I was very surprised one of my post generated so many views. It was titled “100 Days of Grace.” It was a very emotional post about our family crisis with autism.
I could just resume the same post. I can’t believe it has been three years since transitioning our non-verbal 13-year-old son to a residential school three hours away. That means he is now 16!
As I contemplated writing I didn’t know where to re-start. I know it has been awhile since I have posted. I stopped writing because I needed to step back and process life quietly.
As I read my last post “100 Days of Grace,” I could just linger on the last title and the theme of grace for my life. Only at this point I am well past 100 days or even 365 days. Days have turned to months, months turned into a year, and a year has turned into years. I am learning to let go. I am learning to live in God’s grace everyday. Internally I am fighting against the new “normal” of only being a hands-on parent on a bi-monthly basis. To deal with this, I have realized my new role is to continue being Tristan’s biggest advocate in a different way. I ask the ones who are caring for him detailed questions on how he is doing. I respond with suggestions and let go. Really let go.
Two years ago our family was in a crisis. I searched for posts on residential placements of a 13 year-olds and I found 1 article. If I remember correctly it wasn’t even someone in the US. I realized I need to write.
I have a story to tell. It is not the story I want to have. It is not a fairy-tale ending of my parenting journey. But honestly, no one gets to pick out how life unfolds. If it wasn’t for 2 kind ladies reaching out and sharing their experience, then I would feel even more alone. Along the way, God put 2 more people in my path in unexpected ways. Both of these people have very similar stories to ours. I want there to be more than 1 article on the world-wide web that address these hard topics of parenting autism kids. I know there are others living this same situation but not many have spoken. Therefore, some of my future posts on this site will be about this topic to hopefully give other’s information and hope.
God’s grace is carrying me everyday. I pray that God’s grace will carry you– whatever journey of life that you are on.
Keep calm and let God’s grace carry you!
There are 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Our journey with autism took a stark turn of events during these past 100 days. With each day passing we all relied on God’s grace. Let me share what that looked like in our family.
The Practical Side of Autism 