He can work with that...

We are standing before the bathroom mirror, when I

directed her attention to the tooth brushes....

“Its time to brush.” and she reaches to grab one of

the brushes and then proceeds to 

vigorously brush her hair,

 laughing. I'm smiling. 

 She knows better,

and I think....

We can work with that.

I start to look for her top, and then see it in the

small trash can near the sink...

She likes to put things, into containers. 

 I guess this is better

 than the floor, right?

We can work with that.

One of the most significant things, I have learned from

living with a special needs child/adult is that what

you see, may not be perfect, but you can always work

with it. And you both get changed in the process. 

Slow is the normal, and the greatest temptation I have, is to

get discouraged, grow weary, or looking too hard

and long at what is not done.

There is nothing like seeing progress, when after

one hundred or more times she does it and you look

back and know, that every one of those times, were

not to make her conform to your normal world, but to

perfect your own heart. It gives your “heart muscles”

exercise in whats really important, loving her and

living in hope. A perfect heart, might look like,

perfectly loving every step you take forward.

Smiling when she is clever with

the tooth brush and slam dunking

 clothes in trash cans.:)

The goal is not what I see now, 

but what I'm becoming,

because of the process.

If I ever despise the process, 

then we both lose ground.

This process produces something more than what you

have accomplished or achieved, because it could evade

you tomorrow.  It's there, and then it's not, with these 

special ones. So these little steps are celebrated, 

for this day. And tomorrow, well,

 that has not come yet!:)

Hope anchors my soul, and reminds me, 

especially when progress is slow, 

that it is not what I see, but WHO I see, as I take

the next step....He can work with that

"God is patient with the process. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry." Oswald Chambers

One does not surrender a life in an instant.  That which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a life time." Elisabeth Elliot

The above picture was when we welcomed Anna into our world.  That was 27 years ago.