My First Adult Coloring Kit!

Hey there friends, Happy Monday!

It's already February can you believe it? 

The Creating Made Easy Kit for Feb is a adult coloring kit. 

I learned two things about adult coloring. 

EVERYONE loves it and tells me it is relaxing.

I don't find it relaxing at all LOL

BUT I had fun making the projects, this one is a magnet frame

for the fridge and who doesn't love my sweet Autistic boy Gage?

I have to say though, I am in love with colors, and it's amazing it comes with markers too!

http://www.clearscraps.com/product_p/febuary2016main.htm

Not Your Usual Layout Idea!

Hey there friends, I have a layout with my sweet boy Gage.

For this unusual layout I used a Clear Scraps

 XL Shape base which I stenciled the corners with 

Modeling Paste, then spray painted the entire thing GOLD with Krylon.

Not your usual layout style I know, but I love it. 

It's my sweet Gage and his the picture shows the struggle in his eyes. 

Gosh I love this kid. This one was published in SNA in July.

A Layout! Shocking I Know! haha

 It's true I have been trying to get back to my scrapbooking roots and making

more layouts lately, so don't faint!

You can find everything you need to make this layout

at Creating Made Easy:

May 2015 Creating Made Easy kit!

 Look at my sweet angel, gosh I love him!

My little Autism miracle, this is what scrapbooking it all about. 

Autism: To Tell Or Not To Tell.....I TOLD...How It Helped..

Good morning friends, 

So clearly I jam more than crafts into my blog and as my life

evolves I definitely am not shy about speaking about it. 

Today I get to talk about my beautiful Autistic son and my decision 

to tell him that he has Autism.

Now I know this might be highly controversial but in the end I believe that

it is a personal choice and my choice might not work for you or your

child, or it might, who knows? I am no expert, I am chopping down

the jungle one branch at a time just like you! 

So this is how I came to my decision:

I watched this video....

and I cried...then I watched it again. 

I LOVE how frank and completely intelligent the mom is and how her son

responds in an incredible way. I highly recommend you watch and share. 

Anyways back to our story...after watching it made me realize

that I needed to decide whether I was going to tell Gage he had Autism

or not. Which worried me because I did not want him to use it as a crutch

in life saying "well I can't because I have Autism" or what not. 

I often hear kids who know they have ADD or other problems say 

"well I can't help it I have..." which is fine but it's not always a good excuse

for poor behaviour. I definitely did NOT want Gage to say 

"I melt down because I have Autism" because even with Autism I still

believe and expect him to try his best and learn to control himself to the 

best of his ability. 

So I went back and forth for 3 days on this subject in my head. 

Ways I would tell him, ways I would hide it. Is he old enough?

Will he be upset?

Will it change anything? 

I kept researching.....

After 3 days of back and forth I decided that I would tell him. 

Because I remember him coming to me after a baseball game last year,

he was crying and he told me very specifically this:

"Momma, I want you to take me off the ball team. I am DRAGGING them down

because I am no good. I am a bad player, I am nothing like Jaxon or

the other boys. I can't do what they do. BUT I want them to win! 

so please take me off the team so I don't drag them down. I suck,

I totally suck"

of course at the time we did not have an Autism diagnosis that would explain 

his poor fine motor skills, we did not know how much anxiety he had

due to Autism, we had no idea the problems were due to a legitimate

problem, we just knew he struggled and bless his heart I loved that child

all the same, I would do anything to keep him from feeling that way. 

That thought kept coming back to me, call it intuition, call it God, 

call it a Higher Power, I don't care what you call it, it kept creeping

back into my head. 

So the next day I sat him down and we ate dinner and I said 

"Baby, do you know what Autism is??"

Him: "No what is it?"

Me: "It's a disorder that makes people think and feel differently"

Him: "Like a dog thinks?"

Me: "No like a human, but a VERY smart human, 

who is so smart in so many ways but in some areas it is 

difficult to communicate and be around other people.

It makes it hard for people to be friends and it makes it hard to focus

on one thing at a time, so many thoughts all at once all the time.

You have Autism"

Him: "Me? so I am super smart??"

Me: "Of course you are! But it also might make it hard for you

to do certain things, things that require your hands. Like buttons..."

Him: "Hey I can't button things"

Me: "I know- buttons, tying shoes, catching balls, things like that"

Him: "So I am not stupid because I can't tie my shoes?"

Me: "No you are so very smart!"

Him: "But I am almost 10 and I can't tie my shoes, that makes me stupid."

Me: "No it is the Autism, it's just part of it."

Him: "I am not stupid! I can't tie my shoes because of Autism, 

not because I am stupid! But I can learn because Autism isn't bad it's just different"

The relief in his mind made it all worth it. 

I feel he finally realized that he wasn't stupid or dumb, he was just 

Gage and it was OK! It was almost as if relief washed over him. 

My focus now is letting him understand that Autism is not bad

or ruining his life- but simply changing it. So for now, for us

it works. For him it was a relief and for me it was a break through.

I never realized the IMMENSE amount of guilt he felt

over the smallest things in life. 

Tying shoes,

buttons, baseball, sports, and so much more. 

I guess now it's my job to continue to let him know how amazing he

is to feed his passions and push him forward without the burden or 

feeling stupid or lacking. 

Thanks to Story Corps for the video...one step closer and one step forward!

Have a great Tuesday my friends. 

Fall Fun And New Journeys Begin

Good morning friends,

It is so cold here right now and I am SO ready for it!

I know many hate the cold but we had such a mild winter I am really excited 

about a possibly cold winter with snow. 

We have 5 new babies in the house...

hoping to have them laying BY spring instead of getting them

in spring and waiting until summer. 

This week we begin a study in Nashville for Gage too.....

It's going to be a busy and long week. I wish I could climb into 

bed and wake up Friday! haha

Happy Fall friends, Have a wonderful Monday and be

sure to stop by tomorrow for a Maya Road/Xyron Blog Hop with PRIZES! :) 

Autism- Searching For Answers....Rubbing And Self Harm

Good morning friends, 

We have struggled this week and every time I am struggling

I tell myself..."Cristal, when you were a little girl NO ONE cared

about you, nor did they care what happened to you. You are NOT

going to be those people. You DO care and you WILL go on no matter how hard".

So I do...I go on...

This week has been busy and that is why I have not posted daily as usual. 

After my first "Autism" post we have attended a conference, 

we have gone to the school board, found a liaison, studied, switched schools

and so much more!!
I could not have done it without my friends for sure!!
They have cared, stood by me and held me up while I was down. 

Now I am the first person to admit I do not want my life to be

revolved around Autism now that we have a diagnosis, 

but I am also the FIRST person to tell you that we have always

had the boys involved in causes because it is healthy to be aware. 

From children who have been raped and abused in Oregon to

pillowcases for Conkerr Cancer here in TN- to Special Needs baseball.

And clearly this is just another avenue in our life to raise 3 boys

who love and understand this world is FULL of beautiful souls. 

So yes, you might get tired of my "Autism" posts. And no I won't

stop posting them, because we embrace this as much as anything else that comes

into my life. 

When I first begin speaking about about being raped and abused

I found my voice and it has helped others. 

Being kept silent for all those year taught me to shout it out everywhere

I go. And this diagnosis will be the same.

After finding no help with the school we decided to move my son.

As difficult as change is for my son- it was more difficult staying where

he felt the need to rub himself until he bled. 

I did not understand fully why- he kept telling me just because

and we searched for an answer, but in the end it was simply

such overwhelming anxiety from the class he was in.

I am HAPPY to report that since changing school the rubbing, burning, and

self harm has stopped completely. As much as I was afraid of the change

for him- the comfort took over in his mind. 

So it was a fantastic step for us as a family! 

Those who are close to us know how much of a struggle that was.

I guess keeping my Autistic son feeling safe in his mind was the skeleton 

key that took us a couple months to find. 

I think that is the most difficult part of Autism-

finding the key to what is a problem. Without the language 

skills to communicate it's like a giant guessing game. 

That's the hardest part for me, because I am one of those moms- 

find the problem FIX IT...no messing around just fix it. 

Now I get to play "Find the problem"....which takes far longer than

the fix it most days. 

As I am NEW to this world and I freely admit to knowing NOTHING

I will say I an not new to life and it's struggles, so I say to any Autism mom

DON'T GIVE UP!

Fight fight fight and fight more....camp outside offices like I did. 

Cry, cry and cry more, do what you have to do because NO ONE ELSE WILL!

It was not easy getting to change schools, I fought, I literally camped outside offices

and went to every single liaison I could find. 

Now I am on the hunt to EDUCATE myself...yes educate while being

a mom, teacher, wife and taxi driver. Nothing will push me harder than

knowing that if I give up my son loses and frankly- that's just not going to happen. 

I go back to myself and say.....

"NO ONE fought for me. No one cared." 

I will not let that happen to my son, he will KNOW that someone cared. 

When he told me this week he knows I have his back I knew

everything was going to be alright. 

~Altering Goodness & Life News~

Good morning and happy weekend my friends!

Here is a little box I altered a couple week's ago to use up

some old crafty supplies. *YEA*

I love using up my scraps and feeling accomplished! :)

Oh by the way these little boxes are like .99 at Michaels! STEAL!!

Now on the home front had some good news yesterday,

we began our long journey for my son and set up his first

diagnostic appointments. It's a huge step and we are very

excited and I am so proud of my boy.

You know I am the face of a survivor,

I am the face of a child who was molested, I am

the face of a woman who was beaten/abused,

I am the face of a mother, I am the face

of a woman and a wife, and I am happy to embrace being

the face of a mother of a child with a disability if this is what

my path is and what God has in store for me.

I have always been open and shared my stories in life step by step

from pain/survival to healing, and I see this as a new journey

and opportunity to do the same. This won't be the last time you

hear about this journey, I hope you walk with me to the end.