It's a beautiful day...

I want to start off by saying that I am so grateful for this beautiful Sunday afternoon. Thank you, God.

I am sitting here enjoying a moment of quiet. This "quiet" is a relative term. The sounds around me are actually quite loud...but none of them are being aimed in my direction. I will take what I can get.

I am very much looking forward to the great and fantastic peace of tomorrow. Christopher returns to school, Beau will be at work, and I *hope* that Delaney will choose to take at least a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day.

Instead of using that time PRODUCTIVELY, I plan to squander that time playing with my paints and listening to the traffic drone by...maybe listen to some music with swearing and adult content without fear of a little one repeating the lyrics or asking me questions.

All of that being said, I love the sounds of my family being content in the moment. Christopher running from room to room drumming and singing...Delaney cooing and her slurpy way of nursing...Beau watching and commentating on football. Good things, for sure.

This upcoming week will have some unpleasantness. Not the least of which being the fact that my husband has to work SO hard to give us the life that we live. The most unpleasant part of the week is something that I have dreaded for months. Christopher's annual ARD.

I despise sitting in the room surrounded by people who are (at times) ready to put Christopher's future in a tiny little box...ready to ship him off to a future less grand and more narrow than what he deserves. Granted, not all of them are FOR that plan...but they all acquiesce so easily.

So, I end up becoming aggressive and angry at these people who act as if they know my child better than I do. For them, he's just a job. For me, he is my world.

The end result will be worth the anguish in between...at least, I hope that it is.

The responsibility of shaping his future is almost more than I can bear at times. I know that every child depends on their parents for this careful planning...but having to fight the entire world and all of the preconceived notions that everyone has about Autism....while pushing him to be all that he can be...having to think around the corners inherent in his condition...finding the best way to encourage him to become the independent man that I know he COULD BE if I don't let the district have their way...their way being a self-contained classroom where he learns little more than "life skills"---like how to wash dishes and clean up after himself----instead of reading, writing, math, and important social skills...On top of that I am charged with keeping him safe from the world and himself ALL of the time.

And to that responsibility, I have welcomed a new baby, a new puppy, and a new business venture....

What was I thinking?!?!?!

Oh yeah, that God is good and He will make me strong enough. I have faith in Him and His faith in me. Both of my children are unexpected miracles...wonderful and amazing in their own ways. I can not wait to see what God has in store for us, because I *know* that it is fantastic.