January 1, 2008...New Year, New Playroom!

It's a New Year and here we go!! Tons and tons of great stuff is in store for 2008. This is the year that it all makes sense and lives will change for the better. Lots of lives.

It's already begun in my basement. Jakob's Son-Rise Playroom is up and running. We've been spending a couple of hours a day down there over the holidays and I have to say, wow. WOW. I can't wait to be down there all-day, every day. He loves it. I took him down there about 9 this morning and he didn't come up until 1:00. I left a couple of times, but he stayed. We jump on the trampoline, play with letters, do some writing, play with puppets (I need some practice with those...not much experience there), bounce on a ball and giggle a lot. The eye contact is unbelievable and the interaction is amazing. He pulls me into every activity and enjoys playing with me. And he likes it so much, he doesn't wanna leave! How 'bout that?? Have I ever written anything like that before?? I don't think so!! My kid with Autism wants to play with me!!!!!

The only thing that I still need to run the best program I can run is volunteers. I'm gonna go searching this week...churches, yoga clubs, places like that. I'm not too concerned. I know there are tons of people out there who want to be a part of creating a miracle, which is exactly what we're doing here. It feels so right and so great.

It feels so good to finally have a handle on everything. I get it. I get why I'm here and what I'm supposed to do. I know where I'm headed and I know what I want. And I know that in order to find the peace and happiness that I want for myself and for Jakob, it all starts with gratitude. Gratitude needs to be the attitude of every moment of every day. I'm grateful for all the little things as well as the big things. I'm grateful for the little grins, the big smiles, the giggles, the hugs, the unsolicted kisses. I'm grateful for sleeping in til 7:00, the electric toothbrush, the trampoline and the swing. I'm grateful for the alphabet and for numbers 1-100. I'm grateful for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and really grateful for Dr. Seuss. I'm so grateful that Jakob chose me to be his Mom.

I'm also grateful to have ever known my friend, Theresa. She came into my life to teach me something and she did. She also taught me a lot by leaving so abruptly and unexpectedly. She validated what I had already known...life is short and meant to be spent joyously. And that's not easy for everybody, especially families living with Autism. It's so easy to get caught up in the prognosis and trying to fix things that we forget to have fun, experience joy and love each other just the way we are. That's where our focus needs to be and everything else just falls into place. The tough part is figuring out how to do that...and it all starts with gratitude. Being grateful is the most powerful thing anyone can do.

So that's my resolution for 2008...be grateful, always.