What is it really like to grow up as the sibling of a child with disabilities? How does that experience shape the way you parent your own family?

In this episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie Holt talks with Sandra Peoples, a disability ministry consultant, author, professor, and mom of a son with level-three autism. Sandra shares her unique perspective of living on both sides of the story: growing up with a sister with Down syndrome and now raising a child with significant autism.

Sandra opens up about the hidden experiences many siblings carry — from trying to make themselves “smaller,” so their parents have less to worry about, to navigating embarrassment, protectiveness, and love.

Together, Carrie and Sandra discuss:

• What Sandra’s parents did well in raising a special needs sibling
• The stage of life that can be most difficult for siblings
• How parents can validate difficult emotions without guilt or shame
• Navigating responsibility and avoiding unhealthy parentification
• Why disability families are still one of the most overlooked mission fields in the church

If you’re raising a child with disabilities and wondering how this journey is shaping your other children, this honest and grace-filled conversation will offer both wisdom and encouragement.

Eps. 31; 3/10/26

Resources:

• Sandra’s Book: Accessible Church
• Find Sandra on FB and Instagram
• Sandra’s Website

If you enjoyed the show, leave a 5-star review!

• Get my new resource: 5 Practices For Processing Grief
• Click here if you want to be a guest on the show
• Carrie’s Facebook or Instagram
• Find me on Substack
• My book: The Other Side of Special

*This podcast features honest conversations with special needs parents and faith-filled guests. While I deeply value the stories and insights shared, the views and opinions expressed may not always reflect my own. Any resources listed are shared for reference, not necessarily a personal recommendation. I invite you to listen with spiritual discernment and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in what you hold onto and set aside.

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Moments of Joy:

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What do you do when you pray for healing—and it doesn’t come the way you hoped?

In this powerful and deeply honest conversation, Carrie sits down with author and advocate Camille Joy, founder of The Ausomely Different Foundation and host of the Moments of Joy podcast.

Camille shares her unexpected journey of learning her son would be born with complex heart defects, walking through open-heart surgery, and later receiving an autism diagnosis that reshaped her understanding of faith, grief, and advocacy. She opens up about sleepless nights, panic attacks, IEP battles, anxiety medication, and the moment the Holy Spirit shifted her prayers from “Take this away” to “Help me see who You gave me.”

Together, Carrie and Camille talk about:

• When healing doesn’t happen the way we prayed
• Redefining joy when life feels overwhelming
• The emotional weight of advocacy
• PTSD and anxiety in special needs parenting
• Why having a community is not optional
• Setting healthy boundaries without guilt
• Trusting God in the silence

Camille’s new devotional, Moments of Joy: 90 Days of Encouragement for Parents of Children with Special Needs, is a gentle reminder that joy isn’t the absence of pain—it’s God’s presence in the middle of it.

If you’ve ever wrestled with disappointment in prayer, exhaustion from advocacy, or fear about the future, this episode will remind you: God is still good, even here.

Resources:
Camille's new book releases March 17th!
Camille’s New Book: Moments of Joy
Camille’s Website
Camille’s Instagram

March 3, 2026; Eps. 40

If you enjoyed the show, leave a 5-star review!

• Get my new resource: 5 Practices For Processing Grief
• Click here if you want to be a guest on the show
• Carrie’s Facebook or Instagram
• Find me on Substack
• My book: The Other Side of Special

*This podcast features honest conversations with special needs parents and faith-filled guests. While I deeply value the stories and insights shared, the views and opinions expressed may not always reflect my own. Any resources listed are shared for reference, not necessarily a personal recommendation. I invite you to listen with spiritual discernment and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in what you hold onto and set aside.

In Part 2 of Carrie’s conversation with Jen Potter, the focus turns to grief, sibling dynamics, and learning to trust God in the middle of ongoing medical trauma.

Jen shares what it has looked like to raise five children while navigating cancer, 37 surgeries, and unexpected neurological setbacks. She speaks candidly about parenting “glass children,” protecting siblings from carrying too much responsibility, and creating space for their grief without shame.

Together, Carrie and Jen explore the fear many special needs moms carry — that if they truly allow themselves to grieve, they may not recover. They discuss biblical lament, emotional honesty before God, and the practice of remembrance as a way to strengthen faith when circumstances don’t change.

If you’re walking through repeated hospital stays, behavioral challenges, or the quiet ache of unmet expectations, this episode offers steady encouragement rooted in the unchanging character of God.

Real stories. Real hope. For the path we didn’t choose but are called to.

February 17, 2026; Eps. 39

If you enjoyed the show, leave a 5-star review!

• Get my new resource: 5 Practices For Processing Grief
• Click here if you want to be a guest on the show
• Carrie’s Facebook or Instagram
• Find me on Substack
• My book: The Other Side of Special

*This podcast features honest conversations with special needs parents and faith-filled guests. While I deeply value the stories and insights shared, the views and opinions expressed may not always reflect my own. Any resources listed are shared for reference, not necessarily a personal recommendation. I invite you to listen with spiritual discernment and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in what you hold onto and set aside.

What do you do when the suffering doesn’t end—and there’s no clear resolution in sight?

In Part One of this heartfelt conversation, Carrie sits down with her friend Jen Potter to talk honestly about unresolved grief, long-term caregiving, and learning to live with open hands before God. Jen shares her journey of parenting a son with Spina Bifida and Autism, walking through cancer twice, and facing years of uncertainty that reshaped how she understands faith, rest, and surrender.

Together, they explore what it looks like to trust God’s presence when answers don’t come, how grief and joy can coexist, and why true rest isn’t found in escaping our circumstances—but in being yoked to Christ right in the middle of them.

This episode is for parents who are weary, frustrated, and still showing up—wondering how to keep going when the difficulties stretch on for years.

February 10, 2026; Eps. 38

If you enjoyed the show, leave a 5-star review!

• Get my new resource: 5 Practices For Processing Grief
• Click here if you want to be a guest on the show
• Carrie’s Facebook or Instagram
• Find me on Substack
• My book: The Other Side of Special

*This podcast features honest conversations with special needs parents and faith-filled guests. While I deeply value the stories and insights shared, the views and opinions expressed may not always reflect my own. Any resources listed are shared for reference, not necessarily a personal recommendation. I invite you to listen with spiritual discernment and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in what you hold onto and set aside.

What happens when caregiving lasts far longer than you ever imagined—and no one is applauding?

In this deeply honest episode, Carrie sits down with Beth Benson, a mother whose life has been shaped by infertility, trauma, adoption, autism, and decades of full-time caregiving for a son with a rare chromosome disorder. Together, they talk about the unseen cost of special needs parenting, the grief that accumulates quietly over time, and the moment Beth questioned whether God was truly good.

Beth shares how years of survival led to trauma, how grief can “come out sideways” when it’s ignored, and how God met her in one of the most ordinary—and humbling—moments of caregiving to remind her that changing diapers, reading Dr. Seuss, and loving faithfully is worship.

This episode is for the parent who feels invisible, exhausted, and stuck in a season that won’t end. It’s a reminder that God sees every unseen sacrifice and calls it precious.

Eps. 37; February 3, 2026

Resources:

Wild at Heart Podcast by John Eldredge

If you enjoyed the show, leave a 5-star review!

• Get my new resource: 5 Practices For Processing Grief
• Click here if you want to be a guest on the show
• Carrie’s Facebook or Instagram
• Find me on Substack
• My book: The Other Side of Special

*This podcast features honest conversations with special needs parents and faith-filled guests. While I deeply value the stories and insights shared, the views and opinions expressed may not always reflect my own. Any resources listed are shared for reference, not necessarily a personal recommendation. I invite you to listen with spiritual discernment and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in what you hold onto and set aside.

In this episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie Holt talks with Jenna Erlandson,, a mother of six, about her journey through infertility, postpartum depression, and receiving an autism diagnosis for her son. Jenna shares how seasons of waiting, uncertainty, and loss of control shaped her faith and taught her to trust God’s faithfulness.

This honest conversation explores special needs parenting, listening to maternal instincts, navigating mental health challenges, and finding hope and joy in unexpected places. If you are a Christian parent walking through autism, infertility, or a long season of waiting, this episode offers encouragement, truth, and hope.

Eps. 36; January 20, 2026

Resources:
Jenna’s Website

If you enjoyed the show, leave a 5-star review!

• Get my new resource: 5 Practices For Processing Grief
• Click here if you want to be a guest on the show
• Carrie’s Facebook or Instagram
• Find me on Substack
• My book: The Other Side of Special

*This podcast features honest conversations with special needs parents and faith-filled guests. While I deeply value the stories and insights shared, the views and opinions expressed may not always reflect my own. Any resources listed are shared for reference, not necessarily a personal recommendation. I invite you to listen with spiritual discernment and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in what you hold onto and set aside.

What happens when special needs parenting moves beyond exhaustion and into survival?

In this deeply honest and faith-filled conversation, Carrie M. Holt sits down with Celeste Shally, author of While We Wait: Clinging to Christ in the Trenches of Special Needs Parenting, to talk about the rarely discussed reality of long-term violence in special needs parenting—and the relentless suffering that comes with it.

Celeste shares her journey as a mother to an adult son with autism whose escalating violent behaviors dominated their family life for over a decade. From living in constant fear, isolation, and hypervigilance, to questioning God’s goodness in the midst of daily trauma, Celeste opens up about what it truly means to reach the end of yourself—and cling to Christ because there is nowhere else to turn.

January 13, 2026; Eps. 35

Resources:
Celeste Shally’s Website
While We Wait: Clinging To Christ in The Trenches of Special Needs Parenting
Celeste on FB

If you enjoyed the show, leave a 5-star review!

• Get my new resource: 5 Practices For Processing Grief
• Click here if you want to be a guest on the show
• Carrie’s Facebook or Instagram
• Find me on Substack
• My book: The Other Side of Special

*This podcast features honest conversations with special needs parents and faith-filled guests. While I deeply value the stories and insights shared, the views and opinions expressed may not always reflect my own. Any resources listed are shared for reference, not necessarily a personal recommendation. I invite you to listen with spiritual discernment and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in what you hold onto and set aside.

When Jeanetta Bryant’s daughter was diagnosed with autism, her world changed overnight. What began as heartbreak soon became a journey of faith, perseverance, and unexpected purpose. In this episode, Jeanetta shares how God met her in the middle of the unknown—guiding her through grief, growth, and the birth of her nonprofit, Abilities Workshop. Through her story, you’ll hear powerful reminders that God is present in every diagnosis, every setback, and every small step forward.

If you’ve ever wondered where God is in your own unexpected journey, this conversation will encourage you to keep trusting the One who brings healing and hope even in the hardest places.

January 6, 2026; Eps. 34
Resources:
Jeanetta Bryan Website
FB & IG

If you enjoyed the show, leave a 5-star review!

• Get my new resource: 5 Practices For Processing Grief
• Click here if you want to be a guest on the show
• Carrie’s Facebook or Instagram
• Find me on Substack
• My book: The Other Side of Special

*This podcast features honest conversations with special needs parents and faith-filled guests. While I deeply value the stories and insights shared, the views and opinions expressed may not always reflect my own. Any resources listed are shared for reference, not necessarily a personal recommendation. I invite you to listen with spiritual discernment and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in what you hold onto and set aside.