Honestly, it doesn't always feel like it was that long ago that I was a teenager. I remember so much - the stupidity, the crazy, the fun, the aches and pains, the beauty. Yet here I am, my teenage years long gone and now I am the mother of my very own 15 year old, right in the thick of teen hood.
But the experience my son with Down syndrome will have as a teenager is far different than what I experienced. I've touched on it in other blogs. So how do Rob and I give Dylan a teenage experience? How is this possible when he doesn't understand what a stranger is? can't cross the street without supervision? wears pull-ups nightly?
The answer: Capernaum
What's Capernaum? Well, it's a branch of Young Life, an outreach program founded in the 1930's to give teenagers the opportunity to learn about Jesus Christ and decide for themselves whether or not they wanted to integrate the Gospel into their personal life. For the past 75 years, the Young Life program has become a world wide organization, touching the lives of those in their most formative years. Wyldlife is for those in Middle School. Young Life is for those in High School. Capernaum was designed for the individual living life with Special Needs. These are just a few of the numerous outreach programs Young Life has created over the years.
Capernaum has been in our life for nearly two years. It has brought the possibility of youth nights, dances, the chance for Dylan to hang out with other guys and maybe, just maybe, the opportunity to attend a week long summer camp someday - without parental supervision.
It has brought us hope as parents of a teenager with special needs. It's safe. It's fun. It provides Dylan and those like him the opportunity to have a sense of independence without mom and dad hovering. It's a place where he's genuinely loved and accepted.
Then there's Austin, a young man doing the college thing - a Capernaum volunteer, who gets it. He hangs out with our son. He takes him out for pizza, French fries and coke. He picks Dylan up. They go off and hang out, leaving us home, watching the clock, anxiously awaiting Dylan's safe return...just like all those other parents of typical teenagers.
& then He brings Dylan home, but doesn't walk him to the door - just watches from his car, giving Dylan a sense of that teenage independence he so desperately longs for.
Lastly, it is a group that is sharing the Word of God with our son. Dylan is being raised in a Christ-centered home, but just like our beliefs were reinforced in our church youth group all those years ago, the same is being done for Dylan. We're not always sure what Dylan is paying attention to, but we've learned he's absorbing far more than we often give him credit for. Dylan's relationship with Christ is far different than mine, but I see glimpses of it happening.
Capernaum allows Dylan to be a real teenager...it allows our dreams for our son to be a real teenager a reality.
Please feel free to share this blog. Some are aware of the existence of Capernaum, others aren't. Our prayer is that other parents of teenagers with special needs will get to see their child experience a more genuine teenage experience.