Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I praise God today because
I praise God today because once again He has granted me grace and mercy to have another day with my family and friends and to belong to Him. I love Him so much and yet I know it's just a small amount of love compared to how He feels about me. I am constantly amazed at His grace. So much stuff goes on in life that sometimes we get side tracked and forget or take for granted God's goodness. I just praise Him today because He loves me so much, even when I get busy or side tracked, He loves me! Thank you Father for your mercy and grace, for knowing what our life is to be before we even know and for loving me more than I can imagine! I praise God today because.....(now it's your turn to fill in the blank!)
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Tuesday of Praise
Today I praise God for His goodness and His pefect way of working things out. We have been in a sea of confusion in dealing with Autism. We felt like we were fighting a battle we couldn't win. There is so much information out there about Autism, that sometimes it can be confusing. But today I was able to find my way out of some of that confusion. And I totally praise God for helping us and leading us in the right direction to get answers that we need for Seth!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The Usefulness of Broken Things
Well, it's been another whirlwind of a week. Seth had several therapy evaulations and all went well and once we get Medicaid on board he will be getting services weekly. I've tried some of the techniques I learned from reading a new book and there has been a positive change in some of Seth's behavior! Praise the Lord for that!
On Tuesday we went down for Seth's Occupational Therapy evaluation. He went through several tests, lacing cards, cutting with scissors, folding paper, stacking blocks, (which he did perfectly! another victory because usually he just lines them up!) and drawing. As the Occupational Therapist was working with his drawing she kept giving him crayons, both whole crayons and broken ones. Seth didn't care he used them just the same. I thought it was odd, but was certain that this professional knew what she was doing so I just silently observed. After his evaulation she was reviewing the results with me and told me that his delays weren't too bad and that his fine motor skills appeared only a few months behind. She told me that she kept switching the crayons because somethings children will grasp the broken ones better because they are smaller and thus helping their fine motor skills with drawing. So she suggested that we get some crayons and have some broken ones as well as whole ones for him to use. Now that created a problem for me. If you know me well enough you know that I like things that aren't broken, things that are useful whole. But this therapist suggested I break perfectly good crayons.
So tonight we got a few things at Walmart to get some stuff set up for Seth and I bought a box to put the broken crayons in. I came home fixed his bulletin board and then got the crayons. As I sat there on the floor and I started breaking them, I kept thinking what a waste to take a perfectly good crayon and break it in half. But I also remembered the therapist telling me how smaller broken crayons would help Seth write better, so I broke them. Then it struck me. Doesn't God work the same way? Aren't we all broken? And once we are broken doesn't he find use and purpose for us, even in our broken state? Hmmmmmm what an idea. The God of the universe uses broken things to carry out His plan. Go figure. Then this same God sent his perfect whole son to our world, to live and then to be BROKEN for us so that one day we would be made whole again.
Now I can't go back and fix those crayons, but I know even in their broken state they will be useful. Do you think maybe we should try and look at ourselves in that way? In God's hand, our brokeness is useful to Him.
On Tuesday we went down for Seth's Occupational Therapy evaluation. He went through several tests, lacing cards, cutting with scissors, folding paper, stacking blocks, (which he did perfectly! another victory because usually he just lines them up!) and drawing. As the Occupational Therapist was working with his drawing she kept giving him crayons, both whole crayons and broken ones. Seth didn't care he used them just the same. I thought it was odd, but was certain that this professional knew what she was doing so I just silently observed. After his evaulation she was reviewing the results with me and told me that his delays weren't too bad and that his fine motor skills appeared only a few months behind. She told me that she kept switching the crayons because somethings children will grasp the broken ones better because they are smaller and thus helping their fine motor skills with drawing. So she suggested that we get some crayons and have some broken ones as well as whole ones for him to use. Now that created a problem for me. If you know me well enough you know that I like things that aren't broken, things that are useful whole. But this therapist suggested I break perfectly good crayons.
So tonight we got a few things at Walmart to get some stuff set up for Seth and I bought a box to put the broken crayons in. I came home fixed his bulletin board and then got the crayons. As I sat there on the floor and I started breaking them, I kept thinking what a waste to take a perfectly good crayon and break it in half. But I also remembered the therapist telling me how smaller broken crayons would help Seth write better, so I broke them. Then it struck me. Doesn't God work the same way? Aren't we all broken? And once we are broken doesn't he find use and purpose for us, even in our broken state? Hmmmmmm what an idea. The God of the universe uses broken things to carry out His plan. Go figure. Then this same God sent his perfect whole son to our world, to live and then to be BROKEN for us so that one day we would be made whole again.
Now I can't go back and fix those crayons, but I know even in their broken state they will be useful. Do you think maybe we should try and look at ourselves in that way? In God's hand, our brokeness is useful to Him.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Train up a child...
How many of us have heard that scripture quoted a blue million times. I grew up hearing it and I grew into parenthood thinking that meant...make those kids mind at all costs and when they get older the will not forget what they learned. I thought that until today. Allow me to explain.
Today was another Autism makes me crazy day. Seth's fits and tantrums were off the charts. He started when he woke up this morning and he fought until the bitter end of bedtime. Joe and I had lost our minds today. We were at our wits end. We've fought the "system" this week trying so hard to get Seth into therapies that he needs and being stonewalled by Medicaid. I still firmly believe that Emma Claire at 2 could run Medicaid better... but anyhow our week ended with this explosive Sunday. Firework displays had nothing on this afternoon!
So home from a brief church time and having 2 of the three children settled in bed (Emma Claire seems to be wired for night time!) and I picked up a book that I had found in the last few weeks. "Finding your Child's Way on the Autism Spectrum" by Dr. Laura Hendrickson. I know that I bought this book by title and had yet to crack the cover, but tonight in my desperation I picked it up. I was looking for magic words and "the right way" to parent a child on the Spectrum, easy answers that don't really exsist, but finding words of God that do work.
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go (and in keeping with his individual gift or bent) and when he is old he will not depart from it. Amplified Bible.
Here's what caught me...."in keeping with his individual gift or bent."
Here it is folks....this isn't a line to walk, this isn't a sure fire do everything the same for every child command. This is keeping with that child's natural way. The natural way God made him. The way God created him. So Seth's individual gift or bent happens to be Autism Spectrum disorder. Stay with me folks, I'm on a roll...God knew all of this before Seth was born, before Seth was placed in our home, and before Seth was even diagnosed with Autism. God knew it because God MADE HIM THIS WAY. I've never much cared why Seth had Autism, just how to deal with it. Maybe it was brain damage from birth, maybe a vaccine injury, who knows....GOD knows! And not only did God know and create Seth this way God knew where Seth was going to live and who his parents were going to be and what Seth's life was going to become.
In keeping with his individual bent I have to find the road less traveled. There are scads of parenting books, if I have questions on how to parent a neurotypical child I have a vast assortment of resources, including friends and family, but since every child on the specturm is different I don't have that available to me for Seth. We have to forge ahead and find the path that works for his individual gift or bent.
So we've reached a fork in the road and we have a choice to make. Do we try and parent Seth and force him into a neurotypical mold or do we do as Proverbs says and Train him up in the way he should go in keeping with his individual gift or bent? I think you know my answer. Hang in there with me emerging from this chaos isn't going to be easy, and many times not too pretty (reference for those of you that watched me melt down like ice cream on a hot sidewalk today at church) I don't have a roadmap that says which way to go. But I do have a better understanding of how to parent my God designed, God created, God given son, who happens to have Autism.
Today was another Autism makes me crazy day. Seth's fits and tantrums were off the charts. He started when he woke up this morning and he fought until the bitter end of bedtime. Joe and I had lost our minds today. We were at our wits end. We've fought the "system" this week trying so hard to get Seth into therapies that he needs and being stonewalled by Medicaid. I still firmly believe that Emma Claire at 2 could run Medicaid better... but anyhow our week ended with this explosive Sunday. Firework displays had nothing on this afternoon!
So home from a brief church time and having 2 of the three children settled in bed (Emma Claire seems to be wired for night time!) and I picked up a book that I had found in the last few weeks. "Finding your Child's Way on the Autism Spectrum" by Dr. Laura Hendrickson. I know that I bought this book by title and had yet to crack the cover, but tonight in my desperation I picked it up. I was looking for magic words and "the right way" to parent a child on the Spectrum, easy answers that don't really exsist, but finding words of God that do work.
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go (and in keeping with his individual gift or bent) and when he is old he will not depart from it. Amplified Bible.
Here's what caught me...."in keeping with his individual gift or bent."
Here it is folks....this isn't a line to walk, this isn't a sure fire do everything the same for every child command. This is keeping with that child's natural way. The natural way God made him. The way God created him. So Seth's individual gift or bent happens to be Autism Spectrum disorder. Stay with me folks, I'm on a roll...God knew all of this before Seth was born, before Seth was placed in our home, and before Seth was even diagnosed with Autism. God knew it because God MADE HIM THIS WAY. I've never much cared why Seth had Autism, just how to deal with it. Maybe it was brain damage from birth, maybe a vaccine injury, who knows....GOD knows! And not only did God know and create Seth this way God knew where Seth was going to live and who his parents were going to be and what Seth's life was going to become.
In keeping with his individual bent I have to find the road less traveled. There are scads of parenting books, if I have questions on how to parent a neurotypical child I have a vast assortment of resources, including friends and family, but since every child on the specturm is different I don't have that available to me for Seth. We have to forge ahead and find the path that works for his individual gift or bent.
So we've reached a fork in the road and we have a choice to make. Do we try and parent Seth and force him into a neurotypical mold or do we do as Proverbs says and Train him up in the way he should go in keeping with his individual gift or bent? I think you know my answer. Hang in there with me emerging from this chaos isn't going to be easy, and many times not too pretty (reference for those of you that watched me melt down like ice cream on a hot sidewalk today at church) I don't have a roadmap that says which way to go. But I do have a better understanding of how to parent my God designed, God created, God given son, who happens to have Autism.
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