A Thorn Among Roses

So, it's been a while since i posted...years, in fact.  I stumbled upon to an old post and thought, I need to write more.  So here we are now... My family looks completely different and times are different, but we are still just the same people.  We've added one...P got married 2 years ago and now we have A.  I will talk more about that later.  But isn't our pic soooo cute?   For now, life is crazy and wild and sometimes completely unpredictable, but we are still praying and playing together.  Ryan and I are on our 21st year of marriage (woot woot), and the kids are well, old!  P is 25 and happily married to A, and they are celebrating 2 years next month.   B is a junior,  has a job and is blowing our minds with all she is achieving in this world, and she's one of the funniest kids on the planet.  She's grown an amazing amount in all her therapies and in life in general...she's an advocate for all who struggle, and au...

since i'm getting over being a mom to an adult child now, i'm ready to remind myself i'm not that old...and remember i still have my 3 little ones {which may or may not make me feel older}.  b is almost 10 now...so here's a glimpse into her life today...b is hilarious.  plain and simple: hilarious.  quick witted and funny... she adores animals more than almost anything else, other than family...so much so that she has been a vegetarian since she could speak. the 2 major loves of her life: Oliver Joseph Poops-a-lot and Zeus...our bunny and dog, who both deserve a medal of honor for what they do with and for b and her ASD. oh yea, she's on the spectrum.  b is autistic...and in special schooling and lots of counseling for life skills, but most of all, b is loving and kind and caring and a free spirit. who doesn't love a kid that can start a "pile on dad" at 7am with her sisters and giggle through it all! most of all, she's...

i'm not the made from scratch mom, but my girls love a little dump, stir and bake action. there's so much help sometimes... the excitement is almost, well, unconfined! {she takes after her father's side...he he he} jada is a natural born chef or "cooker" as she often refers to herself.  she glows in delight when she is in the kitchen. {see what i mean about the father's side?  hmmm?} and what does brooke do while the other girls cook?  chill and wait for the baking to be done.

it sucks.  i'm just going to be honest.  autism diagnosis sucks. it's nothing we didn't already feel before the appointments, but hearing it, like FOR REAL, well, it sucks. it sucks not because it's hard, but because your daughter is not any different of a person than before the diagnosis. but the real diagnosis...it sucks. new IEPs...new doctors, new therapists, and more "labels". it kinda seems like people simply see "autism" and not brooke any more. so here's what i want you to know... when you walk into a grocery store and you are brooke, you see lights flashing all over the place, you see swirling colors and hear clanging wheels and carts that sound like cymbals in your ear drums...so when she melts down and asks to ride on the bottom of the grocery cart in a ball with her hands over her ears and hoody over her head, please don't make a big deal of it and tell me she needs to learn how to deal with structure. live my life...o...