The Edwards Family

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Told by Cathy Edwards

Keith is the youngest of our six grown children. We are blessed to have four grandchildren, with one more on the way. Every day, we are grateful for the ways God has shown his love for us, through our family.

When Keith was born, I could feel the grace and patience of Jesus’s love for him in my soul. Keith was born with Down syndrome and autism; but we all knew that Keith was God’s perfect plan. He is now 21 years old and has been attending Jill’s House since 2010. If Jill’s House had not been part of our lives for all these years, it’s hard to imagine how things would’ve been.

Keith’s first weekend stay at Jill’s House was two months after it had opened, in 2010, when he was 11 years old. We were so nervous, as we had never before considered the idea of respite or our child staying away from home overnight. But I’ll never forget the look on his face when we were driving home after the first weekend. He appeared to be in a kind of dream state, as if he were replaying the whole weekend in his mind. It was almost as if he couldn’t believe it was real; maybe he was wondering if it was going to happen again. He was quiet. And this type of behavior wasn’t typical for him; so I knew, at that moment, that Jill’s House was really something special.

Between each visit, Keith would mark the days on the calendar until his next visit. He had been going to Jill’s House for about a year, when we began noticing how comfortable he was. He would walk into the building and say, “POD two, please!” He was so at ease that it was almost as if he were checking into a hotel.

Though Jill’s House has mostly been for Keith’s benefit, it feels like God has used Keith and Jill’s House to impact the whole family!

After observing Keith at Jill’s House, our middle daughter applied to be a volunteer there. Later, she took a staff position. She said that she had never worked at a place where people just loved to be there. She had once considered going into Nutrition. But, observing Keith at Jill’s House and being on the team as a volunteer and an employee changed her heart, and consequently her career path. When you witness people come forward to help fund a cause or help serve, it replaces fear with love. It inspires you to step up and do the same. We feel that there is no other place in the world for families like ours. Our daughter is now a Special Education Teacher.

When Keith was younger and we were attending the McLean Bible Church (MBC), we were excited about Jill’s House opening in the community. Before that, Keith would participate in the Access Ministry at the church, while we would attend the worship service. It was during that time when our faith in God’s sovereign plan was really nurtured. We were attending the MBC, so Keith could participate in the Access Ministry. However, we believe that God provided a space for Keith, so my husband would return to church. It was while we were attending the MBC that my husband accepted Jesus as his savior.

God’s plan, for our lives, is always greater than our plan!

While we feel very fortunate that Keith has had all this time at Jill’s House, we also feel sad that he will be aging out of the program in a few months. Our dream is that Jill’s House continues to help families, even as kids grow into adulthood. Jill’s House brings such joy and comfort to families!

Keith loves interacting with people, using technology, and making people laugh. He loves kids and will be assisting us as we develop a Special Needs Ministry, at our new church. We are excited to see how God uses Keith to bless others in the future!

God’s plan is always greater than anything we could possibly dream of, and God’s grace is always sufficient.

Thank you for making stories like Keith’s possible.

The Knowlton Family

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Meet Margot and Family

“To describe Margot in one word it would be, tenacious! She is a great friend, and a strong advocate for kids with special needs. She is sensitive to the needs of others and has such a great spirit! Margot was born with Down Syndrome and has always had to work extra hard to do simple things. But she is wonderfully tenacious.”

“Margot considers herself to be an average 15-year-old high schooler and she has a good group of friends. She has an older brother who will be going off to college in the fall, and a 4-year-old brother we adopted after fostering him when he was a baby. We know Margot sometimes feels left out, being a girl with special needs in the middle of her brothers, but she truly loves her family.”

“As a toddler we received in-home therapy support and the therapists would often come to the home with their bags of toys and treats. Margot quickly learned that bags were like a treasure chest! You never know what is inside. If we were at the beach or with other friends, she would often go through bags hoping to find something fun. She had such a light even as young toddler that her inquisitiveness wasn’t a bother! She has always been very curious of people”

“Now that Margot is 15 years old her curiosity has turned into compassion. Margot was crowned Miss Illinois Amazing Junior Teen and she will be going to Nationals in July. This is an advocacy event that empowers young women with special needs to speak up for themselves, to gain confidence, and to inspire others. Margot wants to be a writer when she grows up and has been doing a lot of writing. She also volunteers, does charity events, and advocacy work for kids with disabilities. We are so proud of her!”

“Margot has a great friend group of kids who have special needs and some who do not. Margot would say that she and her friend group are ‘Really cool!’ . They do typical teenage things like go to the movie theater, go to McDonald’s, or hang out at each other’s home. Though she has great time with her friends and her family, we also know that she needs something special and just for her. Margot’s special place is Jill’s House Windy City Camp!”

“We were so happy to learn about Jill’s House around 4 years ago. A friend of ours shared that she was working at the Windy City Camp. I had no idea this camp existed! We connected with the camp staff and immediately enrolled her.”

“Now that Margot has been going to camp for several years, she has developed some favorite things about camp. For starters, Margot considers herself a foodie and says the food is really good! She also loves having a camp buddy. But hands down, her most favorite thing about camp is the Talent Show. Margot will carefully prepare for the Talent Show. She plans what she will do and what props she will bring. She will sometimes dance or sing along to a favorite song.

“Camp has been so great for Margot! She knows a few of the girls who attend camp regularly, and she loves being able to spend time with other kids who have different special needs than herself. In our family with an older brother and a younger brother, camp is Margot’s special place where she gets her special attention. While Margot is at camp, we spend one on one time with our other kids. We are relaxed because we know that Margot is cared for. The nurses really show love and care for Margot, and that means so much to us. When we pick up Margot from camp, she chatters about her camp experiences for the first few minutes of the 90-minute car ride home. She will sing her favorite camp song, “Father’s House” and share about the talent show. But camp is also exhausting! It never takes long before she is fast asleep.”

“We are so grateful for Jill’s House and the Windy City Camp and providing Margot a place to be herself and feel special.”

Thank you for making stories like Margot’s possible.