381Jul 1, 2011
We’re sitting in a circle, you and I, with half a dozen other people we love. Â It’s late at night, past the hour when everyone started yawning, past the time when we all ambled into the kitchen looking for snacks, all the way past pitch dark and silence to that hour when the world seems […]
382Jun 24, 2011
This morning, Adam couldn’t find his favorite math worksheet. “Three Steps?” he said to me, his face a few inches from mine, his body leaning in to where I sat sipping my coffee on the porch. Adam and I had communicated enough about Three Steps in the last week for me to know (finally) that this […]
383Jun 10, 2011
Last weekend, Adam went camping with his dad for the first time. Â And the most wonderful thing happened: he had a blast. Living with autism, there are things we parents just get used to not being able to do with our children. Â We stand in groups of parents who are chattering about all the things […]
384May 13, 2011
Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. ~Dallas Willard, as quoted in The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith, 183 Sometimes I feel like a horrible mother. These are the days when I truly realize the power of grace, and these are the days when my thanksgiving for it is most earnest. Sometimes I feel […]
385May 6, 2011
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good teacher. ~Temple Grandin Mrs. Nesbitt used to throw gum at me during class, her lips curling up in a wide smile that erupted with laughter that sounded half-crazy. I was always the third child in my family to sit under my teachers’ tutelage, and Mrs. Nesbitt […]
386Mar 25, 2011
This morning, I’ve been baking, and the house smells like rich chocolate. Chocolate Curious George cake, to be exact. Adam will be 9 years old tomorrow, and the cake was a request. I shared this with some of my sisters a few nights ago, asking them to thank God along with me for the gift […]
387Mar 18, 2011
This afternoon, when I picked the kids up from school, Zoe ran over to the van. Weeping. I opened the door and pulled her into my lap, and the words came tumbling out with her tears. “Mom, Emily said she hated me. And then, when we were leaving school, and I was telling Roxanna what […]
388Mar 11, 2011
Ah, it feels so good to be back here. All week I’ve been itching to write, but it’s not just the wordsmithing that I love (and I LOVE the wordsmithing), it’s the knowledge that some of you out there really hear me. And I need to tell you something: I’m not the only one in […]
389Feb 18, 2011
Sometimes the ironies of my life amuse me. Every day after school, before I’ll let Adam get in the van, he has to have a short conversation with me–an appropriate greeting and the answer to at least one question. Adam is usually anxious to get in, having left his favorite treasures—George, his calculator, his mp3 […]
390Feb 11, 2011
Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, […]