Be thankful and celebrate what you already have and not what you’re hoping to receive in the future.
This is one of the biggest gifts that I have gotten from Son-Rise®.

I celebrate, not the idea that Nathan will recover from autism in the future, but all that he is capable of doing already…

…when he was completely oblivious to everyone, I celebrated the strong eye-contact he gave me as soon as I tried the simply Son-Rise technique of joining. A second later, I celebrated the beautiful smiles he gave me. Few more seconds later, I celebrated the amazing laughter we exchanged. Minutes into our laughter, I thought, all those past years of therapy trying to “reach” Nathan, and all it took was one Son-Rise step to finally feel connected with Nathan! Major celebration!

…I celebrate the bite mark on Nathan’s right arm because it’s the only remnant of the violence and aggression he had when he was younger. When he was 4 and 5 years old, I was covered by his bites marks trying to protect his siblings from his aggression. Today he can better sense his body and when he feels something brewing inside, he bites his arm, regulates himself and allows the storm to pass! How awesome is that?

…when I though he would forever be using crazy language or scripts from TV, I celebrated when first he said “[I want] cookie.”

…after 3 months of celebrate all his “I want [all sorts of food]”, Nathan said, “I want to touch the water” (in the river), I celebrated like crazy! He said something that didn’t have food as the motivation!!!! 🎉

…when I get back home and open the door, I celebrate that the first thing I usually see is Nathan smiling right back at me!!! 😍

…when I thought he didn’t care, I celebrated the first time he looked at his crying Sister then put his arm on her attempting to make her feel better. She rejected 😜 but hey, Nathan did so well trying!

…when I though that no body else would be able to love this strange boy (which was fine, I would fill that void by giving him all the extra love that he needed). I came to celebrate the fact that volunteers came to learn about Son-Rise and how they could help Nathan…people came to love my child with autism! What a blessing!

…when we play a semi-echolalic game of questions and answers, I celebrate the fact that this smart boy is using this game to get a good grasp of how grammar works and how he can form his answers after a question is asked of him!

…when he “stays with me” in a game for 2 minutes or event 2 seconds, I celebrate as much as I would if he “stays with me” for half an hour!

…when he withdraws from a game and decides to go back into his world of autism, I celebrate that he knows when he needs a break from the difficult challenge that I give him to flex his social muscles.

I celebrate, not only what Son-Rise has done for Nathan but what it has done for me. It has opened my eyes to all the goodness that life has to offer! Count your blessing and so much more will pour!

Celebrating our way to recovery! Praise God for healing!

In the photo: celebrating our good morning games. Sometimes Nathan likes to get into my bed in the morning…best way to wake up! I had to capture that moment.