John-Isaac's Journey

John-Isaac's journey began on May 1, 2002 as we welcomed our second son into the world. At eight weeks of age our world was shaken with a diagnosis of a heart condition that would require surgery. With the help of our prayer warriors, an Awesome God, and some wonderful doctors the surgery was successful and once again we thought we were on our way to having health and happiness. If only the story ended there. Looking back, this is where the real journey began. A journey of facing the unknown head on. A journey of fear, faith, and above all hope, and fervent prayer. As John-Isaac neared his first birthday we began to notice that there were some things that did not seem quite right. He did not say "Mama" or "Dada", or any words at all. He did not make good eye contact. At first I thought he might be a little bit behind from having his heart surgery. Slowly, however, I came to terms with the fact that this was something more that just being a "little behind". But what were we dealing with?

Everyone seemed to have their opinions, but no one could give us any real answers. We started speech and developmental therapy immediately. We took him to every kind of doctor in town from a neurologist to a child psychologist. Still no answers. This went on until the age of four. At this point we just wanted to know what it was we were dealing with (even though we knew in our hearts) so we could "fix" it. We finally got an appointment with a developmental group in Little Rock. The diagnosis came.....Moderate to severe Autism Spectrum Disorder. This was not a shock to us. We had been pretty sure this was what we were dealing with for about two years. Now that we had a diagnosis, it was time to start the fight for our son. We are still fighting!

We have learned to celebrate the small things as they always lead to bigger accomplishments. John-Isaac did eventually say his first word. He was two years old, I said something to him that he didn't like, and he pointed his finger at me and said, "NO". I never knew the sound of my child telling me "no" could sound so sweet! He is 6 now and has a very good vocabulary though he doesn't talk like most children his age. We have made a lot of progress, but we still have a lot of progress to make.

We do continue to pray every day for God to give us the key that will "unlock" our son. His sweet spirit and zeal for life brightens our world. I know God has a very special plan for John-Isaac's life. How blessed am I that I get to see that plan unfold first hand? Yes, I did say blessed. I do not count his autism as a curse but rather a very special blessing from God Himself. For you see, God thought that I was a good enough mother to entrust me with raising one of His most precious lambs. I keep that thought very close to my heart as there are days when I cannot find much reasoning in the situation. God is God and I am not! And that is a good thing!

Through this blog I hope to chonicle John-Isaac's progress and hopfully give other people a better understanding of autism. Thank you all for your support!