9 YEARS OLD!!!

Last Thursday, on the 26th of October, My little boy turned 9 YEARS OLD!!!

We celebrated last week with gluten-free yummy cupcakes for his class from Small Cakes bakery right down the road, and a night out at yotopia with a cup of many different flavors of frozen yogurt, where Lewis wrote a huge birthday cake with candles and his name on the blackboard where we were sitting.  Next a Ninja night at his Karate Center, which is amazing, and finally today, a trip to the Donut Shop and Airstrike, as well as seeing his soccer coach at Warren.  Even one of his karate instructors sang him Happy Birthday last night 🙂

This year, as I contemplated Lewis’ birthday, I thought about his birth, I thought about him as a toddler, I thought about his diagnosis at 6 right before his dad deployed…I thought about the hard year that lie ahead, I thought about the past year and a half since the deployment was over.  Several thoughts came to me.  But, WOW was the biggest one!  Wow!  This is one AMAZING KID!!!  He has been though so much.  And most doctors who know about autism would say, a deployment is NOT GOOD.  TRANSITION is NOT GOOD.  DIVORCE is NOT GOOD.

How on earth could this kiddo be doing so well?  That is what I want to write about for this 9th birthday.  It is so very clear to me that God’s grace has literally carried this little boy. During the deployment, God provided and delighted us with activities over and over in gymnastics, boy scouts, AWANAS, ABA therapy, and a soccer league. During the move to Ft. Gordon on Valentine’s Day, I thought about a mid-year move to a whole new duty station, area of the country, and school.  He blew my socks off!  No problem!  Thank God we moved to a good school.  The kids love it.  And during the divorce, Karate, Boy Scouts (now he is in Trail Life), UPWARD Soccer, AWANAS, and now UPWARD BASKETBALL.  He is currently an advanced green belt in intermediate level Karate and just brought home all A’s and 1 B + for his first graded report card.  I love doing homework with him, I love seeing his delight in reading books, I love seeing his memory for Scripture and his LOVE for Jesus.  His discernment is growing now to where he can tell between lies and truth and I love that.

Here are some of the STRENGTHS I want to highlight in Lewis:

Becoming a great communicator!

Remains sweet and sensitive

Love for Logic

Goal Setter and Achiever

Self-Motivated Most of the Time

Hard Worker Most of the Time

Great memorizer

Increasing obedient heart

Wonderful, tender-hearted brother

GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR

WONDERFULLY, ENDLESSLY CURIOUS!!!

 

I am celebrating YOU today Lewis.  I couldn’t have imagined how far you would come, but believed with all my heart that God would get you there.  And He has.  I pray with all my heart that you can continue to believe that All things are possible with God and embrace the great plans He has for you with a grace-soaked heart.  You are a masterpiece and made PERFECTLY the way you are. We couldn’t imagine you any other way.