrophy, JoeJoe and Dominik. She also has a typical little girl named Ali. Well, Jessica and her children attended one of our Family Retreats earlier this summer and had an awesome time. She wanted to tell one of the mothers at her local child development center about our ministry, and so she invited this mom and her little son who has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair to come and tour our International Disability Center. When they all came into my office, we made a crowd – between me and my wheelchair and those two little boys in their wheelchairs and Judah in his wheelchair it was a full house!
As I always do, I showed the children my art studio. They were mesmerized by all my brushes and pastel pencils and color charts and oil paints. All four of the kids spotted a bunch of boxed crayons all neatly stacked up on the counter next to my art easel. And so as I always do, I passed out these crayons to all the children – 24 in a box, not just the standard 8 or 12 – no, no, no I like to give 24. I encouraged JoeJoe, Dominik and Ali to draw something for our Kids’ Corner – I told them that I might even hang one of their drawings in my studio for other kids to see. That’s when I spotted Judah giving me a longing look. Mind you, Judah cannot speak and he has no dexterity in his hands – he can’t hold crayons.
But that was no barrier! I gave this 5-year-old his own box of crayons, and his eyes got wide and happy. But in the next instance, I noticed that Judah had a questioning look in his eyes, like, Boy, I love crayons, but Miss Joni, can’t you see my hands don’t work? I’d give anything to use crayons, but I can’t hold them. As soon as I saw that perplexed look on his face, I explained to Judah that, yes, I so sometimes draw holding crayons between my teeth!But I immediately showed him a few of my pencils covered in clear plastic tubing, and I said, “Judah, crayons are really just soft wax and you don’t want to chomp through them – that would be so easy to do, plus it would taste really bad. So make sure your mommy covers the ends of your crayons in clear plastic tubing – that way, you can grip these crayons with your teeth as hard as you want, and you won’t bite through them.”
Well, you should have seen his eyes light up. Oh, my goodness, even for a small child, he could tell I understood his limitations. The God of all encouragement, as Isaiah describes the Lord, was strengthening the heart of this precious child and his mom. And I can’t wait to see what this little disabled boy draws for me – holding his crayons between his teeth! And, hey, you just have to see a photo of Judah and the others – we snapped it when we gathered together in my office. Just go to my radio page at joniandfriends.org where we’ve posted that wonderful photo of JoeJoe, Dominik, Ali and little Judah in his bright yellow wheelchair. And while you’re on my radio page, don’t forget to ask for your free copy of “Access to God” – it’s a Gospel pamphlet that includes lots and lots of my artwork. And for all you special-needs moms listening in, be encouraged; find out more about our ministry to families affected by disability by visiting our other ministry pages at joniandfriends.org.
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Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376