Cats...

... are helping Bright Eyes to be a good apprentice at the moment.

We have a lovely game where we pretend to be cats and meeow a whole lot. It's an easy step to then 'clean up the cat room together' or 'vacuum the cat couch'. It helps him get out of the car or come in the door if he's pretending to be a cat. Sometimes all I have to do is open the door and meeow a few times and out he'll hop!

Painting

Bright Eyes' fine motor skills are so poor and he feels so inadequate to pick up a paintbrush or crayon that he avoids it with everything he's got.

Recently he's been keen to paint his trains though, so I've pulled out the brushes and paints whenever he talks about it.

Today we actually spent two minutes colouring in a picture together. He was on my knee and we were holding the crayons together, but at one point he showed enthusiasm and actually changed the position of the crayon and used it himself.

It's slow, but we're going places!

Healing

I'm thinking a LOT about healing and prayer at the moment. I'm having a prayer meeting for Bright Eyes next week and I'm going to specifically ask God to heal all his neurological difficulties and his anxiety.

It's kind of scary. I have a few 'what if's?' floating around in my mind.

What if God doesn't heal him? Sometimes I'm not sure I'm up for more of the marathon of remediation (although I know I will be... it's just hard). Will I be really angry with God? What will it do for his sister's faith? Can we afford to pay the costs (both financial and costs to our family life) of autism long term?

What if God does heal him? Will I tell it far and wide and then feel like I'm boasting? Why would he heal my child and not the other 10 children I know with ASD? Would I suddenly have a ministry of healing?

Here's the way I'm approaching the whole thing.
- I'm asking God to do it so the healing doesn't depend on my amount of faith.
- I'm praying very specifically.
- I'm getting our whole church community to ask with me (more than two or three!)
- I've read all the Mark passages where Jesus healed and I'm studying the requests and the reactions of those healed, as well as what Jesus said to them.
- in the weeks leading up to this, I've been letting God know what I'd like him to do and what's coming (as if he didnt know anyway!)

Apprentice

Bright eyes has stepped up to become quite a good little apprentice in recent weeks. I have really noticed him enjoying doing things with me. Some examples: we took the bins out together and he helped me take the clothes off the line the other day. He has been inviting us to play constantly.

It's a good change. I was getting concerned that even though we were seeing lots of good contact with our RDI program, he was still operating on his own.

Since our holiday, he has been eating normal food and doesn't seem to be suffering any adverse effects. This is also a good step forward. Of course, he still doesn't actually like anything except Vegemite sandwiches...

Our new challenge is his habit of yelping while he watches TV. It's incredibly distracting, but there is nothing we can do about it.

Photos

If you're interested in some of our recent holiday snaps, click here.

My birthday wish...

You’re invited to help celebrate Cecily’s birthday
in a very special way!

No presents please! Here’s why...

The best birthday present anyone could give Cecily would be healing for Bright Eyes from his anxiety and autism, so we’re inviting you to join with us for a prayer time. We’ll be specifically asking God for healing and neurological health for him.

If you're in the area, join us on Friday 1 August at our place at 6pm for a light dinner of soup and buns and birthday cake and pray from 7 to 7.45.

RSVP by the Tuesday 29th July for catering. If you can't come, you're welcome to join us 'in spirit' at the same time!

Feeling good

We've just returned from a week away with the family.

It was an interesting time. At the beginning of the week our relationship with bright eyes was seriously under strain. He just couldn't cope with the travel to Canberra and the touristy things we wanted to do.

I really felt depressed after this. It all just seemed too hard.

However once we settled down at a beach house things recovered. I even had one of the most exciting times ever with him. This was our conversation:

Him: "What are you feeling mum?"
Me: "I'm feeling a bit sad."
Him: "You cannot feel sad. You have to feel better."
Me: "I might feel better if I have a hug."
He comes over to give me a hug.

And if that wasn't enough, five minutes later he said again, "what are you feeling now mum?"

He has never before asked how I'm feeling or why or even seemed to notice what my emotional state is. Very exciting.