Funny Farm Journal

This has been a week of highs and lows!

Easter Sunday I walked home from the egg hunt, hand-in-hand with my two sons, tears streaming down my face. Another year had come and gone, and Alec had still not found a single egg and put it in his basket. Same empty basket, same Alec. Only this year all the other kids his age had graduated from the safety of the back yard to the wide-open spaces of the front yard; they were BIG kids now. He sat in the grass of the backyard while everyone around him shouted and ran and rejoiced with each egg discovery. He didn't notice. He was playing in the dirt.

Monday wasn't much better; I was cried out . I asked the Lord for a word of comfort. My Bible fell open to Acts 14; my eyes fell on verse 22: "...putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit,making it clear to them that it would not be easy."

"Whoa," I said. "I wanted warm and fuzzy. You can't put that on a motivational poster."

"Buck up!" came the reply. "Easter was just yesterday. Remember Good Friday? Keep your eye on the ending. Borrow joy from the ending to get you through the tough times."

"Ohhh."

So re-focused, awed that the God of the Universe speaks to a mere mortal like me, and humbled flat to the ground that He loves and cares for me in such an intimate,personalized way, I plunged in again to the routine of fish oil, gluten-free chicken nuggets, ABA therapy, and detox baths.

I had begun to believe.... that there was a cure for autism. He had led me to the pieces of the puzzle. I had begun to believe....that one day Alec would be normal. He had put that hope in my heart, and confirms it daily.

Then several days later, it happened. We were sitting on the porch swing, Alec and I. Alec said to me,

"Come on, Mommy. Let's go swing on the horse swing. It's made from a tire."

What beautiful words! That was my son's longest spontaneous utterance of his life!

And you know what? We did!