It Is Well

I am a words person. Always have been. I have so many thoughts I wish I could take the time to form into words and sentences to share about this journey we are on with our Will and the autism spectrum. But the reality of summer schedules and life right now is that I'm not going to have the time nor bandwidth anytime soon to write some eloquent blog post and do it justice. So for now, this quick post will have to do. 

What I'm realizing about parenting a child on the spectrum is how hard it is when you have absolutely no clue what to do. I know that goes along with parenting in general. But I'm talking about when you look at your child who is uncontrollably upset, and you feel completely helpless in how to help him. 

The older Will gets, there are many areas that he is showing incredible progress. I am over the moon thankful and thrilled. But there are other areas that are getting harder and harder as the rest of the world has expectations for a 4 year old that just don't mesh with where he is. Those discrepancies are becoming more apparent, and as a parent, that is heartbreaking to see.

He has good days and bad days. I'm realizing summertime is going to have more of those bad days. Our schedule and routines are off. That results in some hard moments...and some bad days.

So the whole point of this post, is to share where I've been finding sanctuary. This song. 

We sang it at our church for the first time two weeks ago, and it has been played on my phone approximately 328 times since then, I'm sure. I can't get enough.

To me, the words are not meant to be Christian cliches. I grow weary of those kind of trite sayings and mantras. No, this song is an affirmation of sorts that there are waves and winds that are hard. There are mountains that feel impossible to climb. My hope isn't only in those changing. My hope is that even in the midst of the bad days and the days where I feel completely ill-equipped for this road ahead, through it all my eyes stay on the One who will comfort, who will offer peace, and who will provide mercy. 

That is how I know it is well with my soul. 

(PS: This is not a subtle way of fishing for compliments about Will or my parenting. Just my own outlet to document and remember and to hopefully share this song with someone that may need to hear some of the same words.)  :)

Will's Preschool Thanksgiving Program

Oh my word. This may have been the most adorable thing ever. It lasted less than 10 minutes, and yes,  I was a laughing, crying mess. This was Will's first ever school program. We had no idea how he would do. Well he showed us. Sang every single word. Did just about every single motion. Noticed us in the crowd of what felt like 1,000 people and cameras, but he kept on doing what he was supposed to be doing. All while doing his classic Will/Tigger bounce. That's when you know he is excited and having fun. :)

He definitely seems to enjoy anything music related. I can't wait to see how that plays out. I love this kid and love to see him having fun. And I think I had that Turkey Tango song in my head for weeks afterwards.  Gobble, gobble, gobble!

Misc. October

October started with such a treat! My college roommate, Garyn, came in town from Atlanta. We had not seen each other in a year and a half. It had been way too long, and we enjoyed so much a couple super late nights catching up. She was even a trooper coming with us and our small group to play Whilyball! We ended the visit with some of our favorite Tex Mex. I love this girl and am so thankful for meeting her almost 20 years ago (!!!!). Hoping we don't have to wait as long to see each other again. 

I got a bunch of glow sticks for the boys on Halloween. Some serious fun. And we even found Will asleep with them in his hand! :)

Once it was time for real school, these two lifelong friends don't get to see each other near as much. So it's always fun when Tate & Jackson do get together. I couldn't help but go back and find one of their first pics together. Sweet friends who have a blast together every time.

Left - 2007/Six months, Three months
Right - 2013/Seven years, Six & 3/4 years

So proud of Tate for receiving the Cowboy With Character Award for Responsibility.

Just a few unsupervised minutes with Will and my phone results in this. Cracks me up that he smiled for his own selfies. :)

We had the opportunity to honor our friend from college, Jenny Bizaillion, who left this earth way too early. It was a great day for the annual Jenny's Run For Hope benefitting the Gregg Pearson Foundation. The three of us did the 1-mile Fun Run while Wade helped with logistics.  Tate may be ready for the 5K soon. A great day supporting a great organization!

A pretty hilarious pic of a bunch of friends at the dress-up station from a night at church hearing Jennie Allen speak.  :)

Every other year Coach/Uncle Brad and his soccer team have a game here in town that we get to go to. Tate loves it!

Look who else got an award at school! :)

Their new game...hilarious.

Hat Day at school on the same day that Grandpa was a Watch Dog. He sent me this pic from his lunch view. So tough! :)

And Will's school had a fun Family Game Night. We all had a great time, and we also discovered what would be a future Christmas present...the 1976 Candy Land Bingo game. He could've played that for hours.

Halloween 2013

About 5:00 on Halloween, this was my Facebook post:

The Halloween wheels are coming off. One won't wear his costume. The other one can't find his mask. Good times over here...and this is before candy!

It was a stressful start, but we all eventually got a hold of ourselves. :) Tate found his mask, and all was right in his world. Will refused to wear the Robin (Batman & Robin!!!!) costume, but was totally happy wearing the pumpkin shirt. So all was soon right in his world.

So we finally had two happy campers ready to do some trick-or-treating!

Will LOVED the trick-or-treating part. Considering that on any other day, he enjoys going to houses and ringing the doorbells, you can imagine how Halloween turned into the best day ever. Ironically, he doesn't much care for candy at all. But he was happy to play along.

The continued attempts at documenting that all of us were there. :)

Eventually the buckets got too heavy to carry around anymore. But this kid wasn't too sad about coming back home. I really think he has just as much fun handing out the candy, too. 

It was a super fun night. And I loved hearing Will walk around randomly yelling "twick rr tweet" for weeks afterwards. :)

And a few days before, our Small Group had our 2nd annual Halloween Party. So much fun. And I'm thinking Wade & I need to get in on the costume fun next year.

Josh's costume may have been my favorite. He was a pinata and was brave enough to let kids hit him with a stick...and candy fell out. It was hilarious!

 Will LOVED fishing and could've done this for hours.

2 cute pumpkins!

That's a lot of kids!

 We had Star Wars.

 The Avengers.

 Gilly and the nerd.

 The Wizard of Oz.

 And a bunch of superheroes.

So much fun!

Pumpkin Patch 2013

Ahhh the pumpkin patch in Texas. Where we pretend it's actually fall, even though it still feels like summer. Where we "pick" overpriced pumpkins. And where we get adorable, timeless pictures of our kids during a fun family evening together. Sounds lovely. :)

Pardon the sarcasm, but I want to remember the reality of our life right now (not just the pretty pictures) and the reality is that this year the annual trip to the pumpkin patch was a rough one. Let's just say when it was time to leave,  I was glad we were in two cars, because I needed some alone time to gather myself.

It's really my fault. I have a bad habit of building up expectations for these kinds of family outings. And I learned my lesson never, ever to go to the pumpkin patch on the first cool-ish evening of the fall on the last Friday before Halloween. What was I thinking? Especially with a kiddo who does not deal well with high stimulation like a crowded place you can run around crazy.

I was tired. I had mom guilt that we hadn't been to a pumpkin patch yet. (Seriously why do we do that to ourselves???!!). Will got lost multiple times. There was a massive meltdown at the end. Put all of that together and despite some cute pictures, it was pretty close to a disaster.

But like anything with parenting, we live and learn. The boys still had fun. Memories (even ones with tears) were made. We got our expensive pumpkin. And we know now what to do to make it a little more enjoyable for everyone next year.  :)