​My son, who is Autistic, is having trouble dealing with change right now. I’m sure we all can relate to having difficulty adjusting to changes since Covid-19 has arrived. We’ve pretty much all had to adjust, in some way, shape, or form, to the new procedures and/or changes that are in place now in our country. We’re all adjusting to our “new normal” and it’s hard.
My son wants to go back in time to about a year ago and he can’t understand why we can’t. I’ve tried explaining this abstract concept several different times, and I think he’s beginning to understand why I can’t make things the same way they were last year, but he still misses the way things were. He also wants to go visit his grandparents who live about nine hours away from us. When I explained that we can’t go and possibly expose them to the Corona Virus that we might pick up while travelling, he frowned and thought for a few seconds. He then told me there were no germs at his grandma’s house.
I’m sure we all have times in our lives we’d like to rewind to, and it’s nice to spend some time in our memories, but we can’t let a desire for things in the past take away from today’s joy. God has placed us where we are at this time for a reason. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, the Great Physician, our Abba Father. The circumstances we’re in today might not be enjoyable; they may be downright hard, but God will provide what we need for today. His mercies are new every morning, His yoke is easy and His burden light. Give God the burdens your carrying, take the problems your trying to solve and lay them at His feet. He will give you peace and comfort. He has the answers.
I have more problems than I have solutions right now and, if you’re like me in this, the load gets so overwhelming sometimes. I try to give my problems and troubles to Him, but then I try to take them right back and do things myself. I find that, when I seek God first, my burdens seem lighter and more manageable. And they should with Almighty, All-Knowing God on my side. Remember what Matthew said in chapter 19 verse 26, “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Luke said, “For with God nothing will be impossible,” in chapter one verse 37. I hold these verses close during times like these, along with Psalm 34:4, which says, “I sought the lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.” I have a bookmark in my Bible that my mom made for me a few years ago, that I read every day. Isaiah 26:3 is cross-stitched on it, which says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed upon You, because he trusts in You.” The word “stayed” in this verse means “fixed.” We are to fix our minds on God and not on our circumstances or the world around us. God alone can bring us peace.
My tip for today concerns helping my son keep his anxiety under control. I’ve learned that if he has too much time to think and dwell on his worries, his anxiety gets higher. This is so true with me, as well. So, I’m making it a point to keep him occupied during the day. When his anxiety is higher, he has trouble focusing, so I bring out activities for him to complete. I choose things that he’s already good at or has mastered. Fox example, putting a simple puzzle together, putting beads on a string, building anything with blocks or some other building type toys, playing with dough, playing Go-Fish, Eye Found It, or Candy Land. Any of these things can occupy him enough to keep his mind focused while providing a sense of accomplishment and feelings of success, and his anxiety level usually goes down enough so we can move on to other things.
I’ve already shared several verses today, but I want to leave you with a few more. Lamentations 3:22-24 says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”
Before I go, I want to leave with you with a couple more Bible verses found in Numbers 6:24-26.
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
 
Have a great week!

Hello, everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful day! I hope to bring some brightness to your day by sharing some of the more interesting things I see in my days as a caregiver to special-needs kids, specifically dealing with Autism, as well as sharing other experiences I’ve had throughout my adult life about being a wife, mom, woman, and Christian. Hopefully, we can laugh together, and maybe sometimes cry together, during these podcasts.

                Just to give you a little background on myself: I am married and have three children. I am a full-time caregiver right now and my days are very full. I do not have a lot of down time, but I do like to read and write in my spare time. If you like mystery and suspense stories that are clean, you can find my books on Amazon. I have also written a book called Care for the Caregiver, where I tried to encourage other caregivers, sharing some of the lessons I’ve learned about self-care while caring for others, as well as Bible verses that are special to me. I have an author page on Facebook and a website listing my books. Visit www.stephaniehutchins.com for more information.

My husband and I also do our best to maintain the informational website www.Southtexasautism.org. It is awfully hard to keep things current while caregiving, but we do what we can. We also have a Facebook page for South Texas Autism, where we do try to share things frequently. We wanted to find a way to help others with their Autism journey, so this was what we decided to do.
 
 
 I homeschool my two children left at home and, while my daughter takes classes online, I am tailoring my son’s schooling to fit his educational needs and pace. I do have a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, which comes in handy, but my degree did not fully prepare me for the challenges in planning and implementing curriculum for a special-needs child. I have learned to be very flexible when it comes to his schoolwork, as well as just about any other aspect of our daily lives in regard to routines.

My son has occupational, speech, and physical therapies every week and one of the goals we are working on in Occupational Therapy pertains to my son’s fine motor skills, specifically cutting out things with safety scissors and pasting them. We are also trying to encourage my son’s ability to work independently, so while my son was happily cutting away on his paper, I left the room for a couple of minutes. I returned to find my son had abandoned the paper completely and had proceeded to cut the hair on the top of his head down to his scalp. This was not the first time he had done this, but it had been long enough since his last foray into barbering that I thought he had moved past the desire to cut his own hair. I was wrong.

Later, after I’d improved upon his haircut and he’d showered, my son told me he wouldn’t have cut his hair if I hadn’t left him alone with the scissors and that it was my fault it had happened. I informed him that he made the choice to cut his hair, so he was responsible for his actions. I can laugh about it now, but I really was not looking to cut someone’s hair the day he did it and I was a bit frustrated over it.

That incident personally illustrated how our choices effect our lives. I have been teaching my children about choices and consequences for nineteen years and I find I am still learning some of the lessons I am trying to teach. The main one I struggle with is the choice of my attitude.

Attitude is huge when I am facing hard days and sleepless nights. It is a struggle to look for the positive when, on some days, I have so much negative coming my way. I must say that I would not make it through each day if it was not for God and my relationship with Him.

He carries me when I cannot take another step. He guides me when I have no idea what to do or what choice to make. I have become such a prayer warrior in the last ten years, not because I’m some spiritual giant, but because I come to the end of myself almost daily and I’m desperately crying out to God for help, strength, and guidance. And He is there for me, every time. My choice of depending on God brings the wonderful consequence of His peace, grace, and mercy. I am never alone in my struggles.
               
If you are out there facing struggles today, know that you are not alone. We each face different giants during our days and nights. We each struggle with something seemingly impossible; with a situation where hope is dim. Family and friends are wonderful, and I hope each one of you has a support group to help you. Sometimes, though, it is only you there in the middle of the night, or for a few minutes during the day, and it is those times of solitude that can get really lonely. During those times I encourage you to breathe, vent your emotions, and call out to Almighty God. He will be there when no one else is and He will never leave you or turn His back on you.

My tip for today is never leave your child alone with scissors! I am only half serious. I encourage you to choose to have a good attitude today. It is a seemingly simple choice that has unbelievable benefits. Search for positive things. Look for the good. Seek the happy in your day.

Some days I feel that there is not much good, but, if I look for it, I always find something positive. It seems on the days I determine to have a good attitude Murphy’s Law goes into effect and things quickly spin out of control, making it so much harder to stay positive. I am a work in progress and this a huge challenge for me, so I am challenging myself as much as I am everyone else.

Speaking of challenges, I have put forth a challenge one of my children who tends to see the negative in everything. For every negative observation or comment they make, they must find something positive as well. This is pretty new, and I do not have definitive proof yet, but I think it is working.  Since I believe in leading by example, I am also participating in this exercise internally. (I am not one who normally complains out loud.) Focusing on the positive does seem to curb my negativism. There are Bible verses that speak to this, but I will save them for another time.

I do have a verse of encouragement I would like to leave with you today. It’s Jeremiah 32:17, which says, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.

Thank you for joining me for a few minutes today and allowing me to speak to you from my heart.  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Hello! It's been awhile since I last posted but had a lot of new changes we've had to adapt to, and that was before COVID-19.

I wanted to take a few minutes to thank our readers for emailing us about suggested links, broken links, and other items of interest. I updated our website today with several reader-suggested links and fixed some problems with some of the links. Please, keep the suggestions coming! I don't have time to surf the internet for links and information like I did a few years ago, so I appreciate any help I can get.

I hope you have a great week!!!!
Stephanie

If your family is like mine, going to the dentist can be an extremely stressful experience. We were contacted by someone who wanted to share a dental resource guide with us, and we were so happy to have this information to pass on. Just click on the link below to accessed the resource guide.

Dental Resource Guide

If anyone has any information that you want to share, please fill out the form on the "Contact Us" page and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

​Have a great week!​

If your child has anxiety, as mine does, then you know how difficult it is to help you child deal with the rolling emotions and panic that often accompany his/her day.  Here are a few links that I hope might provide strategies to help.

5 Ways to Help Reduce Anxiety in Children with Autism

Eight Ways to Calm Autism-related Anxiety

​​10 Tips To Help Calm Anxiety in Kids with Autism

Have a great Thursday!
Stephanie

P.S.  My newest fictional book is on sale for a limited time for .99 cents. 

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Today is the last day to get these books for free!  Don't miss out!