I’m waxing nostalgic about the twins going back to school on Tuesday. I resent that classes start so early in the summer. Seems to me they should take less days off during the year for teacher in-services. Why can’t they do those before the school year begins? Why cut a kid’s summer short? One of the reasons this is an …
In which I don’t take a park ranger seriously and he is not amused
We made it to Mount Rushmore. But before we went there we swung over to Sturgis. I kicked myself for not bringing my bookmarks to my book, The Pastor’s Wife Wears Biker Boots. I didn’t know I’d be going to Sturgis. I learned a lesson: take bookmarks everywhere. Everywhere. Note to self duly noted and ingrained. It was a great …
Day 2 in which timing, location and miracles are everything
Before you delete or close this window, please know that I’m aware there’s nothing more droll than reading about other people’s vacations. But this isn’t that kind of post. I promise. I just have to tell you what God did today (Wednesday, July 30, 2014). Since we didn’t know for sure when or if we would be making this trip, …
Family vacation–an exercise in character building
We were supposed to leave yesterday. Finally, about an hour ago, we squeezed ourselves into the car. All five of us. We’re going to travel 5100 miles. Together. In a car. 5100 miles. Now, mind you, we all have special needs. Two have autism, one has Alzheimer’s, one has ADD (my husband) and one is riddled with a genetic propensity …
World Autism Awareness Day
I believe in confirmations from the Lord that I’m on the right track. And lately, with the hardships my family has experienced, I needed a little boost of confidence. Today is Autism Awareness Day. It’s a very special day for me because I am a Mom of twin adults (age 19) with autism. And it’s also a special day because …
God’s Unexpected Blessings
A week ago today I was feeling rather low. I even blogged about it I was feeling so bad. Then, one blessing after another flowed into my life in unexpected ways. I got good news. A check came in the mail. And by sheer Providence, I got to meet Temple Grandin and interview her face to face for a full …
Autism and First Place Chili
We’ve had a chili-cook-off tradition at our church for the past seven years or so. For the past three years my twin sons with autism have won first place! The first year, they used my recipe and I guided them through the process. The second year their Dad’s recipe was used and Dad entered with them. Last night they entered …
Autism + blizzard + flu = one tired Mama!
So, I now have two sick autie men (my kids with autism are 19 now), and there’s a blizzard outside. What could be more fun, right? I’m supposed to be working on two overdue manuscripts, but instead I’m feeding chicken soup to the two curled up together watching Downton Abbey. That’s not all bad, I suppose. But books and stories …
The perfect conditions for treating a patient with autism
I have long wanted to write a book for the medical community about how to deal with patients with autism. Our normal experiences with medical personnel as the twins were growing up, were less than admirable. Autism wasn’t known about as much as it is now. And I’m happy to report, after our experiences last Wednesday, that I have come …
Hallelujah! We have poop!
Hey, when you live with autism, you get excited about some strange stuff. This week I’m jumping for joy about poop. I’m not saying that when Isaiah woke me up first thing Friday with — “Mom! I pooped in the hat!” that it’s my favorite way to wake up. But let me tell you, it was a long-awaited event. Isaiah …