Wordless Wednesday: New Kid in Town

The New Corgi

Saturday Sisters - Elisabeth

an occasional series of meditations.

from Luke 1

Think of ways to encourage each other

to outbursts of love and good deeds.

Hebrews 10:24NLT

  For centuries God had had no word to give to His people.

  In a culture that put much store in the meaning of names, it is fitting that the next word He gave came through a devoted couple whose names were Zechariah, "God Remembers," and Elisabeth, "(His) Oath."

  It started out as an ordinary workday for her husband when he got the news. It was not an ordinary day for Elisabeth when he came home from work mute and somehow let her know there was going to be a baby.

  Zechariah had been convinced this would not happen, though they had been praying for a child for many long years. Elisabeth believed. Did she remember that this had happened before, to Sarah and Abraham?

  A few months later, her young relative Mary arrived unnaounced  for a lengthy stay. Rather than regarding this as a major inconvenience, Elisabeth listened to the still, small voice of God and was thrilled to see Mary. Elisabeth recognized Mary, not merely as a relative whom she loved, not as a girl who had misbehaved, but as a young woman of great faith, the recipient of a blessing from God even greater than her own.

  From the great well of her faith, experience and emotions, Elisabeth gave.

"You are blessed, because you believed

that the Lord would do what He said."

Luke 1:45NLT

When Elisabeth knew she was at last going to receive

her heart's desire, she continued to trust and obey God.

It's not about the Movie

  Today Max was picked up at school for the first time by a Caregiver Support Person  (Caregiver Support Person).  The IDEA was, they would go, at our expense, to see a movie while Mom (the caregiver) does something for Mom, other than work or go to school.
  This is something that we are - horrors - ENTITLED  to by virtue of being on 3 waiting lists for Medicaid waivers.  You do not want me to go there.  It's entirely too complicated.
   For now, we can say this is a step on the way to Max not ending up eventually in Carl's situation.  Max is 21 years old, but functions more like a 3rd or 4th grader.
  Next year he will no longer be eligible for free public education.  Presumably there will be some job in place by then, but he will not be supporting himself for a long time, if ever.  We are involved parents, but there is a limit to what we can do for Max.  He will need other people involved in his life.
   People who are not family or school people.
   Hence the theoretical movie outing.
   So far, Caregiver Support is a bit of a hassle and a lot of worry for me.  It would be a lot simpler to let Max veg out on the couch with the PBS afternoon kids' shows.  But he needs the exposure to other people and experiences, which we would not be able to afford, and i need to learn how to work with the system so that eventually, when he needs more, it will be in place.
  i would like to also guide others, but i feel shaky enough about our situation.  Heck, i feel shaky enough about the whole ENTITLEMENT notion in the first place.  But i know what my kid needs, and this is the best i can see to get it for him.

  Actually they didn't go to a movie.  Max ran onto the bus and had to be removed, then he called me for reassurance.  i told him he could trust CGSP and he should go see the movie & have a good time.
  In a few minutes, CGSP called me from outside the theatre.  Max was insisting he wanted to come home and not see the movie.
  i told CGSP that if he doesn't want to see the movie, that's fine.  (Remember, it's not about the movie.)  But i want him to do SOMETHING  before he comes home.  i talked to Max again.  Where would you like to go for a snack?  Hardee's?  Steak n Shake?  McDonald's?  McDonald's, he says.  Ok, i say, then you ask CGSP and she'll take you there, then home.
  So i talk to CGSP again, and ask if she knows where a nearby McD's is.  She doesn't; i tell her.
  And they're off again.

  Gosh, it would be so SIMPLE to have let him come home on the bus and veg.

It's not about the movie.  It's about the MAX'S FUTURE.

Wordless Wednesday: Buddies

A Little Help from My Friends

 i am very much an introvert, sometimes even to the point of being a recluse.  However, one thing i am passionate about is the necessity of friends.
  i enjoy, and NEED, my friends as well as my time alone.
  When i posted a few weeks ago about 10 Hints to Guess My Favorite Comic Book Superhero, two of my hints are that he's an ordinary guy whose superpower is friends.  (He's The Phantom.)
  We all need a little help from our friends.  Friends are fun, they keep us sane.  It may not be so dramatic as with The Phantom, but they save our life.

Max and Friends

  Friends are very difficult for individuals with autism to have. i've read a lot about the subject, possibly have some understanding from the inside, i know that relating to Max can be difficult though rewarding.  Like any other young man, Max needs peers, yet they are even less certain of what to do with him than we are at home.

  i found this article

Autism Therapy More Successful When Peers Involved Too

interesting.  It seems that research bears me out.  Relating to these wonder-full people is neither simple nor natural, yet vital.
  It also helps explain why most of the reports i hear of special needs kids in regular schools are stories of heartache, where the student struggles to learn material perhaps not matched to their abilities while being bullied or ignored for being different.  Very few are the heartwarming tales of acceptance that i come across, though they should be more universal, routine even.
  Meanwhile, Max is happy at his specialized public school, where, on every IEP, it is noted as the disadvantage to being there, "no interaction with typical peers."  At this point in his career, i don't plan to push to have him elsewhere. Friends need not be school friends.  Yet somehow we must find them.
  Friends.  They can be your superpower too.

Time and Creativity

  Tomorrow is Breakfast with Santa at school.
  i'm a little frazzled and i should go to bed.
  Actually, i should've stayed home tonight instead of going scrapbooking, but the creative release was good.
  When i left school this afternoon, the games we were expecting hadn't yet arrived (as i edit this,after the Breakfast, the games did indeed come, and were much enjoyed). One lonely game was in place for the kids.
  i spent most of the evening making games.
  A couple of sheets of scrapbook paper, cut into 12 cards each, and here's a matching game.
  A sheet of foamcore, and some pens, and a half hour, and here's a tree to stick bows on and decorate.

  The amazing thing was the awed comments i got from the women around me.
  It's just a throwaway project which will probably be trash before noon tomorrow.  Three steps and a bit of time, anyone could do it.

  Or could they?

  i found this a fun, relaxing project, but the women around me, all creative in their own ways, doing amazingly beautiful work, got stressed at the very idea of attempting this simple tree, even after my three step tutorial.

1. Do the framework in brown, 
2. needles in green, 
3. add more needles until it looks right.  (The last ones weren't even necessarily on framework,)

  Everyone knows what a tree looks like, right?
  i told MyGuy about this, and he said, "How long have you been looking at trees and drawing them?  Count that time too."
  Well, decades actually.  For having spent that long drawing one stupid tree, it's pretty ugly.  For 30 minutes on the poster, 2 minutes on the tutorial, maybe not too bad.
  As my first art teacher, Nadine Starken, said, "Learning to draw is learning to see."  i think i spend more time looking than drawing.

  But i think another part of the problem is time.  We're in such a hurry for everything.  i really believe most people, if they allowed themselves to start, would get to Step 2and say, "See?  I told you - can't do it!"
  i once spent every minute of three hours telling a better painter than i "Yes, you're right.  It is a mess.  But you're not done yet.  Keep going."  She would have thrown that piece in the trash a hundred times otherwise, but, by the  time she was finished, she loved it.

  At first, when i began my tree game, i just wanted something quick and cheap.  Then i started having fun with it, adding dots for a cranberry garland and some bluejays and a red pot in the snow.  i could've left it at just the tree, but more creativity comes with more time.

  For a further, even more fascinating, illustration of this, see Susan Gaylord's Time and Creativity post, which describes what happens when young children are asked to complete an obvious drawing, first in ten seconds, then in ten minutes.
  It is amazing.

Life with Two Browsers

  Well, Chrome is here.
  As Boom assured me, it is simply another web browser.
  i was happy with Firefox, and i still use it for many things, but there is one important difference.
  i did need Chrome, because for whatever obscure, probably fixable if there were inclination, reason, Firefox does not recognize my Google profile.  This makes it impossible to comment on blogs and do other neat stuff with Firefox, but that's why i have Chrome.
  And at least until i figure out how to turn off that annoying Spellcheck, i have Firefox for composing blog entries.