Sarah Rise Weekly Updates

This past Tuesday was Autism Awareness Day and I shared on social media about how far Sarah has come, largely thanks to the Son-Rise Program. We have done many different things to help her over the years and SR was by far the best thing we have ever done. She has come farther than I… Read more »

We don’t see the accumulation of the need to rest and rejuvenate the way we see piles of laundry. We may feel the need to do nothing, but so often it gets put off as the reward that will follow finishing the visible piles of somethings. The problem is that the visible piles never really… Read more »

Some moments are so perfectly wonderful… this morning we woke to hearing Amy warning Sarah not to step where there was water on the bathroom floor. Sarah said she wouldn’t step in it. Amy slipped in it. Sarah asked if she was ok. I just love it so much when they have easy, seemingly grown-up… Read more »

Sarah has yet another new swim teacher and the first session went well. For Sarah’s last two lessons she has really been wanting to do things independently so I see a glimmer on the horizon of her being ready to move to the next level. She just has to jump in by herself without needing… Read more »

Sarah had her school sock-hop so she got to wear her plaid dress, pink jacket, cats eye glasses, and the nail polish her classmates sent home. She had a great time. Amy’s class was celebrating Dr. Seuss and Read Across America so she had various ways to dress each day. My favorite is always mismatch… Read more »

Almost always after I write about an insight or having a really good connection, the rest of the day has moments that have me feeling like a liar and that I need to issue a retraction. Last Sunday was just that way. Sarah and I had some very rough moments, some of which impacted Amy… Read more »

We had some big moments yesterday. Sarah didn’t want to get out of bed to go to gymnastics. I stayed calm. I figured out a way to have us in harmonious energy instead of combative energy. We went to gymnastics and I didn’t struggle as much as usual. The biggest deal, though, was that we… Read more »

Sometimes things work out better than you could imagine. The girls had their first ski lessons for downhill skiing today. The most amazing thing was that Sarah’s instructor is a teen leader with the Friendship Circle, an organization that works with kids with special needs. Seriously. How did we get so lucky?! Amy’s teacher was… Read more »

I feel like I could write two entirely different updates with entirely different perspectives. Maybe that is always the case with all of life. There have been many moments that have been sooooooo hard and I have felt so done, tired, weary, scared, despairing, and at my wit’s end for what to do. It is… Read more »

Amy didn’t have school Monday and Tuesday for teacher in-service days. Wednesday and Thursday both girls had off from school due to the extreme cold. Friday they had snow days, though the announcements arrive until I already woke everyone at our usual early time. Amy got a palate expander Wednesday morning and was very much… Read more »