“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." - Matthew 7:7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you..."
After 2 years of praying and waiting for a child, God finally answered our prayers. He gave us Joshua Rafael, our first born. As first time parents, we were excited and we started to have big dreams for our son. Two years after his birth, we received his diagnosis. We were told that autism is a developmental condition and the cause is still unknown. We were asked to prepare ourselves to care for him since the condition lasts for a lifetime. Did the doctor just say lifetime??? Ouch! That hurts! It hurts really really bad. And to put icing on the cake, we were also told that he may not be able to live a normal life.
That day, we stopped dreaming for our dear son.
All we wanted was for us to understand him better and to provide for his needs.
There was a possibility that he may never talk.
He may never do things on his own.
He may never make it to school or to college.
He may never call me, "mommy".
That day, we stopped dreaming.
"Seek and you will find...."
He learned how to put together the pieces of a puzzle even before he learned how to talk.
Almost a year after his diagnosis, he began to talk.
Six months after, he was talking in phrases.
Then in sentences.
Now he talks non stop!
He read his first children's storybook when he was 4.
He was learning so fast and we were amazed with his progress.
He was recommended to attend a regular preschool class.
After spending 2 years in a SPED school, he was mainstreamed in 2008.
After 3 years of Occupational Therapy, he was discharged from OT services in December 2009.
He learned how to swallow a capsule in 2009.
Now he swallows capsules of all shapes and sizes.
He drinks his medicines on his own. He knows which medicine to take and when to take it.
He knows his medicine schedule more than his dad.
He bathes himself and dresses up on his own.
He chooses his own clothes.
He prays before eating.
He eats on his own, carries his plate and cup to the sink, and volunteers to wash it.
He is disciplined to eat only the food that we prepare for him or those that are inside his lunchbox.
He knows how to use the computer.
He remembers all passwords.
You Tube is his favorite site and since he is only allowed to go to that site with my permission, he knows how to press the "escape" button when he feels that I am about to enter the room.
He greets us good morning upon waking up and gives us a hug and a kiss.
He knows how to make us laugh.
He loves his sister dearly and enjoys playing with her. I love listening to them argue once in a while :)
He knows how to say sorry when he does something that we do not approve of.
He memorizes the words of a song after listening to it a few times.
He remembers even the smallest detail in a magazine or newspaper ad.
He loves to read.
Language is his favorite subject.
He loves to draw both on paper and on his megasketcher.
He even made his own layout of SM City Masinag.
He is learning how to play the piano.
He is asking so much questions that sometimes I find very difficult to answer.
He now complains why he has to do a lot of work. But he still does it anyway.
He does errands in the house such as setting the table and sweeping the floor.
He packs away his toys and school materials.
He is now learning how to play basketball and soccer.
He asks his dad to play basketball with him on weekends.
He knows how to ride a bike with training wheels.
He behaves for the entire duration of the mass and participates actively in singing the mass songs.
He enjoys listening to Tito Bo Sanchez preach each and every Sunday at the Feast.
He raises his hands and sing songs of praise and worship to our God.
He writes his prayer of healing and recovery.
He prays for healing for sick family members and friends.
He prays the rosary and knows what mystery to pray for the day.
He is interested in learning the Japanese language and culture.
He counts in Japanese and knows the days of the week and months of the year in Japanese.
He sings "Mary had a Little Lamb" in Japanese and knows a few Japanese greetings.
He learned the Visayan song,"Si Pelimon", and together with other homeschoolers, sang it during their celebration of the Linggo ng Wika.
He joined various school programs, singing and dancing on stage.
Just 2 weeks ago, he watched "Rio" with the whole family, something that we never expected since the movie house is a place that can get children with ASD overly stimulated. It was his first full length movie and he did great! Amazing!
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| Joshua and Isabela at the movies |
"Knock and the door shall be opened..."
The list gets longer and longer each day ....
but as a mother, the most important thing in the list that I treasure most was the first time he called me mommy. Then I knew, that the Lord has great plans for this boy.
It was also then when we realized that we should never stop dreaming for our son.
Joshua never gave up on our dreams for him.
He always exceeds our expectations.
He strives to be the best that he can be.
He never gives up on anything that he puts his heart into even if he is labeled - Autistic.
He never gives up the life that the Lord wants him to live.
He never gives up the dreams that the Lord planted in his heart.
Who are we then to give up on someone who is so precious to us?
Today, we begin to dream again.
We continue to dream big for Joshua.
Just like the dreams that the Lord planted in our hearts ... the first time we held him in our arms.
Never will we give up this fight.
For our son...
For his dreams ...
and for ours, too.
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