Greetings from the Rainbow Room
from Linda Beaver

Being a mom of a son with special needs and having the honor of working with some of the children with special needs in our congregation, I wanted to take the time to share some thoughts with you. When I was first told of my son’s autism, I wasn’t surprised. Since my son was two years of age he was a little different, keeping to himself, no communication of any type, stressing over loud noises and yet having the amazing ability to put things, puzzles, legos, etc. together. I had some wonderful friends who also had children with differing special needs to guide me, open my eyes and let me see the wonderful little boy within the mystery of his mind. I was given a poem written by a mother who had a son Jason who is diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome.

Welcome to Holland
By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imaging how it would feel. It’s like this…

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans… the Coliseum, Michelangelo’s ‘ David,’ the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.” “ Holland?” you say, “What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you wouldn’t ever have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy…and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, “Yes that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.” And the pain of that will never, every, ever go away…because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But…if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things…about Holland.

For me I love Holland. I have learned some incredible things about my world, myself and about God as well. For example, Mason of Burke UMC, told me about God’s ears… they are big because he can hear everything I say. I also learned that nothing works better at getting rid of the blues than a hug full of passion and spirit like the ones I get from Adam. Here at Burke UMC you have an opportunity to visit Holland. Just come at 9:30 AM on Sundays to room 9 and see the wonderful windmills of joy and laughter that comes from knowing these kids.

Contact Linda Beaver for more information about the Rainbow Room special needs Sunday School program at Burke UMC.