this is our story

Today is Autism Awareness Day.

I haven't talked about autism here on the blog before, but it feels like it's time that I do.  Our sweet Caleb was diagnosed with autism a little over three years ago, just before his third birthday.  It was not a complete surprise to us, and yet, it was completely shocking.  His diagnosis was simply confirming what we already knew to be true, but no parent can ever be completely prepared to hear the words or to read it in print.  

A lot of time has passed since then, and life for our family looks a whole lot different these days.  We have been through some really difficult days, and we have been through some pretty amazing ones.  There have been days when I didn't know what to do, and I felt like I was failing Caleb in every way possible.  They usually ended with me in tears, praying for God to show me what in the world I was supposed to be doing for him.  And there have been days when Caleb has done something so incredible - something that we weren't sure he would ever be able to do or something to show us how smart he really is.  Those days probably ended with me in tears as well, thanking God for his faithfulness and marveling at the work that He is doing in my son.  

 

 The newest numbers show that one in sixty-eight children has autism.  If those numbers don't make you stop and think, they should.  If your family hasn't been affected by autism, it will be.  It's only a matter of time.  Maybe not directly, but in some way, we are all being affected.  These children deserve for us to become more aware, more tolerant, more understanding, and more accepting.   

 

This boy is my little rock star.  He is my life and my love, and he walks around with a piece of my heart wherever he goes.  He is the most precious gift from God, and I am so very grateful that I get to be his momma.

 

He is our one in sixty-eight. 

{all pictures are from the Autism Walk we participated in last October}