Autism Awareness

So, I am not sure if I can put what today means to me into words. Autism looks so different in each individual. The spectrum is large....but I know just like any other challenging characteristic of a child, family member or loved one...it requires a huge amount of patience, a huge amount of FAITH and strength to get through each day. Awareness to me is talking about it, sharing your struggles, surrounding yourself with those that might not understand but care, that accept and love the character and beauty that comes from each child. I have learned that there is NO BOX that we can fit our children in. I look at Mitchell and his FREE spirit of not caring who is watching when he wants to sing. Or if he is excited, everyone will know about it. Awareness to me is to not FORGET that the spectrum is LARGE and my autism journey looks very mild at times, but the unknown is scary. Autism diagnosis is growing and what is scary is all these children that can not be independent will grow up NEEDING CARE...I had a friend tell me about her own story a few weeks ago when I asked her what her WHY was and along with many others she wanted to be sure her daughter would be well taken care of when she was no longer around. The awareness that TUGS at me is, these children WILL be in the hands of family members and caretakers. Awareness to me is to BE OPEN MINDED to hearing, reading, and thinking about what so many brave people have researched, lived and discovered COULD possibly be a cause of AUTISM. I without a doubt don't blame anything for Mitchell's autism, this was God's plan for him and for our family, BUT I also know that God created me to be that person that would SHARE what I know so that maybe I could protect those OPEN MINDED people from allowing this to happen to their families. ‪#‎hardtoputintowords‬ ‪#‎openminds‬ ‪#‎untilallthepiecesfit‬ ‪#‎goingthedistanceforMitchell‬