Camping

Just a Note.  I want to do more life blogging.  We have family from all over the US that keeps up with the blog.  Also, everyday life blogs are some of my most popular.  So I would like to include everyday things that happen to us.  

You mean they had to do this EVERY time they wanted water???

This past weekend we headed about an hour away to camp.  Like many other people, we like to camp over Memorial Day weekend.  We've done it for the past few years.  Camping is so relaxing to us.

The first night we were there we noticed a family walking by.  I saw one black child, then another, and then a very white father.  In my mind my adoption/foster care feelers immediately went up.  The next morning their oldest began to become super friendly with our kids.

One thing led to another and a hike turned into a friendship.  After lots of fellowships with hikes, shared smores, and kids as playmates we walked away feeling incredibly blessed.  This family lives close to us, in fact we have several similar connections, not to hard in the type of circles and community we belong to.

Ok Mom.  I have my b-na-ku-ls.  Let's go camping!

This family greatly blessed us.  What a sweet connection and friendship.  The mom and I bonded over managing that thick curly hair, racial identity, homeschooling, and much more.  I kept telling Tony, it's such a God thing.  I'm so glad we exchanged information and we can stay in contact with this family.  It would be fun to camp with them again.  When I told Sweet Pea they lived in the same town that we went to church in she got incredibly excited.  Not that is an awesome friendship!

Getting Rea: Where My True Ministry Lies

We are wrapping up a very busy season of our lives.  We have a few odds and ends to tie up.  Some bags to put away.  Things to gather into a box to give to those who need them.  However, the bulk of the work is done.  Our time to close out this chapter in our lives as the leaders of Awana has come.

For those of you who know us well, you know we have a heart beat for Awana.  We have been in it since we were in Cubbies (Preschool).  For me I am a Citation Award winner (10 books in 10 years, over a thousand verses memorized in since Cubbies).  We have a legacy of parents with a heart beat for Awana.  And we have been involved in almost every aspect of it from Quizzing to AwanaGames to the missionaries Ministry Board.

However, we have come to a place in our lives where God has given  us the direction and freedom to step out of the role of leading this ministry.  (Side Note:  This does not mean we won't be back in future years to help fulfill needed roles, we are just not running the program at our church.)  At first the decision was easy and freeing.  God gave us great peace about the decision.  As our time went though, my heart began to hurt. 

See, we have already pulled out of almost every single ministry we were in, many of which we dearly loved, because our family need us to pull back.  We needed to be able to focus on our family.  But it wasn't enough.  Our kids were still not making the progress they should.  We were still running ridiculously crazy schedules and trying to fit all of our responsibility for this program in as well. The decision seems pretty clear cut, family comes first.

However, our church, like most churches, desperately needs people to step up and help serve.  We know that well, as Tony was the one in charge of recruiting for this ministry.  It tugs deep into my heart and I began to question...."God how will I teach my children to serve when I am not?  How will they find out the imporatnce of ministry when I am not in none?  I was raised that when there is a need to help in the church, you do.  How will I teach my kids that?"

God's answer was incredibly clear.  "Your number one ministry is NOT Awana and NOT in the church.  Your ministry is four little people who sit at your feet every day.  Your ministry is a husband who needs your attention.  Your ministry is the neighbor you only see when you are waving to them from your van, but now you need to invest in.  Your ministry is your heart focused on Me.  Your ministry, the one that I have put as number one in your life, is getting pushed aside.  Yes, these other things have value and importance but they are not the most important."

So, as sad as it is to leave this amazing ministry behind, Tony and I have already seen God bless that decision.  We've already seen some big answers to pray in our kids lives.  God sent an amazing man to take over Tony's position.  And we have felt a tremendous amount of love and support with this decision.  Not one person has pressured us to stay or called our decision wrong.  It's going to be hard at times next year to drop my kids off every week and turn and walk out the church doors.  However, I know we will reap huge benefits from the time we now have available.

Seeing the Child Through the Disabilty

Little Man's ASD is only one part of who he is.  It affects how he relates to everything in his life but it doesn't not make up his entire person.  Sometimes it can be hard for people to see the child through the disability.  So I would like to take you on a journey of my son and who he is.

He is sweet.  He's got this deep down sweetness that comes out in his giggle, his big dimpled smile, the way he grabs your hand or leans against you leg.

He desires to be "normal".  He doesn't want to be in a world of his own, excluded from others.  He needs help but he wants to have friendships.  He wants to play sports.

He loves his Grandpa and Papa.  The other day he told me, "Member mommy, I live with Dampa.  Ok.  Member?"  They are his favorites.

All boy.  He is 100% boy.  He loves Thomas, Lightening McQueen, Batman, and Spider Man.  He likes to wrestle and crash into furniture.  He loves to be outside and run in circles.  His favorite color is green!

He loves pizza, carrot sticks, and candy (my goodness does he like candy!)

He wants to grow up to be just like Daddy!  He loves Daddy's buttons on his shirts and likes to dress like him.  He is obsessed with Daddy working on the house and is so proud of himself when he gets to be a helper.

He is Momma's Little Man.  "I be with you, Mommy!"  Run to hug me when I pick him up from school screaming, "MOMMMY!"  And when Daddy says to hold an adults hand, he always picks mine.  I am definitely his favorite big person.

There is so much of him that is just like any other little boy.  Adventure and fun!  Climbing and rough housing.  The paper he brought home from school says that when he is 100 he is going to go to work, just like Daddy.  When Sweet Pea declared Mommy the "Prince" he came up and declared that, "Mommy no be prince.  You a girl!  I be the Prince!"

Don't discount who he is as a whole.  He will shock you!

Living with Autism

April is Autism Awareness month.  Recently new statics came out saying that 1 in 68 children have Autism and 1 in 42 boys have Autism.  Most likely you know someone with Autism and I think everyone is pretty "aware" of it.  However, I think it is greatly misunderstood.  I want to focus on Autism this month, on what it is and is not and how it affects our lives, etc. 

Living life with Autism is hard and unpredictable but also full of blessing and wonder. Here are some things I wish everyone knew about our lives with Autism.

1. Our child is on the spectrum. 

Little Man is higher functioning so he is on the upper end of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).  Just because he doesn't sit in a corner spinning plates all day does not mean that he was mis-diagnosed).  If you look at my child as a determination on whether you child is on the spectrum or not you will probably miss something.  Their are "classic" things that most children with Autism struggle with (socialization, communication, eating problems, sensory problems, etc) but each child will display those things differently.  We are constantly learning who he  and how ASD displays it's self in his life.

2. Little Man is SMART!  

 I love to watch people come to this realization.  He is a smart cookie.  He may struggle to verbalize.  He may not yet know his numbers and letters.  Those things do not determine how intelligent he is though.  His biggest strength is that he can look at all these different pieces and put together a bigger picture of something.  Unspoken things or things Tony and I speak "around" do not get past him.

3.  Our lives are a roller coaster ride. 

There is a reason Little Man's therapist ask how his week went.  Some days he is doing great, happy as a lark, talking well.  Other days he struggles to look at us, struggles to talk, lays around and mopes.  Some mornings he starts low but snaps out of it sometime in the day and does great.  And vise versa.  He can have an awful day at school and do exceptionally well at Awana.  We never know how he will handle something and he often shocks us (good or bad) making us very unprepared.

4.  We learn everything. 

Everything Little Man can is because he learned how to do it.  He had to be taught.  He plays imaginative games he learned from his sisters.  He knows how to lie because he watched others do it.  He can take turns in a board game because he was taught.  He builds pyramids when he builds with Legos because that's what mommy builds.  Every moment that he is in our care is a therapeutic moment in which we are teaching him something.  We don't just play memory match to have fun but we do it to teach turn taking, patience, communication, and enjoyment to be with others.  It's about the process, not about the game.

Getting Real: Worn

I woke up this morning tired, wishing I had read that alarm clock wrong.  After a relaxing Spring Break and fabulous Sunday with Daddy and some beautiful spring weather, the week had started out horrible.  We were going through life normally till I made a dreaded, torturous request: fold your laundry and put it away. 

This request was not new and the expectations were not high.  Simply make an attempt to "fold" your clothing and get it in the right draw.  We do it about once a week for the last 2 months.  However, I had not one but TWO children decide that this was NOT going to happen.  24 hours later one of those children finally finished.  The other.....zero progress (besides the socks and undies that I had dealt with).  In fact they had spent much of that time yelling, hitting, and out right defying. 

I was past my limit.  The night before had proved that.  After joining in a screaming match with this child I grabbed the chips Tony had bought for himself at the store and sat on the floor bawling  The child went to bed early, with no more progress made. 

After a long morning I was thankful to leave three of the kiddos behind at school and get time to breathe.  I pulled into the driveway to hear Worn by Tenth Avenue North.  This song has been the cry of my heart for this child since Christmas 2012.  I can't heal their broken and hurting heart.  I can't fix them, as much as I want to.  I can't make they accept, love, let go.  I can't replace the rejection.

But I serve a God who can.  I serve God!  And I rest in that.  Because their is nothing else I can rest in.  And as I sat trying to hold back tears for Sweet Pea's sake, I soaked in those words again, crying out for this child, for our relationship.  The God who redeems, who heals, who answers prayer, loves this child more then I ever could.

    My prayers are wearing thin
Yeah, I’m worn
Even before the day begins
Yeah, I’m worn
I’ve lost my will to fight
I’m worn
So, heaven come and flood my eyes
Let me see redemption win
Let me know the struggle ends
That you can mend a heart
That’s frail and torn
I wanna know a song can rise
From the ashes of a broken life
And all that’s dead inside can be reborn
Cause all that’s dead inside will be reborn