Autism Awareness Month Day 30!

Wow last day of the month… What a month it has been.
I celebrate two of my girls today who share the same birthday and are the same age so born the exact same day by different mothers but both brought to us to be a blessing to my family. I’m so grateful for so many amazing people in my life. It’s so important especially being a parent of child with special needs, that we don’t become an island on our own in the middle of nowhere. It is easily done as our lives can alienate and isolate us. Not everyone will understand our journey but having people around that you trust, who you can offload to, go out with etc is vital in my view. You may only have a small number of people that will get it but that small number may be all you need.
I had lots on today so I was up quite early and summoned to make ‘dippy egg’. Nae-Nae has seemed to have changed the routine and now we have it on Saturday instead of Sunday. She wanted to help me so we went down to the kitchen together and I took her through the stages to make a perfect runny egg. She loves making things so this excited her. She had to check all the expiry dates before we started as per usual.
We made the eggs and both got back into our beds to eat it. Breakfast in bed, even though we made it ourselves.
My sis replied to a message I sent her so we engaged in a long conversation via message. I needed to make some decisions and I needed her input too. That’s another thing, I often need great people that can remind me to think about my own needs, and not always do something because I think others need it if it’s becoming difficult for me to do and it’s having an impact on my home life. I need reminding that I’m not here to save the world. I have to do what I’m called to do for the time I’m called to do and seasons come and go. This is some times difficult for me as I might be thinking of something but I need a push or encouragement to say it’s ok not to go there any more or do that any more even if others want me to. Besides I’ve just left a job of 13 years and I’m not looking back because I need to totally be in my purpose so there’s bound to be other adjustments that I need to make now too. I’m thankful for people like this in my life.
I got ready to pop to the supermarket to buy some things for a baby shower and pick up some items for the sports club which is on tomorrow. Nae-Nae got out of bed, had her bath at the scheduled Saturday time, dressed into her pjs again and started a reading test. I’ll be so glad when SATs are over. It’s taken over our lives. I’m so glad that she is self-motivated to do them otherwise it would have been a really stressful time. The Lord knows!
Nae-Nae had a party at church to go to which MrJK was on duty to take her to as I had a baby shower in another town several miles away so I could not do the two. He didn’t need to stay with her, he just needed to drop her off. It seems like a world away when we used to stay with Nae-Nae at every event. We could never just drop her off and leave. There was only ever a couple of people we could leave her with. That was hard at times as one of us was always on duty. Its so much easier for us now and if its a familiar place with familiar people, she has no need for us to be around. I did have to pre-warn her that she won’t be the first in the building but MrJK will take her just before the start so she’s not entering the crowd. She was ok with that. She selected what she wanted to wear and off I went and left them to it.
I had a really lovely time celebrating with a lovely person who is preparing to give birth soon. We all had a great time and once I was done I left to join Nae-Nae at the party. Children from my charity, the one for children on the spectrum and their families, were also invited to the party so I thought as I finished early I would go and show my face and offer my help if needed. I wasn’t really needed to be fair but it was still opportunity to talk to people I may not always get the chance to.
When I arrived I sneaked up behind Nae-Nae and gave her a kiss. She was sitting peacefully watching the movie on the big screen and eating a hotdog. She was surprised to see me as she wasn’t expecting me to come until the end but she seemed pleased to see me too. Not enough to want me near her though so I’ve learnt to give her the space she needs. She has grown in character so much I don’t even need to be underneath her especially not in that environment as its like her second home. I took that opportunity to hang out with other children that knew me and chat briefly to my charity parents. It was such a lovely event.
There was an activity whereby children had to put their hands in to slime or wet food to reach for objects and guess what they were holding. Surprisingly Nae-Nae wanted a turn. She also waited patiently in a queue for a long while for her turn too. I say surprisingly, because she chose to wait in a queue where she wasn’t at the front, she didn’t ask the expiry dates of anything, she didn’t check with me whether she was allergic to anything before she put her hands in and she had a smile of her face while doing this. There was a bowl to wash hands after each slime bucket so that must have been ok for her. I just watched and smiled. She didn’t know what she was putting her hands into but she was so brave! I should have captured a photo of it just for the album but I know one of the organisers captured it so I’ll get a copy somehow.
When we got home I had to sit still for a bit as I was wiped out after the 2-3 hour round trip, the activities and then joining a party with children, lots of them. After the week I had too, wow I was shattered. JJ was in his room playing computer games with his friends online, Nae-Nae went off to play a game on her iPad and MrJK was in bed chilling.
I stopped still for a bit then I got up to get my song folder to prepare for worship tomorrow. Somehow I managed to be on the rota two weeks running. It was a mere coincidence as rotas are done in two month blocks so May/June availability information was supplied at a different time and I didn’t check the dates I was on in April before submitting my requests. Well I say it was a mere coincidence and it was on my part but perhaps meant to be fora particular purpose? We shall see…

I had to get into that zone and what came just felt right. The songs caused me to reflect on the greatness of the God I serve. My life is a testimony to others because of all the things He does and is yet to do for me. I’ve been able to write 30 days worth of entries and never had to over-think about what to write as everyday in our house is an Autism Awareness day. We face challenges daily but as you have read we also face lots and lots of joys too.
It’s been a wonderful month and I feel blessed to be able to share some of my journey which hopefully gave people more of an insight into a family of people (I won’t just say children cos you may tell that the children aren’t the only ones on the spectrum in my house) on the Autistic spectrum. I hope our stories have been an encouragement and eye opening but ultimately I just hope you enjoyed tuning and it was fun. It was fun to write. Although I won’t be writing a daily entry after today, there will still be lots of things happening here from time to time so please stay connected. Thank you for your time.
Peace and Love
MrsJK