On a footnote...

  Random thoughts and sayings:

      My little man is 16 weeks old today. The time has flown by so quickly. He rolls from his tummy to his back now. His first roll over was the first of the month. He is having some trouble breathing at times. I know that God is our healer and I am too blessed to be stressed. One of the young adults is suppose to take pictures of the kids but our schedules don't meet. The meaning of the name David is beloved. My baby has a smile that brings out the best in people.

      I was told last week that I can no longer have kids.Yes I'm laying it out. I was afraid, hurt, broken hearted, confused, wish I would have done something different, and then had to tell the family. Only three people outside the family in this town knew. I asked for some prayers that the final decision would be the right choice. Some people may be saying "finally, she already has enough kids", but my family wasn't complete yet. Still broken hearted. Over the weekend I would get in the shower only to cry out in prayer that if it was by God's will not to have children I wanted to know by last night. Risky, I know. But I think I had to triple check on it. It was confirmed last night. The Lord spoke and I listened. Even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear. He did however, tell me that I do not only have 4 children but that I have more. I couldn't understand what he meant. I asked him, "how Lord? How do I have more then four when I see their existence in my home?". He let me know that I have been a spiritual mom to several kids for the past 17 years. I still can't pinpoint what he meant, but I know that he loves me enough to know what's best for me. He set it in stone while in my mother's womb.

   I may not fully understand this right now but I know that he has comforted me through it all. My husband seems to know that as well. Though tears may shed at times, I still know he loves me so much......

They Grow so quickly

  It's hard to believe that my baby is 14 weeks. I have tried to write down all the milestones but it happens so quick that I know I have missed some. I have known they grow so fast, after all I have 3 other children but I never attempted to write down every little thing they did. I wanted to this time because I wanted to remember the feelings I had, you know the joy you get experience with your baby only once.

  Some how in between staring at him and kissing him, he found his hands. His feet came first though. He's wanting to sit on his own, you know? His sweet little hands ball up into fists and when he's tired, he rubs his beautiful eyes. How did I miss the moment when he learned that he had full control of his hand movements?

  Yesterday was Sunday. We spend our Sunday mornings at church. My oldest two got to experience something they never have before. I find myself looking back at the works of the Holy Spirit and truly thank the Lord for bestowing his blessings upon my children, HIS children. I can not explain to you the joy it brings me to see my kids worshiping and praising the Lord.

  Thank you Lord for taking my children into your arms...I give you all the glory and praise. Children are the greatest gifts from God.

Mom's Empty Chair

A woman's daughter had asked the local minister

to come and pray with her mother.

When the minister arrived,

he found the woman lying in bed with her head

propped up on two pillows.

An empty chair sat beside her bed.

The minister assumed that the woman

had been informed of his visit...

'I guess you were expecting me, he said.

'No, who are you?' said the mother.

The minister told her his name and then remarked,

'I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew

I was going to show up..'

'Oh yeah, the chair,' said the bedridden woman

'Would you mind closing the door?'

Puzzled, the minister shut the door.

'I have never told anyone this,

not even my daughter,' said the woman.

'But all of my life I have never

known how to pray.

At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer,

but it went right over my head...'

I abandoned any attempt at prayer,'

the old woman continued, '

until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me,

' Prayer is just a simple matter

of having a conversation with Jesus.

Here is what I suggest..

'Sit down in a chair;

place an empty chair in front of you,

and in faith see Jesus on the chair.

It's not spooky because he promised,

'I will be with you always'..

'Then just speak to him in the same way

you're doing with me right now...'

'So, I tried it and I've liked it so much

that I do it a couple of hours every day.

I'm careful though. If my daughter saw me talking

to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown

or send me off to the funny farm.'

The minister was deeply moved by the story and

encouraged the old woman to continue on the journey.

Then he prayed with her, anointed her with oil,

and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called

to tell the minister that her mama

had died that afternoon.

Did she die in peace?' he asked.

Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock,

she called me over to her bedside,

told me she loved me and kissed me on the cheek.

When I got back from the store an hour later,

I found her .

But there was something strange about her death.

Apparently, just before Mom died,

she leaned over and rested her head on the chair

beside the bed. What do you make of that?'

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said,

'I wish we could all go like that.' 

Found it from a friend and Thought I'd pass it on.

Diane Adreon, M.A.

Teaching adaptive behavior is one of the areas that are often overlooked for high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders. However, adaptive behaviors have a tremendous impact on our ability to use our skills in common situations in everyday life. The following adaptive behavior skills are important if our children are going to experience success without our daily assistance. Of course, every child is different. Often it is not possible to master these skills by the end of high school. However, most of our children can improve and become more independent if we consciously work on skills in these areas.
1. Teach your child to wake up to an alarm clock. It is common for parents to wake their children for school. However, as your child grows older, it’s a good idea to teach him to wake up to an alarm clock. You may have to experiment with buzzers, music, and various degrees of volume. Sometimes, for individuals who are particularly hard to wake, you may need to have them walk across the room to turn off the alarm clock. Eventually, this skill would include having the child learn to set the alarm clock. A more advanced skill would involve developing the child’s ability to accurately estimate the amount of time needed to get ready and determining to what time the alarm should be set.
2. Teach your child to refer to a clock and/or watch to complete a task in a certain period of time. A visual timer, such as the Time Timer*, may be helpful. The Time Timer dial graphically shows the child how much time is left. One way to begin teaching this is to have the child guess how long the task will take and then comparing how long the task really took to accomplish.
3. Teach your child grooming (shower or bathe within the last 24 hours, hair combed or brushed, deodorant, clean clothes). Our children find routines comforting. Therefore, help your child establish healthy routines. Many children find it easier (in the long run) to follow rules such as having a shower or bath every day, rather than every two to three days. Specifically teach your child each step in washing properly (i.e., 4 times across each armpit with a soapy washcloth). Poor hygiene is a problem poorly tolerated by the community (Peter Gerhardt, personal communication).
4. Teach your child to be responsible for his/her belongings. Start with things such being responsible to keep track of the toy train that he/she brought to your relative’s house or into the car. Build into the routine that it is the youngster’s responsibility to find the toy after the visit, bring it to the car, & bring the toy from the car into the house. Progress to items such as school backpack & supplies.
5. Teach your child to learn to use visual cues to remember tasks. This might be keeping medicine in a certain place, so he/she remembers to take it at breakfast each morning. Or, it might mean, writing lunch on a piece of paper & taping it onto the school backpack to remember to bring lunch.
6. Teach your child how to cook. Young children can learn to make a sandwich and prepare snacks that do not require cooking. Later, teach your child to follow a recipe independently and use kitchen appliances safely.
7. Teach your child to use the phone. Start by teaching your child to answer the phone, take a message & relay the message to the appropriate person. Progress to skills such as calling information to obtain a phone number, calling a store to see if they have a particular item in stock, calling technical support to fix a computer problem, and ordering take-out food.
8. Teach your child how to go places independently. This may be walking to areas nearby, riding a bike, using public transportation or driving.
9. Teach your child to carry certain items when he/she leaves the house. This would include: Important phone number, money, house key, and possibly a cell phone.
10. Teach your child about personal safety. Consider skills such as knowing who to hug and kiss, and when it is more appropriate to shake hands, how to discretely carry money, NOT giving personal information to others over the internet, and what to do if you are walking down the street & someone unfamiliar approaches you or you feel that you are being followed.
Diane Adreon, M.A., is associate director of the University of Miami/Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism & Related Disabilities. She is also the co-author of Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence: Practical Solutions for School Success
Courtesy of APPC
Source URL: http://www.autismsupportnetwork.com/news/life-after-high-school-ten-skills-teach-your-child-autism-223421

Your eyes, your smile, your lessons to me.

  Oh my son.
  I'm quite in awe over you. Your siblings taught me so much and yet I still sit here and stare at you listening attentively to all that you have to say. A week ago today, you began to show me that you were then able to recognize your family and friends. You smiled ever so gently with those cute little dimples. Oh how prominent they are.
 The past two days you have cracked a chuckle here and there. You look up at the fan and in your mothers eyes, I see you as if you are speaking with your angel. You smile so big. Your arms and legs move with excitement and you bring your mother her knees. There is no greater joy my son then to watch every monumental milestone in your short life. I want you to read this one day and remember that at this moment you were and always will be my baby.

 As a log here is what you did 10 minutes ago:

Me to David, "okay papas, mama is going to feed you some more, but I don't want you to throw up okay?". I guess he disagreed with me. How he proved his point after I was done asking that from him. He threw up on me. Down my shirt, on my pants and it found it's way to my socks. Yeah he didn't quite concur!

Family Poem/Had to share

Inspirational Family Poem

Matthew 20:20-21

from The Rhyming Gospels, a poetic paraphrase of Holy Scripture,
by Bernard Williams.

Then the mother of James and John
Came forward at their bequest,
She knelt down before Jesus
To make known her request.

Jesus looked down upon her,
Asked, “What is your desire?”
She said, “To serve in your kingdom
My two sons do aspire.”

“Command one to stand at your right,
For both I want the best,
The other put at your left hand,
This, then is my request.”

"Kathy with a K"

Yesterday my baby boy smiled the sweetest smile for the first time in his life. He was listening to Kathy talk to him and he looked up and smiled. What a beautiful moment it was.

The day before he cooed when I was talking to him......Some of the greatest moments with our children are these moments. Milestones like this come once in their lives. Live to enjoy ever second and never ever forget them.