Diagnosis:Autism

Your first child is born, and it's amazing the love you feel. This perfect little angel is here, and you can't believe it's real. The hopes and dreams seem endless, they could go for miles and miles. You look around and everything is great, all you see are smiles. Several months and diapers later, life is getting hard. You're trying harder than most, but you've been dealt a different card. Nobody understands, and gives you heaps of parental hints. It seems everywhere you go, someone has to put in their two cents. You aren't doing such a good job, of teaching this little child. Nothing seems to be working right, and he's getting really wild. He isn't learning not to do it again, when something isn't right. He's bouncing off walls, and climbing high, you chase him with all your might. The sweetness he has is something special, that you can't deny. But life is hard, and you know it, and you can't help but wonder why. You finally decide to get answers, to the doctor you will go. After tests and papers, and strange looks, they tell you that they know. This sweet, and energetic boy has a disability that lasts forever. There are some things, for this little child, that he won’t do, not ever. You're told to hand him over to the experts that know of his kind. They seem to think they know better, and that somehow you are blind. At first you think they're right, and that they know what's best to do. But you realize quickly he's your child, and in that way nothings new. You've been with him from the start, and learned his special ways. You know you can't hand him over now, you'll be there all his days. You learn to be so happy, with every little gain. You learn to see the things he's taught you, were worth all the pain. You take each day, one at a time, the way it's supposed to be. The things that others ignore, you find that you will see. You thank God for the journey, he's brought you with this boy. You thank Him for the sadness, that's now turned into joy. When this boy smiles and gives you a hug, it's so wonderful to feel. He's gone much farther than they said, and you know that this is real. This isn’t the end of the story, we have many years to go. But God will be there with us, and that is what we know. We’ve been allowed to be part of a very special plan. We get to watch this wonderful boy, turn into a wonderful man.