by Joan Celebi, Ed.M., CLC
Founder, SpecialNeedsParentCoach.com

This article appeared earlier today in my FREE Overwhelmed No More! Newsletter. To subscribe, enter your name and email address in the sign-up box to the left. You'll get practical tips and inspiring ideas every month to help you navigate life as a parent of a child with special needs.

With all the wonderful quotes that came pouring in during our Quotes Contest, I was reminded what a sharing, caring community we have as parents of children with special needs. It was truly humbling to see how many moms and dads took time from their busy day to send in their favorite quotes, often with little notes like:

• "This has been on my fridge for years."
• "We say this with our son each night before bed."
• "My grandmother gave these to me last year."
• "I carry these with me every day."

I was so moved by the quotes and notes readers sent in, that I just had to devote today's newsletter to sharing them with you. I could only feature some of the quotes here, but you'll see many more in my blog in the weeks ahead. Here are the 20 that I chose to include today!

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." (Albert Einstein)

"The only way we can be there for our children is to be there for ourselves." (Anonymous)

"You've developed the strength of a draft horse while holding onto the delicacy of a daffodil ... you are the mother, advocate and protector of a child with a disability." -Lori Borgman

"Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it." -Bill Cosby

"The central struggle of parenthood is to let our hopes for our children outweigh our fears." (Ellen Goodman)

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." -- Robert Brault

"Perseverance is not a long race. It is many short races one after another." - W. Elliot

"If you think you can or you think you can't, either way, you'll be right." -Henry Ford

"Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see further." -Thomas Carlyle

"Courage is being scared to death - and saddling up anyway!" -John Wayne

"Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace." -Dalai Lama

"Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same." -Franz Peter Schubert

"Whenever God Closes One Door He Always Opens Another, Even Though Sometimes It's Hell in the Hallway." -Unknown

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease. The squeaky wheel NEEDS the grease." -Rick Lavoie

"If you've told a child a thousand times and he still does not understand, then it is not the child who is the slow learner." -Walter Barbee

"What lies behind us & what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Children remind us to treasure the smallest of gifts, even in the most difficult times." - Allen Klein

"There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties or you alter the way you meet them." (Phyllis Bottome)

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." (Mother Teresa)

"Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength." - Christopher Reeves

"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world." - Heather Cortez