God never gives us more than we can handle....

Myth: God never gives us more than we can handle.

I have been considering this more and more over the past few weeks in light of the new therapy that we are starting with Andrew. Nowhere in the Bible does it say God never gives us more than we can handle. In fact, I think the opposite is true. God routinely gives us more than we can handle! That requires us to go to Him for the necessary support.

In our new therapy, the guide (mom/dad) is suppose to present activities that are slightly above the competence of the apprentice (child.) In doing this it invites the child to go and seek help and assistance. These activities are not suppose to be extremely difficult; just outside the zone of proximal development. Or we are asked to do a task with our child that is somewhat unpleasant to get them out of their comfort zone. During this time, the goal is NOT to finish the task and we are not to MAKE him do it. The goal is to have the child to eventually want to apprentice the parent. The goal is relationship and this apprenticeship is a key deficit in autism. Much therapy in the autism world is spent on teaching skills. A child with a high IQ and high functioning autism can make it though Harvard being taught skills because life until the 'real world' is static. LIFE however, is dynamic outside the school environment. We need to learn to learn, to apprentice, to develop relationships and to trust!

God is the same way. He doesn't cause trials but he allows them. He has a plan and a purpose to prosper us however he is not concerned with the outcome as much as the relationship. I believe God allows trials for many reasons. He may want us to be able to help and understand others who will be in a similar situation in the future. Or perhaps he wants to put certain people in our path or to soften our hearts to someone. Maybe he is going to jump start you on a new path for life. Above all though, He wants to spend TIME with you. He wants to BE with you. And because we live in a fallen world, He knows there will be trials, so he designs to use them for His glory and His good and to call people to Himself. But he will not make you come to Him. The decision has to be your own. But God desires to spend time with His creation...and He loves you like crazy!

Unschooling....

Yesterday I tried to get Andrew to use a gluestick but there was no-go!! "eeewww...icky....." Well we have 'stuff' happening and so there is some basic schoolin' going on around here but Andrew is finding much to do by himself. Here is is today. He asked for some old magazines and he's cutting and pasting his own little books!!! Praising God. God is good...all the time...all the time....God is good. (sing it!)






I decided to add a ps on here if anyone read to the bottom. After I hit the publish button I realized that this isn't 'unschooling' but rather an accumulation of many years of work. It may seem unschooling to the untrained eye with a 'typical' child, but anyone with a child with sensory issues KNOWS that this is quite an accomplishment! And I'm giving all the glory to God because He chose this particular time to give Andrew an extra measure of independence and peace so that other things could be attended to.

Merry Christmas to all!

So we went to see Santa at Henry Ford Museum. I was a tad 'concerned' for several reasons. First, I did not want Andrew to blow it for other kids. I could not continue the Santa charade fully when he started putting Santa above Jesus. We have read the REAL stories about St. Nicholas. Andrew wanted to know if St. Nicholas was still alive and I told him no. He wanted to be a St. Nicholas to other kids...such as Dr. Susan's patients... Which is of course the way you want a child to think.

The second reason I was concerned is that Andrew told me he wanted to tell Santa several things such as he wanted a 'butt kicker' for Christmas. (Don't ask..I don't know where it came from.) He also wanted to tell him that he 'he was just an old man.' I didn't know WHAT Andrew might say.

So I grilled him, drilled him...and prayed. And here is what happened.



Before we were in line I was praying for just God's protection and blessing and will over the whole situation. And then while standing in line Psalm 19:14 came to mind and I prayed that the "words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart would be pleasing to God." And they were....

First Andrew says in the sweetest voice you have ever heard, "Christmas is not about getting, it is about giving." Santa did not quite understand Andrew and said something along the lines that he heard Andrew say giving and so he gave Andrew a little plush that they have there for all the kids. Then Andrew says again, "noooo... Christmas is about GIVING; not getting." He also told Santa that he is very special and I think at one point must have said "God loves you." As we were leaving Santa says..."Remember, Jesus is number one and Santa is number two." Can it GET any better than that????!!!!!! There was more but I was too busy listening to video tape it. While walking away Andrew continues to shout...."you are a nice man Santa!!" What I think Andrew meant to emphasize was....MAN. But thankfully it just came across as a 'nice man' so as to not blow it for the other children.

So Thank you Jesus....for coming to this earth to save us. And for answering the words of my prayer as it could not have been any more sweet than that. It was an encouragement during what is currently a pretty difficult time for us and yet another "whisper from God."

Another narration blessing

We were just reading from the Bible; Matthew 3:1-12 where John the Baptist is telling the Pharisees and Sadducees that they'd better get with the program and change their hearts. I did explain a bit that the FRUIT he was talking about what their hearts- not a tree; however, when I asked him for a summary he said, "The Pharisees came. They were about to be condemned." I looked back in the text and the word condemned was not there. again..WOW!

Narration....

Simply Charlotte Mason is having a blog carnival with the focus on narration. I thought I would provide just one small instance of what it brings to the table versus the 'ask and answer' question format. We are listening to Henry Huggins on CD. Today we listened to and read about 5 minutes worth of the book discussing when Henry brings home the fish from the pet shop. When I asked Andrew to give me a sentence or two from the passage, he said, "His mom appreciated the fish." Wow! The word appreciated was not in the text. And it sums it up well. I never would have gotten this word from him though a question and answer session. We do our fair share of worksheets however I encourage everyone when you read to or with your kids- homeschooler or public schoolers- when you are done just say, "let's share!" You will be amazed at what a child comes up with on their own. They must use their thinking mind and then you can proceed to have some additional 'together time' during a grand conversation of the book.