 |
| My husband posing with our son, Joseph |
Joseph is the older of our two children. He is autistic with high needs and has moderate intellectual disability. As he entered his teens, he was also diagnosed to have mood disorder; he goes through a repetitive cycle of being restless, loud and demanding for about a week or two, and then quiet, passive and withdrawn for the next week or so.
A few years ago, my husband and I had to make the most difficult decision in our lives so far - to let Joseph go to full-time care outside of our family home.
We had applied for residential placement, but Joseph was placed in a government-funded project along with 15 other children who were all under 18 years of age. The project aimed to find individual foster homes to maintain a more homely atmosphere and better care for the 16 children.
Nearly three years and two foster families later, Joseph is doing well with his second family. My husband and I meet regularly with Joseph's support team to monitor his progress and well-being.
Joseph now comes home once a week for an afternoon during the weekend to spend time with us.This is our special time with him to bond and to see for ourselves that he is doing okay. And if there are things to be improved on, we are his advocates.
It is so good to see his beautiful smile and hear his contagious laugh, to watch him enjoy his favourite food, and to simply just spend time with him being his parents rather than his caregivers.
As Joseph becomes an adult, plans are in place for him to move into adult services which include a flatting kind of arrangement rather than boarding. How this is going to pan out is still both hazy and scary to us.
To be completely honest, thinking about Joseph's future scares me so much I can't really afford to go there. But we are so thankful for the provision that he has at the moment. And we need to allow that gratitude to become a daily attitude that helps us live in the moment and enjoy what we have.
For when I was in deep sorrow and despair when Joseph first left home, God provided for him. Furthermore, He met me where I was and there was enough grace to see me through. Even though I could neither see nor feel it.
There will be grace tomorrow for tomorrow's problems. Today's grace is only sufficient for today.
Even when our feelings tell us otherwise, His Word is the truth that we need to train our minds and hearts to embrace....
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." ~ Matthew 6:34 ~
No comments:
Post a Comment