At Family Retreat, Special Needs Families Say, “We Are Home!”
“Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.”
Philemon 1:7
Two-year-old Benjamin has complex cerebral palsy. He needs a trach and gets nutrition through a feeding tube. For Benjamin’s family—his parents, Loren and Heidi, and his sisters, Elyse, Mya, and Olivia—disability has brought many challenges. But through Joni and Friends, they have experienced respite, belonging, and joy.
When Benjamin’s family arrived at Family Retreat, love and support surrounded them right away.
Volunteers helped unpack their van and get the children settled. Benjamin got paired with a volunteer who observed Loren and Heidi caring for him.
She learned how to hold Benjamin and how to calm his spastic muscles. Then she jumped right in giving him outstanding care all week as he participated in all the activities.
“She truly served with her hands and her heart,” said Benjamin’s parents.
Heidi remembers standing at the cappuccino machine the first morning at Family Retreat. Her eyes clouded with tears at the kindness of the Joni and Friends staff and volunteers. The simple gift of a warm drink with her breakfast moved her.
“Joni and Friends recognizes the unending weariness and isolating nature of caring for a loved one with disabilities. They also understand the tremendous comfort that comes from carrying one another’s burdens.”
Heidi
Loren and Heidi found themselves at ease knowing their children were in great hands, with volunteers trained to serve families living with disability. Benjamin’s sisters also enjoyed Family Retreat.
Ten-year-old Elyse said, “The events in the evenings are super fun. Retreat was a huge highlight of my summer and I know it will be again this year.”
The whole family looks forward to returning to Family Retreat.
Finding Deep Connection
Loren and Heidi especially value the deep connections that form quickly at Family Retreat between families who share experiences with disability. Looking out during meals to see a group of people in wheelchairs, with prosthetic limbs, with feeding pumps and many other disabilities, they found themselves thinking, “We are home!”
“The connections we made allowed us to return home last year with an attitude of embracing this journey we are on, instead of merely surviving it.
Joni and Friends has helped each one in our family to see past the devastation of our son’s disability to recognize the beauty that remains and to embrace God’s redemption of our story in his perfect way.”
Heidi
Across the country and around the world, thousands of families like Benjamin’s find hope through hardship at Joni and Friends Retreats & Getaways, respite programs, and more. You can help us serve even more families, in Pennsylvania and all over the world.
Support Joni and Friends Pennsylvania
God is doing incredible things in Pennsylvania. Your generous support ensures that more and more families living under the strain of disability can experience the miraculous power of Jesus!
