Last year’s Easter season wasn’t very joyful for me. Easter is usually my favorite holiday. I love how happy everybody is after a month and a half of sacrifice during Lent. It’s such a fun holiday for me. But last year was different.

Easter Sunday wasn’t a good day. We were rushing around before church. I wasn’t feeling well so I had to miss the egg hunt with my kids. And then we got into a fender bender on the way to my aunt’s house. I attempted to see the positive in the situation and tried to remember tomorrow was a new day.

But the bad days continued. I wasn’t happy. I prayed but didn’t feel God was listening or even there at all. It was a hard season for me. I also had other things on my mind.

A few weeks before Easter, we went to the park and my kids needed help with everything on the playground. All three of my kids have special needs and are developmentally delayed. I watched the other kids on the playground, the same ages as my kids, climb ladders and go down slides that my kids weren’t able to do on their own.

My oldest son Nicholas was in his walker. My middle son Daniel wasn’t fazed. He was eager to try everything the other kids were doing. He wanted to explore the tunnel, and climb up the ladders, and go down the big slide.

After helping Daniel climb a ladder that was challenging, he seemed defeated and we settled for the easier part of the playground. The stairs he could climb on his own and the smaller slide that doesn’t scare him. Nobody noticed except me. It was just my own insecurities.

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That’s when it hit me. The isolation became very real for me in that moment. I suppose that day was still on my mind during that Easter season. I realized I needed mom friends that were on a similar journey as I am. Because that’s the only way I was going to get through this difficult time.

I had mom friends from church, and I had special needs moms friends separate from each other. I had been in support groups online and on Facebook and through our children’s hospital. I needed to put everything together. I needed to talk about my faith with other special needs moms. That’s something I didn’t have, but desperately needed. I researched Christian special needs parents groups and found nothing in my community. I decided I had to create my own.

A month later I met with the priest at my church to talk about starting a support group for parents with kids with special needs. The meeting went really well and he was incredibly supportive. He agreed that it was something important and very needed in the Church. We waited to start until the fall so we could advertise it at the parish fall festival.

I had to completely trust in God that he wanted me to start this group and that he would bring me members. I didn’t have a list of people interested or anything like that, nothing to go off of, no foundation. I met with one person before our first meeting who I knew for sure was interested, but that was it. I had absolutely no idea what that first meeting was going to look like. I was going in blind.

I prayed for one more person to show up to our first meeting. I wanted three of us to be there. I put my trust in God and he answered my prayers. Three people were at the first meeting and now after 8 months, we have six people in our group. We meet monthly and we read scripture together, talk about our struggles, and laugh with one another.

We were able to have our meeting in person in March right before stay-at-home orders for the COVID-19 pandemic went into effect for Colorado a week later. Last week we met on Zoom video chat since we couldn’t be together. It was very informal which was really nice. We laughed about gaining the Quarantine 15, talked about the positives from being at home, and how much we miss being able to go to church in person.

This group has brought me so much joy. The fellowship and community with parents of similar journeys and faith is something I am truly grateful for. In a time of isolation during a season that’s supposed to be joyful, God gave me such a great gift in the end. I didn’t see it in the moment, but He was there with me the whole time. I’m glad he used me to start this wonderful group. And I’m happy to say that this Easter season has been a blessing so far.