Transitions

Transition is a word we are quite familiar with in our home. I have probably used this word more in the last 4 years than I have in my lifetime. Having a child on the Autism spectrum, transition can often be a difficult and stressful thing in our home and especially for our oldest boy who has Autism.
With that being said this year we as a family are going through some pretty major transitions and thankfully all of them are great things. But with transition even if it is good it can bring challenges and adjustment. But with God's grace, he helps us manouver through them.

In the last month one of our newest transitions is, my husband after working for 5 years as a landscaper gave in his notice and 3 weeks later he was the full time Children and Young family pastor at our Church. His first week of work was helping to run Vacation Bible school. He had a great but exhausting week! We are so excited about this new adventure and thankful for how God has led and directed our family up to this point. It is all pretty exciting as we think about the journey that got us here!

Our next transition coming up is the birth of our 3rd baby boy, who should be arriving Early September. It will be a big change as we haven't had a newborn in our home for over 6 years, so it is back to diaper changes, through the night feedings and hauling a diaper bag around with me again, but I couldn't be more excited about this little guy. I know it will probably bring some difficult days and challenges, but I feel we are ready for this transition and again we know we do not do this on our own strength!

Both boys have had a fun Summer and the next transition for them personally is back to school on Sept. 4th. E will be in 4th grade and M in 1st grade. For E this is a big year as he is transitioning from one elementary school to another. We have been trying to prepare him mentally and physically for this transition over the last year. He will probably do great, but change in E's world always seems to bring a little bit of anxiety for mom. But I know he has lots of people helping and supporting him through this change.

Both boys got to do something new this Summer, E got to attend a week long Sports program through the YMCA, it was a partnership program for children who have special needs. He had a blast, his favorite activity was swimming.

The last day of the program finished with a medal ceremony, which was very moving for this mommy!

As a family we got to attend our first Church staff camping retreat, we had a wonderful time. M got to fish for the very first time and was thrilled to catch 3 fish, it was a big day for him.

So I am learning transitions aren't always bad but with them brings change and that is good as that means we are learning and growing, but also continually having to trust in God, which is the most important thing!

Enjoying this season

Well I still have about 3 months to go before this little one arrives, but I have been slowly trying to get things ready. Since our older boys were born over 6 years ago, I had pretty much given away or had sold all baby clothing and most of our accessories. Last weekend I found these cute buys ( in picture above) at a yard sale.
I am actually really enjoying this stage of pregnancy,  even though bending over, getting up & sitting down is starting to become a challenge & a few extra varicose veins that were not there before have appeared, the 2nd trimester has been pretty uneventful.
I am loving the kicks and movement, my heart soars with joy every time I feel our little boy move! I am thankful for the blessing of this baby and feel like I am maybe much more aware this time of how huge a blessing he is to our family. Not that I wasn't with the boys but maybe having experienced miscarriage a year previously has made me much more aware and I have been trying to enjoy each moment of this time in my life that I won't get back again! The boys already love this little one and have been rubbing, kissing and patting moms tummy and they even giggle at how round mama's tummy is starting to look :)

I am thankful for this season in our family.

Will you love me no matter what?

Yesterday when I picked up M from school, I could tell from the first hello that he was a little tired and grouchy. When we got home, he was watching a movie with his brother for a little while. I told both boys that it was time to switch off the movie, it was a nice afternoon and we needed to go play outside for a little while. M was not very happy and proceeded to protest and get quite upset!
I found myself starting to get frustrated with him and was starting to respond in a similar nature to my son! I then paused and realized my behavior and reaction was not helping an already volatile situation!
I asked him to go to his room, but he came out not long after and he just fell towards me, putting his arms around my legs and just sobbing, I said "do you just need mommy to hold you for a little bit"? He said yes so we went and sat in our big laZ-boy chair and I rocked a sobbing, tired little boy! We sat for a few minutes and then he seemed ready to move on with the rest of his afternoon, I told him I was going to make fruit smoothies if he wanted to help me. While we were in the kitchen he said " mom, do parents love us no matter what?" I said yes M, and as your mommy I will and  I still loved you even today when you were grouchy.

Wow, what a powerful moment for me as a mother! It was also a reality check for me to understand how important it is that our kids know and understand we still love them even when they are not acting or responding in a loving way!

As many of you know I am a thinker and analyser, sometimes it gets me in trouble! But this time it was good,   I started to think about how even we as adults think about this too. "Will you love me no matter?"  Will our friends love us when we say something hurtful?  Will our husbands love us even if we gain a pound or two? Will our children love us when mommy gets frustrated? Will our parents love us even as adult children if we make a poor decision? Will God love us when we mess up badly?

We live in a world that seems to be dominated by performance. Very often even as followers of Christ we still put conditions on love. As an adult just like my son I too need to be reassured that "no matter what we will be loved". 

This morning I was reminded of the verse in the picture below. We don't need to fear the " Will you love us no matter"  with God as His love is perfect and is not based on performance, or what we say.

 I am thankful again for how God uses my children to point me back to Him again and His truth.

Mother Letter- To a mom who just had a child diagnosed with Autism

Dear Mother,
You might be feeling a little relieved right now but also a little dazed and confused. After all the worrying and wondering your fears are now being realized. You find yourself sitting there listening to the doctor as he tells you the diagnosis for your child is 'Autism'. Part of you feels like you can see a little clearer now, but the room also seems to be spinning too! You find yourself trying to fight back the tears, trying to not be overcome by all the emotions that you have experienced over the last few months or years of wondering. You have so many questions, concerns and you find yourself feeling pretty overwhelmed.

I remember that day very clearly,  it was over 4 years ago for me. I am here to tell you that life does go on and yes you will have many difficult days, but it will get better. Make sure you don't do this journey on your own, find support from others, especially those who are traveling on the same road and make sure you use all of the resources available to you! There are so many therapists, doctors and teachers and other families who are willing to help you!

God sees the full picture, even if  you don't right now. Take time to process this stage in your life and to grieve if you need to, but don't stay there. There is a little one who is depending on their mama to help and advocate for them and they need you. Remember your child is "Fearfully and wonderfully made".
As time goes on you will start to adjust to a different kind of normal but you will also start to see many joys and blessings even from the challenges you face on a daily basis!

Much love to you for this journey,

Jayne 

Linking up with The Mother Letters Project. Read about it then join your “Mother Letter” to the conversation. And get your copy of the Mother Letters ebook here.

Mother Letter Link up party http://motherletters.com/my-mother-letter-link-up-party/

Courage

At the beginning of this year one of the blogs I like to follow suggested that instead of making a New years Resolution they like to chose a word for their year. The more I thought about this idea the more I liked it.  I decided to pray about it and ask God what my word should be for the year. It seemed that the word that was most on my heart was "Courage".
I think the biggest thing I am learning is the courage to trust God in every situation, especially the ones I don't understand and definitely in the ones I have absolutely no control over! Over the last few months there have been things that have come up in my life and our family life that have needed for me to be courageous, it doesn't mean that I haven't struggled because I have, but I have been learning to let go and to give those situations totally over to God, especially in the times when I feel like I can't but I know I need to!

I think courage can come in many different forms it could be facing our fears, asking someone for forgiveness, taking care of a difficult situation, trying something new, or maybe reaching  out to someone in need. I think we often don't want to be courageous because we are afraid of failure or being hurt. But whatever it is or whatever God is asking us to do I am learning that I  need to do it and have total trust in knowing God can handle each and  every situation and the outcome of those situations.

I am excited to see how the rest of my "courageous" year unravels!

Something to share..........

 The boys are thrilled and especially our youngest as he is going to be a big brother!
I have been learning to trust God each step of the way, one of the verses that God put on my heart at the very beginning is "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7) When I feel overwhelmed or concerned this is my go to verse, it has brought me much strength and encouragement.

We are rejoicing in this special blessing that we look forward to meeting in about 6 months :)

"A mile in His Shoes" DVD winner

Congratulations to Dave & Kristina you are the winner of  " A mile in His Shoes" DVD :)
The winner has been notifiied, and has 48 hours ( Wed. Jan. 25th 8am PST)  to get back to me with their mailing address. If they don't respond then I will pick another winner using www.random.org.

 I used www.random.org to choose a winner, and the winning number was  # 2

I received one copy of this DVD in exchange for my honest review, and no other compensation was provided. Thank you to all of you who entered my first giveaway :)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

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"A Mile in His Shoes" DVD review and giveaway- Closed now

This is the first DVD that I have ever got to review on my blog. I was excited and really interested to review this particular one as the main character of the movie is a young man with Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of Autism. This is something near and dear to my heart as our oldest boy was diagnosed with Autism 4 years ago.

The story is set around an 18 yr old,  young man called Mickey who has an amazing talent to throw a baseball. His talent  was discovered by a chance meeting with baseball coach Arthur "Murph" Murphy. Mickey's parents are reluctant to let their son leave their farm because he has Asperger's. Murph convinces Mickey's parents that life in the minor league will benefit their unique son.

 As I watched this movie I was able to relate to the Parents fears and challenges of raising a child with Autism. I appreciated how they touched on some of the challenges that individuals with Autism have to deal with daily. This story reminded me there is hope midst the challenges and struggles of Autism and many blessings too.

I enjoyed watching this movie of hope and faith. If you would like to watch it for yourself you have an opportunity to win a copy for yourself!

There are 2  ways you can enter this giveaway:
1.Leave a comment on my blog, telling me why you would like to win this movie
2. Sign up for my email subscriptions to my blog ( leave a comment to say you signed up)

You can have 2 entries just make sure you leave a comment both times. The giveaway will close Sun. 21st January at 8pm PST. The winner will be chosen by random.org