a little background

hi, my name is mandy and I have two amazing little boys. My oldest son, Ty, has been diagnosed with autism (which is what you will read most about in this blog); I also have Tripp, who is an amazing little brother to Ty (who you will also hear alot about). I was encouraged to start this blog to document our journey through life and life with autism... my world has been rocked in last few years and i have responded in good ways and bad ... but Jesus has gotten me through all of it...





i hope i can be an encouragement to you, and for the friends and family that will read this - maybe this will keep you posted indepth on what Ty is learning! :) and the adventures of Tripp too





thank you for reading, and if you have any questions, comments or smart remarks; feel free to post them.



Thursday, August 2, 2012

life is a zoo... be sure to feed the right animals

I know it's been a while since my last post, and I would like to say it's because we've been so busy and yadda yadda yadda ... but really, if I'm honest, it's because I haven't been in the mood to write. Now I'm not the type person that needs soft music and lit candles but I do need something to say and lately I haven't had the words.  Yes there is a lot going on in our world but I just haven't felt the need to share and at times I have felt that maybe it just wasn't all that important. (important to us yes ... but the rest of the world??? idk)
So all that to say that today I read a blog that some friends of mine shared and it opened my eyes to this adoption journey that they are on and have been on for quite some time. The blog was raw and real and I liked it! I love when people give you the honest truth, when you look at it and say - ouch, but so true! It opened my eyes to how ignorant I can be on other subjects because I put myself before others and because I put Ty before everything. Yes you read that correctly. Some of you might be thinking, well you should, he needs you too.  But it's not healthy to be consumed by the things of this world. Autism is a tricky thing, and it comes in so many forms, before I knew what autism really was - I didn't think it was that bad. There are many people, and I was one of them, that think "Autistic kids are geniuses, how cool to be so talented and not have to put forth any effort" Oh how wrong that is! It's so easy to live in this world and to see everyone while wearing goggles and ear plugs. We pick out what we want to see and hear and go about our business oblivious to the real world around us. As I read the blog on how to be a friend to those families on their adoption journey my eyes were opened to how tough that is. How challenging it is not only for my friends but for the child that will come into their home, into a new country?! How crazy we are, to think that once that child gets here, his or her life will be so simple and perfect. They still have so much to go through and so much to build. What if they don't sleep well at night? What if they miss their family and home country? How do you deal with that? How do we help them deal with that? I don't really know, and that's why I was glad that someone told their story, this blog told you how to be a friend, how to love and care for them in a way that would show them the love of God.
In the world of autism, life can and will get crazy. There are alot of days that I don't know what to do. There are lots of days that I doubt myself & decisions that we make? Is this the right school? Are we pushing him enough? Are we pushing him to much? (we just studied in Ephesians where the bible says not to provoke anger in children, does therapy provoke anger? if so what do I do? What does the bible say about autism?) Am I neglecting Tripp? Am I expecting to much out of Tripp? Am I too laid back and unorganized? Do I need to quit my job and home school my boys? Could I even do that? And then I get lost in this sea of questions, it becomes so overwhelming and stressful. I just want my boys to run and play and laugh. I love to hear them laugh! Ty loves to just bust out in a huge laugh and for everyone else to fall in. Its priceless.Why can't we just hide in a cave and laugh until Jesus comes back?!

Because we have purpose... to reach everyone we can and tell them about the Gospel! To share the love and compassion that was shown to us. So times will get hard and people will ask you questions that you don't want to answer and others will make comments about autism that don't understand. We will, for the sake of not wanting to be avoided like the plague, laugh off most comments and avoid hard questions, we smile and say we are great - even when we could fall apart at any moment. Because lets be honest that's what most people want to hear. They want to see the good results and not the everyday nitty gritty, screaming, crying, nervous laughter, breakdowns, doubts, and the frenzy of life. We have discovered reflexes that surely came from Jesus and not ourselves (I have no idea how we have been so lucky - neither of us have super powers but there are days that we could enter the Olympics with our cat like reflexes and sprints that come out of no where). I'm pretty sure Sam has hurdled multiple items in and around our house at speeds unknown to most of mankind. But it makes for a fun and exciting life! We laugh a lot, I get mad more than most, but it never fails that laughter overcomes so much for us.
I don't really know where I was going with all this, I guess just to be real with whats going on and to let y'all know that we appreciate and love all of you! And that, no this isn't easy but we aren't on this journey alone so thanks for being there!

I know I say this alot, but I want you to know that I don't think we have it bad, our life is great and there are so many things that we could be facing that we are not facing. I don't want to, in any way, paint a picture of poor pitiful us... we know we are blessed and have been blessed with two amazing boys... but I'm just spilling my guts on our everyday life... we love our family and especially the fact that we have days like these...


 the boys at a drive through zoo - priceless :

ty slapped the llama
tripp scared of the stuff giraffe