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My sweet friend M sent me a message on Facebook the other day and told me I should get the July 2010 issue of Ladies' Home Journal. There was an article in it about a mom of an Autistic child (called "Accepting Ethan"). If you are the parent of a special needs child, it's a good read. It's got some really good points.

The article is basically about the mom hoping for a cure for her son's Autism so long and hard that she lost sight of other things. She decided one day to focus on the progress he was making, instead of setting goal after goal after goal in the hopes he would one day not have the disease anymore.

I could really relate here. I have prayed every day for G's Autism to be gone. I don't think it's fair for him, or any child, to have extra difficulties placed on them. Life is hard enough. While reading this article won't stop my prayer (because I serve a God who is the Great and Mighty Healer and He can choose to heal G at any time!!!!) it will help me to look more at his progress.

My guy can dress himself, mostly without help. He can brush his teeth, although he'd rather skip it. He can peddle a tricycle. He is learning to read three-letter words. He smiles and laughs daily, and I hear "I love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living, my Mommy you'll be" more times in a day than I can count. He is doing great.

To quote the article, " I've also learned that at a certain point fighting the autism begins to feel more like fighting your child". OUCH! I'm guilty of days of pushing....just one more try...maybe he will get it this time...ok, then just one more time...next time for sure. G pushing back, trying to tell me in his own way that he has had enough.

I'm not advocating that we give up. Not at all. G personally needs repetition. It is how he learns. But I have found myself pushing harder than might have been necessary. The guilt seems to follow you if you push too hard or not hard enough.

But it also says, "....I do wish I'd understood sooner the battle was not an all-or-nothing one. I wish I'd learned earlier to see and celebrate the small victories when they came instead of holding my breath for bigger ones."

We are fortunate. We are seeing victories. Probably more than many others. And I am grateful.

For today, I will thank God for the victory...large and small. I will pray that there is a cure for this disease and others like it. But also that I keep a proper perspective for G's achievements. He is God's creation after all. And He has loaned me His wonderful creation while we are here on earth. Thank you, Father God. I am honored.