Christmas Time At Sarah's

We enjoyed spending Christmas with Sarah. She had a difficult time at first. Holiday's have always been hard for Sarah. 
She told me that she really misses her sisters and her aunts and uncle. I told her that one day we would all be together again and celebrate the holiday's together. 

I am amazed at how much she has grown. Yes, she still has melt downs from time to time, but she is getting better at communicating what is bothering her.

I remember the doctors telling us that she would probably never be able to communicate in a way we could understand and how she would never have facial expressions or be able to show affection in a proper way.

 
Hummmmm.....pictures are worth thousands of words. We had a great time :)

Thank you Sarah for inviting us over and thank you Monica for the wonderful meal you prepared for us :)

PCL and Caregivers Around The World

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful time this holiday season.
I would like to give a special shout out to the many people that are involved with caring for our daughter Sarah. We are a part of a wonderful team. Thank you PCL!!!!

Being a caregiver in any form is not an easy job. I know because I did it. You have to have a special heart to be a good caregiver. Being a caregiver is not something you just do for a job, it is a continuous balancing act of nurturing and putting the needs of your client above all else. You have to keep your client safe, because you know how fragile they are, but yet you have to be sure that they keep there dignity as well.
Whether you are caring for a family member at home, or you work in a house with clients that have various needs, just know that this family appreciates all that you do.

Thanksgiving Sarah Style :)

There are so many things to be thankful for. One of the many thankful things for me to be thankful for, is the fact that God is playing a very big roll in Sarah's life.

You see Sarah believes in God. Yesterday, when we went to Sarah's house for Thanksgiving, she was kind of having a rough time. Holidays are kind of hard for her. We prayed and then she expressed to me that she really misses her sisters.

Holidays are very important to Sarah and she loves to have family around. She also loves to cook. Her staff were very patient with her and let her serve things up Sarah's style :)

Towards the end of our visit she asked her grandma (my mom) if she could have a dollar. She was very excited that grandma gave her $2.00's and promptly told us we had to leave LOL. We all new that she told us that because she wanted her staff to take her out to spend her $2.00's.

We were all very thankful for the wonderful time and great food we shared. Thank you Sarah and her staff for a very great and blessed time we had :)

Heading to Sarah's for Thanksgiving

I hope that you have read my previous posts so that if you have a child/family member diagnosed with Autism you are ready for Thanksgiving.

We are going to Sarah's for Thanksgiving dinner. I don't know about you, but my children, other family members and good friends live across the United States in many different states. 
So when it comes to the holidays many times we have to video chat.
Video chat is ok and I thank God for it, but it is still better when we can all be together and hug one another.

Be safe this Thanksgiving. Relax and enjoy yourself. Don't forget to set your scales back 10lbs LOL. 

Don't be on pins and needles waiting for the next melt down, I did that and it made matters worse. 
Have a good time and chances are everyone around you will have a good time too. Remember what you are truly thankful for and count your many blessings. 
Me and my family wish you safe travels and a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Visiting Sarah and Sonics :)

I really look forward to the days when we visit Sarah or she comes and visits us. Yesterday we went to her house and she showed on her computer all of the things that she would like to have. Unfortunately at this time she has a fixation on baby things again and I had to keep redirecting her to more appropriate age level things for her. In the end it kinda worked out.

 After that she said she would like to go out and eat. It was her snack time and we asked her where she would like to go. After she named of a long list of places to eat we settled on Sonics. We had a great time even though she kept wanting to eat my hamburger, I have to admit she was very generous sharing her ice cream. We shared bite for bite :) I love my Sarah :)

Thanks Giving

Thanks Giving is coming up my fellow readers :) A time to give thanks for everything that God has blessed you with and then some.
What are you thankful for? I for one am very thankful for my husband of nearly 30yrs., my children and my mother.
I went to go stay with my mom this past week. It is so enjoyable to get to know her at this stage in her life. We had a great time. I try to stay with her about one week out of the month every month. For me, time with her is priceless.

For Thanks Giving we (my mom, Robert and I) are going to Sarah's. We always have a good time. Sarah loves having family around her during the holidays.
She misses her sisters, but seems to understand that they are far away and cannot be here.
What are you going to do for Thanks Giving? Whatever your plans are I wish you many blessings. For those of you that have challenged children, remember that they are your blessing and don't let the challenging behaviors dictate your wonderful Thanks Giving Day.

Sarah, Autism and Grandma's

Sarah has always had a special connection with her grandma's. This picture that I am sharing is Sarah at age 3 months with her precious grandma Herbert.

You cannot tell me that if your child has been diagnosed with Autism that they do not have facial expressions  Sarah has always had significant facial expressions as you have been able to see through the pictures that I have shared.
This picture is before any diagnosis and in my mind everything was going good. Little did I know that my world would be shaken and turned upside down 2 years later.

The diagnoses of Autism not only shook our immediate family, but it had a significant impact on the rest of the family also. 
Some of the family did not know what to do or say. Thank goodness for grandma's. Either my mom or Robert's mom would always have a word of encouragement, or if we were living around them they would try to watch Marci, Anna and Sarah so that Robert and I could get away for a while.
It was very difficult for anyone to babysit Sarah because she was basically attached to my hip. I was the one that everyone asked "What do I do?" when she was having a melt down. I had know clue what to tell them at the time.
I have no biological sisters or brothers but my husband has several siblings and they helped as much as they could also with Sarah.
I can honestly say that Sarah (although it has been a struggle) has a special relationship with all of her aunts and uncle. She has even touched the hearts of her cousins.
I believe that our family has learned to see Sarah first and Autism (and other diagnosis) second. For Sarah that is a blessing.

Sarah and her walk with Autism

Hello everyone, my name is Dena and I blog about my beautiful 24 year old daughter Sarah and her walk with Autism. I am finding new alternative ways to help Sarah.

Sarah was diagnosed with Autism when she was 2 years old. The we knew nothing about Autism nor how it would affect the rest of our lives.

Sarah came into this world with many complications. When my water broke it was blood instead of water that came out. I was hemorrhaging big time. 

I went to the hospital immediately. I was originally scheduled for a c-section on March 3 1989, but God had other plans and Sarah came in at 9lbs. 8oz. on Feb. 16. I think the doctor missed the mark on that one.

Even though I had 2 previous c-sections because of emergency situations, Sarah's birth was the most traumatic. I not only hemorrhaged with her she also had the chord wrapped around her neck and her heart rate would go down really low.

Needless to say my husband and I were scared, but the doctor seemed unconcerned. When Sarah was born she was almost an indigo blue. Even though the doctor seemed unconcerned the nurse was not and immediately grabbed Sarah and took her to another room so that she could drain the fluid from Sarah's stomach.

As you can tell Sarah had a rough time from the get go. I am happy to say though that through all of her trials through the years she has been an inspiration and blessing to all who have met and worked with her.

I asked Sarah as well as her sisters MarciAnne and AnnaMarie if I could write about them and they said yes. My children as well as my husband and I want to get more awareness out there about Autism, and the other challenges that Sarah was diagnosed with, so that not only awareness is out there but help and understanding is too.

As Sarah's mother I understand the onslaughts of this diagnoses, it is still very fresh in my memory. 

I mentioned that I am trying to find alternative ways to help Sarah. That is because the traditional ways (medicines) have so many bad side effects. One therapy that has had a resounding success is Bowen Therapy.

Sarah had Bowen Therapy when she was little but we could not keep up with it do to the costs back then. I remember it helped keep relaxed for a while and therefore the behaviors where not quite as erratic. 

Bowen Therapy might be something you would want to research and see if it would help your child/family member that has challenges. Just a thought.

This blog is a work in progress and I am working on my lay outs so please bare with me :)