We are celebrating this week (Birthday celebrations Steele-Style usually last about a week) with my homemade chocolate cake, lots of Thomas the Train, Finding Nemo, and six glorious days on the beach.
It's pretty wonderful.
And it feels appropriate to be here this week. For this event.
Davy was and is such a gift to us.
We like to call him our "do-over". Our "bonus baby".
I tell him every single day that he is my treasure.
But our journey with him has been a struggle in many ways.
He's always marched to the beat of a different drum, if you will.
With an obsession with Coldplay, an uncanny ability to recognize music (and connect songs to artists), a struggle to connect with others, a frustrating speech and reasoning delay (and a host of other unique qualities), he has given us clues from early infancy that he is unique.
Not typical.
Special.
A living, breathing puzzle.
We've tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together - spent countless hours sorting them, organizing them, discussing them... in order to make sense of them.
But it hasn't been working.
Then, in January, we received a phone call from the director of Davy's preschool asking us to come in for a meeting.
The day of that meeting was a bad day. That was the day we realized we needed help.
He needed help.
David is autistic.
We've suspected this for a long time now - had other professionals suggest it as a possibility.
But now it's staring us in the face.
Now we see that the puzzle has 1000 pieces. A mosaic. In 3D.
It's daunting. This puzzle is going to take a lot of time and effort to put together.
But we're confident the end result will be beautiful.
And, really, aren't we all puzzling in our own way?
And God, the Master Designer of all puzzles, I know, will help us sort the pieces of Davy's little mind and put this puzzle together.
Kaysie, I understand this struggle all too well. Each of my children have their own special needs they deal with, but my son is also Autistic. I remember when I heard his diagnosis and it shattering me. Then a friend told me something that I have held dear to my heart through each of my children's struggles. She said, "Amanda, you're already living with the Austism... now it just has a name. And with that name comes the knowledge and power to help him." This has been so true. I have struggled prior to my children having been given a diagnosis and I've struggled afterwards as well, but I've also been given the amazing gift of knowing the steps to treat and help each one of them! Our life is FULL of therapies. Each of my children have been in Occupational, Physical, and Speech therapies and a few in Dietary for sensory related feeding problems. I can tell you that although my son still has his problems, he has come so far with those therapies. I know Davy will also go far. It helps having the amazing family he has fighting for him and encouraging him along the way! If you have any questions or need anything let me know. We have amazing resources and even better therapist! :) Love you Kaysie! <3
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