Lessons and Blessings

Matthew & Gabe

We started our blog in June 2012. It's hard to believe over a year has passed since then. As I said in a previous entry, this year has been filled with changes. Changes changes everywhere. Perhaps the biggest changes came in January when Matthew (age 4 years) was diagnosed with Autism, likely Aspergers. There has been no change in how much we love him. He is the same beautiful, wonderful, intelligent ray of sunshine that he has always been.  But we have had to change many of our approaches in how we work with him and handle his behaviors. I struggled with the idea of sharing details about our adventures with Autism due to the fact that this blog was created to update on our adoption process, but lately I have come to realize a few things.
First, the back story...
As some of you may know, last week Gabe (age 18 months) was diagnosed with moderate to severe Autism also-- more moderate than severe. He is very delayed in his speech and social skills. For over a month now, we have been attending weekly speech therapy with Gabe and have recently found out that he is extremely Vitamin D deficient. We don't know how it happened or what caused it, but being as D deficient as he is COULD play a part in his delay. For the experts out there, his D level should be between 80 and 100. Gabe's is 16. So we have started daily Vitamin D supplement drops (3,000 units daily) to try to get his level up as well as a daily multivitamin. We can tell a small difference in Gabe already.  He really seems to be more interactive with his surroundings. He plays with his toys. He is babbling alot more and actually pointing and making more words. He lets us know that he wants us and needs things now. We have heard and read about great results coming from getting Vitamin D levels in check, so we are praying that this is the case with Gabe.
Matthew continues to improve and make great strides. He will hopefully be starting Pre-K in the next few weeks, and we are excited to see the wonderful things that await him and the progress we know he will make.
Here comes the newest change... or the revelation. Rather, it was more of an "Ah Ha!" and "Duh!" moment all in one... Our adoption journey is directly related to our adventures in Autism. We are FAMILY. What affects one of us affects all of us, whether that be current family members or future ones. Autism isn't going to leave. It is a part of who we are and who our family is. Even if Matthew and Gabe are able to fully work through Autism and be symptom free, we will always be Autism advocates.  As adoptive parents, we won't be guaranteed not to face Autism with our future children also, and that is OK!! God is using both of  these situations to make us into what He needs us to be. Where we are headed we don't know, but God is there. He knows what is ahead, and He is preparing us to deal with it.  He is shaping us into what we need to be and teaching us what we need to know. It is not for us to ask why but for us to trust God. He holds the whole world in his hands and keeps everything balanced and working together. He created heavens and earth, land and seas, light and life. I'm pretty sure He can manage little things like Autism and adoption.  ;) We do ask for your continued prayers for our family as our story unfolds. From this point on I will be posting everything, so Prayer Warriors, stay on your toes! We have many lessons and blessings ahead, and we look forward to sharing them with you. We are so thankful to have each of you to share our journey with. God bless each of you.