Today is the first day of a new journey - or maybe I'll refer to it as a quest - since we're desperately searching for the best way to educate our son. Today I become Jackson's teacher. Today we embark on a full-time homeschooling quest. A thousand moments, many tears and pleading prayers led to this decision. Beth Moore says, You can't have a quest without questions. Quests have hardships and lifelong obedience. A quest has risks. Yes. Yes. Yes. The Call to Homeschool Last Continue Reading
I’ll Be Bold, Courageous & Honest (Even When It’s Hard!)
Last week was a week of very high highs and some pretty sucky lows! That pretty much describes our special needs journey - one day we're celebrating an over the top (even better than a blue kind of day) and the next I'm Hulking out, carrying my overly anxious and upset kid out of school. One day we're celebrating with ice cream and the next I'm sobbing; questioning my ability to be his mom. At the end of our roller coaster week, I finished reading Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Continue Reading
My Weight Does Not Define My Worth
My entire life I've believed a lie. I believed I had to be skinny to be pretty. I thought my worth was determined by my weight. I’m not exactly sure when this lie found it’s way into my heart. Maybe it was in high school when my nick name was Betty Spaghetti. Maybe it was when the dance team director told me to gain weight during weigh-ins, while other girls were being told to lose it. I remember her telling me I was going to blow off the field if I didn't pack on a few pounds. Maybe Continue Reading
Disney World, Dyspraxia and What You Need to Know!
We took Jackson to Disney World in December. It was a dream I had for such a long time, but I was unsure if we could make it work. Having a child with special needs means you don't always get to do the things typical families do. But oh how I wanted Jackson to experience the Happiest Place on Earth. I made it my goal to raise enough money through my photography business to pay for our trip. We decided it would be his birthday/Christmas gift! We drove to Orlando (because my kid is the BEST car Continue Reading
Five Things PCIT Taught Me
This post is LONG overdo! Last February I wrote about some of the challenges we were facing and our decision to start Parent Child Interaction Therapy. You can read that post here. Well, we completed PCIT months ago and I have yet to write a post about our experience. Oops! When we decided to start PCIT we were at a loss on how to best handle some of Jackson's behaviors. Honestly, I felt like I was failing as a mom. My husband, who's a neuropsychologist, had seen first-hand how successful Continue Reading