Josiah was invited to a birthday party yesterday. I nearly cried when I saw the invitation in his backpack a couple of weeks ago. Josiah doesn’t get invited to birthday parties. This was such a thrill for me. It was an invitation from a little boy in Josiah’s class. It was held at a local bouncy house place.

You know Josiah. He’s a jumper. This kid bounces with the best of them. He bounces on the chair. He bounces on the bed. He bounces in the car. He even bounces on his knees across the floor. So, this was the perfect event for him. I just knew Josiah would be in his element at this party, once he got used to the environment.

As usual, I was wrong.

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Have you heard? It’s World Autism Day. For those of us living with a child on the spectrum, every day is Autism day. It affects our world, all the time.

For everybody else, today is a day to stop and take notice; to be aware Autism exists, to understand the incidence of Autism is on the rise.

The latest statistics from the Center for Disease Control are that Autism affects 1 in 88. Think about that. Most likely that means you know of someone who has a child or a sibling or a relative or a neighbor with Autism. So, you are aware of Autism. I think most of the world knows Autism exists.

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Parents of children with challenges have it rough. The road we walk isn’t pretty. Yet, it’s a road we find ourselves on, without choice.  Others looking in, see the struggle, feel the anguish and may think they understand the pain.

But, unless you walk in these shoes, I don’t know if it’s possible. I hope to share a little.  I hope to open some eyes. I hope to open some doors. With permission, it is my desire to sit with these saints, these mothers and fathers who are daily warring for their children and to talk with them.

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If you were a fly on the wall in my house today, you would notice a very tired mom. Here’s why. Chandler woke up well after midnight last night, in horrific pain. Her ear was throbbing. She was crying. She couldn’t sleep. I gave her Motrin and a warm compress for her ear. I sat on the couch with her, rubbing her head and scratching her back til she fell asleep, around 2 am.

Josiah was up, full of energy, bouncing around us as we sat on the couch, until almost 1 am. He fell asleep at 1:30. I carried him to his room and plopped him in his tent. As soon as Chandler nodded off, I covered her with a blanket, left her sleeping soundly on the couch and went to bed myself.

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Forget about the Hunger Games. Haven’t read the book. Haven’t seen the movie. Really out of the loop on this one.  My life is immersed in the Laundry Games. A game it truly has become, thought it wasn’t always this way.

We home schooled when our older girls were in Elementary School. At a young age, each was taught to do her own laundry. I was only responsible for my laundry and Rick’s laundry. Then we added 3 more children to our family. I did their laundry too. You’d think by now I’d have this thing down to a science. Not quite.

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