{"id":37,"date":"2013-04-13T17:28:35","date_gmt":"2013-04-13T21:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/?page_id=37"},"modified":"2023-02-22T04:53:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T09:53:55","slug":"articles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/articles\/","title":{"rendered":"Articles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reframing Ministries spotlight on Joe and Cindi and their ‘Unexpected Journey’ … read it here<\/a><\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

A module of articles compiled by\u00a0 Focus on the Family \u2013 Parenting a\u00a0Special Needs Child with excerpts from <\/strong>Unexpected Journey<\/strong><\/em> are under module #5, \u201cFeeling Isolated\u201d: click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For blogs by the Ferrini\u2019s click here:\u00a0https:\/\/www.keyministry.org\/<\/a>\u00a0 and search for Cindi Ferrini<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

When\u00a0 Life Gets Tough(er) \u2013 by Joe and Cindi Ferrini, Cleveland, OH
\n\u00a9Joe and Cindi Ferrini\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

Life as we knew it was about to change \u2013 again.\u00a0 Along with our \u201cspecial needs\u201d young adult\u00a0 son and our college and high-school aged daughters we began a series of challenging\u00a0 adjustments when Joe\u2019s mom joined our household.\u00a0 Recovering from a two month hospitalization\u00a0 and nursing home rehabilitation stay, she unpacked her few and simple\u00a0 belongings along with the sad realization that her vascular\u00a0 dementia\/Alzheimer\u2019s diagnosis was causing her decline at a more rapid pace\u00a0 than we had yet to see so clearly.<\/p>\n

At that point, we had weathered seven years of storms:\u00a0 losing Joe\u2019s dad to cancer, Cindi\u2019a brother to suicide and her mom\u2019s sudden\u00a0 death followed by her dad\u2019s death 5 days later (after a long and slow 6 year\u00a0 decline), and stabilizing our son\u2019s medications for gran-mal seizures.\u00a0 We weathered these storms like we all do,\u00a0 while continuing to work, doing ministry, investing in family and friends, and\u00a0 trying to find the good in each day.\u00a0 We\u00a0 hadn\u2019t had a chance to catch our breath when Joe\u2019s Mom\u2019s health began taking\u00a0 some new turns as the \u201cnew\u201d Mom Ferrini moved in.<\/p>\n

The helpful woman we had known now needed help showering,\u00a0 finding her glasses, shuffling down simple steps, knowing which medications to\u00a0 take, and figuring out how to use the phone that she mistook as the remote\u00a0 control.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s wasn\u2019t the only one who had changed.\u00a0 We all had to change.\u00a0 We had to adjust to less sleep and more\u00a0 responsibilities.\u00a0 Hearing different\u00a0 noises from Mom\u2019s room would be our \u201ccall\u201d to check on her for fear she might\u00a0 wander toward steps or other areas she was not familiar with in our home.\u00a0 We had to change our schedules, our outside\u00a0 commitments (job, ministries, time with family and friends), our daily\u00a0 expectations and even our attitudes.\u00a0 Sometimes\u00a0 the children had to rearrange school activities or time with friends.\u00a0 We all did our share of canceling things we\u00a0 really wanted to do because we felt the need to stay with mom.\u00a0 When therapists came, we would have to\u00a0 arrange our day to be home to talk with them and learn what we had to do to\u00a0 help Mom.<\/p>\n

There were also the changes we had to make regarding our\u00a0 emotions and our attitudes.\u00a0 We occasionally\u00a0 had to lovingly confront Mom\u2019s self-centeredness (a part of the disease, not\u00a0 what she was like previously).\u00a0 She had\u00a0 become so selfish and negative, that even conversation with her had become very\u00a0 challenging.\u00a0 We initiated an activity each\u00a0 night at the dinner table in which we could all participate.\u00a0 Truly, we all needed it!\u00a0 Each of us shared the \u201cblessing of the day\u201d and<\/em><\/strong> \u201chow we were able to help or be kind to someone else\u201d. \u00a0This activity helped us to see the \u201cpositive\u201d\u00a0 in each day, and how God was helping us through this time.<\/p>\n

We all experienced changes, and noticed that our personal\u00a0 character development was as ongoing and constant as our care for Mom.\u00a0 Just as Mom and our son needed help with\u00a0 daily living skills, we recognized we needed help, too.\u00a0 We needed help to focus outside of our world\u00a0 or caregiving and reach out to others wherever God asks us to serve.\u00a0 We had to accept criticism from others who thought\u00a0 things should be handled differently, causing us to take inventory of our own\u00a0 flaws and deficiencies when these criticisms come to us.\u00a0 These challenges continued to \u201credirect\u201d us each\u00a0 day and moment to moment as we relied on the Holy Spirit to control and empower\u00a0 us. When we were frustrated, we asked the Lord for help through these\u00a0 challenging times.\u00a0 He taught us through\u00a0 His word, to do what we knew to be right, not just what was comfortable, easy\u00a0 or fun.\u00a0 He helped us to show\u00a0 unconditional love to Mom as He has shown to us.\u00a0 Because he gave us these challenges, we learned\u00a0 to be more loving in relationships, more purposeful in ministry, more creative\u00a0 with our use of time, and more reliant upon Him.\u00a0 We continued to focus on who we are in Christ\u00a0 as we proceed through the process of becoming more like Him.<\/p>\n

Along the road of our unexpected journey, a few years have\u00a0 passed, and Mom Ferrini is now with the Lord, we have one child married, and\u00a0 Joe is semi-retired.\u00a0 We sense a new\u00a0 freedom in being able to differently consider the use of our time, talents and\u00a0 treasures for our family and His work. \u00a0We also sense, that while we are experiencing\u00a0 some freedom right now, there will be a time, probably not too far around the\u00a0 corner, when life will challenge us and we will once again be called to make\u00a0 some choices.\u00a0 We know these choices will\u00a0 cause us to make changes in our life, attitude, emotions, etc.<\/p>\n

We know we become \u201cnew and improved\u201d as we go through the\u00a0 process of change, but in our humanness and selfish ways, we sometimes wish for\u00a0 a quick fix to life\u2019s challenges.\u00a0 We\u00a0 want to put in our order, and like a fast food meal, get what we asked for.\u00a0 But just like time-tested products that do\u00a0 their jobs effectively and efficiently, God is teaching and molding us to\u00a0 better serve Him by serving others, even when the serving is very difficult.\u00a0 Yes, we recognize that the challenges we had\u00a0 and choices we made have caused us to grow in our walk with Christ. \u00a0And, it continues to be \u201ctrue\u201d that we don\u2019t\u00a0 seem to learn as much through the good and easy times, like we do – when life\u00a0 gets tough(er)!<\/p>\n

Joe and Cindi Ferrini\u00a0 have written UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, sharing their story of caring for their son\u00a0 and parents in their special needs. To find out more about their story, or to\u00a0 order a book, they can be contacted at www.joeferrini.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reframing Ministries spotlight on Joe and Cindi and their ‘Unexpected Journey’ … read it here A module of articles compiled by\u00a0 Focus on the Family \u2013 Parenting a\u00a0Special Needs Child with excerpts from Unexpected Journey are under module #5, \u201cFeeling Isolated\u201d: click here. For blogs by the Ferrini\u2019s click here:\u00a0https:\/\/www.keyministry.org\/\u00a0 and search for Cindi Ferrini […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-37","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3257,"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions\/3257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}