The therapy every day, the tutoring, the doctors’ office visits, the living and eating in your car, the hours spent preparing special diet food, the hundreds of hours spent researching on the Internet, the time spent dispensing and taking pills, the hostile stares from other people, the whispers behind your back, the old friends that have stopped calling, and new friends that don’t quite get it….
Couple all of that with holidays, and sometimes it is just too much! Sometimes we may want to throw our hands up in the air and scream, “Forget it! Life is too short!!!!”
Unfortunately, autism doesn’t go away when we get overwhelmed, but there are some ways to reduce the stress and make it a little more fun. Here a few suggestions on how to throw caution to the wind and totally rock autism:

Today was the big day. It was Baptism Day at church.
I could hardly believe that the little girl standing in the water, publicly professing her love for Jesus, was the same little girl who just a few years ago had no language and would only tolerate church because they had a really cool fake fish tank. God had spoken to her heart, made her one of His own, and we were once again humbled by His mercy and love.
Baptism Day didn't come easy though. Just as it takes a long period of rain showers each April to finally produce the beautiful, delightful flowers in May, it took some serious “April showers” to get Lizzie to her baptism.

In the first few years of autism, you jump in full force hitting all the therapies, supplements, and latest research out there hard. Then you start to realize that you are in this for the long haul, and you must slow down and pace yourself for the survival of your family. Never have we had to do this more than dealing with Lizzie’s eating issues.
Lizzie was a problem eater. A problem eater is a child that would rather starve than eat something that they don’t want to eat. The texture, consistency or smell is so offensive to them that hunger pains pale in comparison. I know this first-hand because when Lizzie was four-years old, I almost starved her.

I am blessed to have a wonderful mother that is not only supportive in words, but also in her actions. She has made autism more bearable by helping me in exactly the way I need it. When I need her, she comes running.....especially if it has to do with Lizzie. Mom, you really are the "wind beneath my wings".....even if you had to wait almost 38 years to hear it! Thanks Mom. I love you.

See Me Beautiful…..A Grandmother’s Journey with Autism
By Marilyn Statler
The piercing scream had heads turning in the McDonalds play area. The beautiful little girl with the huge brown eyes and brown curls was standing in the middle of the area screaming at the top of her lungs. She didn’t appear to be hurt or even unhappy—she was just screaming.
My heart stopped. I knew at that moment that something was terribly wrong with my precious granddaughter, Lizzie.

Do you remember that TV show “Kids Say the Darndest Things?” It was a show, hosted by Bill Cosby, that ran over a decade ago in which the host would ask kids questions in hopes of getting them to say something funny or inappropriate.
Well, you don’t have to put my daughter, Lizzie, on a TV show to get her to say something inappropriate. Inappropriate comments flow so freely out of her sweet little mouth that I sometimes find myself thinking, “We worked so, so hard to get you to talk, and seriously, is this what you are going to say?!!!!”
Having a child with autism causes every subject to be laid out on the table for discussion. There is no ability to dance around a topic or keep hush-hush on any subject. Every topic, regardless of how socially inappropriate, is thrust out in the open to be discussed with no filter on what might be said. For Lizzie, her thoughts and her words are one and the same, and sometimes her words can catch me completely off guard.

A recent series of conflicts left me seriously doubting humanity. With each twist and turn of kindness and flexibly I tried to show, I was slapped in the face with an attitude of entitlement and more demands made in an ugly and hurtful way.
Because I am still pretty irritated with the whole situation, it would give me great satisfaction to list my every right and her every wrong just to make you see how hard I tried to do the right thing. I would also love to share the list of funny (and not so funny) ways I have creatively crafted in my mind to get back at her. But at some point, I need to consciously stop thinking about it and choose to focus my energy on the good I can do in the world instead.
Sometimes I think autism helps me quickly get to bottom of a person’s true character. If someone is kind and welcoming to Lizzie, then I know they have a good heart and can likely be trusted. But if they show irritation or choose to talk down to her, then I know pretty quickly that I need to be on guard with them in other areas of life as well.

In honor of Father’s Day, I bring to you a guest blog from the Greatest Father on the Planet: my husband, Greg. I will admit there have been times of frustration when I felt that I was doing “it all” for autism. I researched, I scheduled, I lived and breathed autism 24/7. Then I realized Greg was doing “his all” to provide for autism, and that in itself is enough to send most guys packing.

Here is Greg’s very real account of how autism has affected him:
LOOK WHAT LOVE WILL DO
by Greg Hornok
I will never be nominated for Father of the Year by any autism association. In fact, by most measures, I am a completely inadequate father for the special needs that my wonderful daughter, Lizzie, requires.
I am not naturally prone to have patience, understanding, or even a great deal of sympathy. I come home from work tired and little bit irritable. I have worried about the money we have spent on therapy over the last several years. I have worried that the decisions of which therapies to use were the right ones. I have worried way too much about the toll that autism has taken on my marriage and the relationship with our other kids.

Because I tend to want to look good myself, I often find myself expecting my kids to do what makes me look good to others. Sit still, be quiet, don’t talk too loud, smile nicely, fold you napkin in your lap, get good grades in school, and excel in your sport. This list goes on and on and on. When my second child was born, I quickly realized that it was going to be impossible for me to continue parenting in this way.
Lizzie was diagnosed with autism shortly after her second birthday. At this time, I had begun learning what made her different and what her needs were. The only problem was that this often conflicted with the social norm.
One day I decided to meet my husband for lunch with Lizzie. We ordered at the counter and then quickly sat at an open table as we waited for our food. Lizzie hadn’t been out of the house in weeks. Between her rigid therapy schedule and the fact that it was difficult to keep her from wandering, it was easier to just stay home.
Shortly after we got to our table, Lizzie stood up in the booth, gripped the edge and started jumping. At first it was just harmless little bounces. Then it turned into huge jumps where she appeared to be using all her strength to slam her feet as hard as she could down on that booth.

“When God closes a door, He opens a window.” (Author unknown)
As I stood in front of 80 moms at the National Autism Association of North Texas Autism Moms’ Evening Out on May 4th, I was in awe of all the hard work, determination and love that was packed into one room. The inner strength of this group of women was truly inspiring.
As my eyes scanned the room, bouncing from face to face in the crowd, I was humbled by the fact the each of these women had traveled the same road I had...and all had become stronger, braver and more compassionate than they once were. Some were familiar faces that brought back memories from a specific struggle in my autism journey. Others were new faces. But it didn’t matter, we already knew each other.
For each of us had heard those dreaded words, “Your child has autism.” Each of us has stumbled trying to put our child back together again piece-by- piece. And each of us has our own book-worthy story. The stories my differ in the details, but in the end we all want the same thing….healing for our child.

As Autism Awareness Month wraps up, I feel a bit guilty about the bah humbug attitude I have had this year. Maybe it is because I have been at dealing with autism for over seven years, and I just don’t feel like getting in the “spirit of autism” this year.
In the beginning, I remember the rush each April would bring. I had never had a cause before, and it felt good to give back and to do something that mattered. I was going change the world, and I was going to do it all in one month! I helped at a booth at the mall, I gave a huge autism awareness cake to the school, I wrote articles for the school newsletters, wore my "Green Our Vaccines" shirt everywhere, posted all kinds of stuff on Facebook and even stood with a sign in an autism-related protest.
Now seven years later, quite frankly, I am tired of autism. I am tired of the fact that there are endless treatments to try for my daughter, and the guilt that goes along with picking and choosing which to try. If I try one new treatment, what if the other one was the one that was going to work for her? Usually we are doing so many treatments at the same time, how do I know which, if any, are really making the difference? When can I ever rest with the peace-of-mind that I have done everything I can do and just accept who she is?