What is it you see? What is it you are looking for? Perspective is everything. You tend to find what you seek. I know this to be very true.

In the worst days, I couldn’t see good in the World. I just wanted to know why. Why my child, my family, my life? But God got us through it.

Ethan started speaking and trying to connect with us. We were blessed to have Ansley, who added so much joy to our family. Ethan connected with her quickly. She became one of the best things that has helped him ‘reach’ us. She demanded his attention and for him to respond to her. She never let him tune her out. She also became his “Little Mama” as we jokingly call her.

It has been almost 10 years now since Ethan got his diagnosis. Many different therapists and many doctors. So much to manage and quite a big learning curve for all of us. During this time, we have been blessed to have wonderful friends enter our life. Some with ASD kids also, some not. Many who went out of their way to include Ethan and be kind to him. They made all the difference and restored our faith in people, as we also have dealt with prejudice, whispers, and discrimination. Nothing quite like having a parent call to ask you for directions to a graduation party that your child wasn’t invited to for his class. Yep, that happened. A ‘good, Christian Educator’ did just that to Ethan. Recently, but not this year.

So, am I surprised? Not really anymore.  I saw a quote that said, “I asked God to protect me from my enemies. I started losing friends.” Exactly.

So how does an ASD Mom deal with all of this? I have finally gotten to the point that I no longer give any weight to what the peanut gallery thinks. I have a wonderful family and friends that love me, Freddie, Ansley & Ethan. We communicate with them daily and they support us 100%. They have been there since the
beginning and really “get” where we are today. They know the roads we have walked and what it has taken to get to 2016.

So where are we? We are in the harvest season. We are happy. We are celebrating everything.  We just came home from a beach vacation. We laughed, played, danced, ate….We are simply harvesting all of the good that God has sewn in our lives through the past 10 years.

We all say prayers together each night. Even if Daddy isn’t home, if we can get him on the phone, we let him pray with us that way. He did it from a pub one night. What a good Daddy, lol.  We pray to give thanks. We pray for continued healing for Ethan’s health issues. We pray for strength and love and peace for our family. We pray for God to continue the work he started…in all of us.

We have been through so much. Do you see that? Do you know? What do you see…through the looking-glass? Do you have any idea of where we have been? Does it matter?

One of the major lessons we have learned – The opinion of others is just that – Theirs. It has no bearing on us. There are people who serve no purpose but to bring negativity or drama to your life. Maybe they are in their own tough season. Regardless, we will not allow that to creep in and damage all of the work we have done. So if that means separating from people, so be it. Our family unit comes first, every time.

So as you look into the lives of other, be slow to judge and quick to try to understand their story. As you go through life, you may learn some valuable things from these people who previously resided at the bottom of the pit. They found the ladder.