Miracles and Blessings

He Graduated!! The family with the graduate. (me, Mom, caught with my mouth open....probably telling everyone to "Smile"). It was also little brother's birthday, so it was quite a day of celebration!)

Well, there is so much to share! These past weeks have been a blur and then again, have all happened in slow motion. Life seems to work that way, it seems.

I've entitled this post "Miracles and Blessings" because our family has experienced SO many in the last few weeks that I haven't had time to sit and think and really process it all. And this may be a long one, so grab some sweet tea and sip as you read:

Counting my Blessings....and Miracles:

Blessing #1- We finished another year of online home school!! Yipee!! Getting my oldest through his Senior year of high school, I thought was going to be the end of me! It was a VERY looooooonnnnnng year....But, he/we did it and now I have one child done, and one to go!

Blessing #2- He GRADUATED!! (Well, this might also be considered a Miracle...for many reasons!). After a very difficult journey in the world of Academia and having Autism along with several learning disabilities, I'm proud to announce that Ethan is a High School graduate, and with honors! :) (we sort of "share" that tassel of honor, but he worked extremely hard during his home school time with me....I'm a taskmaster!) We are blessed to have found K12's online school for the needs of our boys and the flexibility it provided to our family. Yeah Ethan!!!!

(Jeff's parents with Ethan.)

(My parents with Ethan.)

Blessing #3- We had both sets of grandparents (my parents and husband's) visit for the graduation ceremony. My Mom and my husband's Dad both had recent surgeries for cancer, but both are healing and at latest report- cancer-free....that is a big blessing!

Blessing #4- A family-fun Day! This was a blessing for us to spend time together, and we didn't realize what a gift it was until the following week when we experienced a Miracle.

We've lived in Idaho for several years now and really haven't had the time to explore the state. So, we decided to see some of the scenery via a train ride. It was fun and the first warm day of the year! So we all got a little sunburned. Here are some photos of our train ride:

(The Payette River)

(Riding through Horseshoe Bend)

(The "Boys" after the train ride)

Miracle- If you have made it down the page this far, thank you. This is definitely the hand of God working in our lives.......Ethan (graduate above in Blessing #2) and my husband were riding bikes "just around the block". My husband's bike pedal was loose, so he told Ethan that they needed to stop at the church and fix it. (Our church, where my husband is the Music Director, is just up the street from our home). Ethan can become very "focused" or "fixated" with a idea or goal. If you have someone in your life with high-functioning Autism, you may know what I mean, and once he is in the "Autism Zone" (we call it that, not a "medical term" ), it can be difficult to "connect" with him.

In this particular instance, my husband saw Ethan race off on his bike without him riding in the direction of the church. Ethan was so focused, he did not look for traffic signals and rode out into the street on a red light. He was missed by traffic on one side of the street, but was hit by an SUV in the other lane. The SUV was going 35 mph (the speed limit).

All my husband could do was yell at him to stop and then watch it happen. Ethan was struck on his side and flipped over the top of the SUV and landed on the asphalt behind the vehicle. Jeff (my husband) ran out in the street to stop on-coming traffic and save Ethan from another hit. A group of boy-scouts was having a meeting at our church, their leader was a man from our church that is a trained EMT, he came to help. On the other side of the street is an Emergency clinic, those doctors came out to help.

The Miracle is that angels had to have been flying over the SUV with Ethan. He landed on the ground and tried to get up....those that came to help, just tried to keep him down until the ambulance arrived. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital, he said he was asked to count to ten, etc. He started counting the lights overhead in the ambulance (Autism at its finest! ) :). We were in the ER for awhile getting his scrapes and cuts washed and cleaned, and he has a nasty gash on the back of his head, but he refused staples. It seems to be healing just fine. They took X-rays, and a CT scan, but nothing was broken or punctured...Miracle! Considering he didn't have on his helmet (another Autism-related issue) and all of the "possible scenarios" that could have happened...it is all a definite Miracle!

He is healing, still has some deep bruises and is limping around without crutches. But we are so very grateful and blessed to still have him with us and to know that God was in control.

So, that's where I've been...and what has been happening around here! :) I need to come and visit your blogs and see what has been going on for the last month and a half in your lives as well!

One last thing....it is update day on TDIPT.Here is a link to my TDIPT page for more info on the items:


http://tdipt-peartree.blogspot.com/

(I've had to use "art" as my "therapy" while taking care of Ethan, so painting has been a good thing!).

~Devotion~ and faithful companion in simple silhouette of a pooch
framed in a stained wood frame (7.5 X 9.5).

~Adoration~ A simple silhouette of a girl and her doll
framed in a lovely wood stained frame. ( I love this frame!...the frame measures 7.5 X 6.5).

I have needed this reminder to Breathe.
Painted on wood and framed in a stained frame (9 X 11), ready to hang anywhere you need a reminder too! :)

Thank you for reading through all of this! I hope to have shorter blog posts in the future! :)...and not wait until there is so much going that I need to write a novel!

"However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed our wishes and our thoughts." John Calvin-Theologian (1509-1564).