Daily Prompt ~ Raising Autism

Raising Autism: Surviving the Early Years

By Kimberlee Rutan McCafferty

Today’s Daily Prompt asks what you love most about yourself, your favorite person and if the two connected.  I wrote today’s post about my friend Kim, the author of the above book.  I was ready to hit publish when the DP came up and I realized that this post most definitely qualifies ~ because what I love about myself and Kim is that in the face of adversity, we have triumphed.  Both of us have had hard times in our lives ~ we had circumstances that weren’t of our own doing affect us profoundly and yet, we still are here!  We have endured the journey of life and continue to strive to make our lives and the lives of others happier, better and we write to inspire others to realize that they too can live with those circumstances whether they be illness of ourselves or others whom we love.  So please indulge me with Kim’s book ~ if you or anyone else know a family enduring an autism diagnosis, you’ve just met your best friend Kim who will take you on her journey, teach you, inspire you and sympathize with you as you learn the intricacies of being the Mom of 2 autistic sons.

Kim has also written, starred in, directed and promoted her own play which was a smash hit ~ with profits going to others, just like her book!  Her writings are just like Kim ~ honest, loving, well-thought out, caring and just as if we were sitting on the couch at her house and you asked her to tell you about the early years with her sons’ and their autism.  She’s your best friend and her ability to reach out and explain what it’s like for her family and her boys and how she’s dealt with the feelings that have accompanied their journey is nothing short of incredible.  It’s in her honesty that you immediately sit down and want to finish her book.  She doesn’t shy away from sadness nor happiness.  She shoots straight from the heart and bulls eye ~ you understand.

Directly from Kim, “Over time I have learned to embrace the altered landscape of our dreams, to measure the depth of my love for my sons, and most importantly, to reconcile with their diagnosis and move on with my life. I’ve named this book Raising Autism for several reasons. In part the title harkens to the often Herculean task of simply getting through the day while encountering the myriad of challenges autism presented to our family. I also called it Raising Autism as celebration for those parents able to conjure a different concept of family, of what it means to love, respect, and take pride in their child while simultaneously rewriting a new version of the rest of their lives as well.”

Below is a link to her blog with links for her book!

Shine On!

xo

Click here to go to Autism Mommy Therapist Blog!

Excerpt from Raising Autism:

“Raising Autism” is the story of how my eldest son and I survived his early years without dissolving entirely the fragile and tenuous bond we had crafted with one another since birth. It is the story of how his father and I made every difficult decision, from choosing his schools, his therapies, and even to where we would ultimately come to reside, while constantly agonizing over whether we had made the right, and often irrevocable, choices. It explains how his diagnosis called into question everything I thought I knew about myself and motherhood, and challenged me to consider exactly what I was willing to surrender for my child- career, geography, friends, and perhaps my known self. This hard-won knowledge would sustain me through not just my firstborn’s diagnosis, but ultimately through my second child’s as well.

Over time I have learned to embrace the altered landscape of our dreams, to measure the depth of my love for my sons, and most importantly, to reconcile with their diagnosis and move on with my life. I’ve named this book Raising Autism for several reasons. In part the title harkens to the often Herculean task of simply getting through the day while encountering the myriad of challenges autism presented to our family. I also called it Raising Autism as celebration for those parents able to conjure a different concept of family, of what it means to love, respect, and take pride in their child while simultaneously rewriting a new version of the rest of their lives as well.

This is our story.”

Available on Amazon, the CreateSpace eStore

Daily Prompt: Love to Love You

What do you love most about yourself? What do you love most about your favorite person? Are the two connected?

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/daily-prompt-love-2/

The Shift to Feeling Delicious!

Through synchronicity last week, Hay House delivered to my inbox, the opportunity to download The Shift by Dr. Wayne Dyer for the incredibly low price of $1.99 .  Being the bargain shopper that I am, I immediately checked out the preview footage and being intrigued, I dug out my credit card to get the 2 hour movie to stream to my computer.  Now the next hurdle was how, as a busy Mom, wife and business owner, was I going to carve out 2 hours to watch it?  However, last Friday, I finally sat down to watch the movie…and it changed my life.

Usually I am not speechless when it comes to my blog (or to anything for that matter), but I have been unable to find the words to explain The Shift except to say that when the movie was finished, I laid down on my couch, closed my eyes for a few moments to take in the experience and felt a blissful peace that I hadn’t felt in years.  The words remarkable, stunning and life-changing come to mind ~ but I think the best is ~ I felt DELICIOUS!

Delicious?  Did she just write delicious?  That’s how food tastes, it’s not a feeling!

I know, I know…but have you ever felt delicious?  It’s a feeling I had never experienced until now and quite frankly, it’s one that I won’t forget in the near future.  Words escape me in explaining it more…but it was a calm, an inner healing, a feeling of complete happiness in my soul that I experienced and I’ve been able to call up that feeling for the last few days when I’ve gotten quiet and asked to feel it again.

I wanted to share it with you because it’s a new year and this was a new experience for me, one that I think you’ll enjoy, appreciate and one that may change your life for the better as it’s done to mine.  Whether you are a man or woman, this profound movie will easily touch you.  You don’t need to be an enlightened being to ‘get it’ nor does being an enlightened being make the move boring to you either…it’s one for all ages, for all people and for myself, it’s a keeper.

I’ve been quiet the last few days because I’ve been trying to figure out how I could tell you what ‘I feel delicious’ means…but I’ve decided that I’m just putting it out there for you to taste and see the delicious experience that The Shift brings.  Be open, let it gently wash over you and then let me know what you think!

Do you want to feel DELICIOUS too?

Shine On and Shift!

xo

Want to buy the book?  Or buy the movie?  Just click  here!

There are others talking about it too!  Check out the blogs below!

http://martinlumsden.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/secret-messages/

http://thiswitchsheart.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/the-shift-with-dr-wayne-dyer/

A bit of good reading…for the Holidays!

There are times in life when we just need a feel good story, one that will make the holiday stress fade away and bring back the real meaning of Christmas cheer.  I want to introduce you to my favorite author whom I just found about a year ago.  Walking through the library last year, I saw a book nestled in with the other holiday books.  I brought it home, read it cover to cover, in one night being so involved with the story that I didn’t care that I had things to do the next day.  Frankly, I was hooked on Richard Paul Evans!  I flew back to the library the next day and found every book I could by him and read them all cover to cover with happy abandon!

Now that the holiday stress is upon us, you may feel a need for a bit of calm, a bit of quiet and a bit of love in this crazy world!  I have the answer for you ~ Richard Paul Evans’ books!  You can find them in your local library (if someone hasn’t beat you to it) or you can order them on Amazon and get them in 2 days!  You won’t go wrong with any of his books, but I just bought and read in 2 days (b/c I am a full-time Mom, wife and I do have to bring in the bacon with my SendOutCards business) his latest because I buy them on Amazon to give away when I see someone who needs a little pick me up!  You can too!  Just click on the books to order if you wish!

  This is my latest read…and I plan on passing it along to my Mom so that she has something special to read at night during the holidays since this is our first holiday season without my Dad. I’m also planning on buying

  for Mom and a few friends as Christmas gifts this year. His books are perfect for plane/car rides, before bed relaxing moments and for those times when you just need a little extra holiday cheer and love.

I even read his books for teenagers and now my son is reading the Michael Vey series as well. If you have a teenager in your life, this is a great pick as well.   This was the first book and the 2nd in the series is which will be under our tree this year (for my son and for me to read since I have yet to read the 2nd book in the series).

And if you’re not about Christmas, there’s the Walk Series which again, I read in no time because his books are quick and easy to read, but highly enjoyable!

      And the next book coming in 2013 hasn’t a cover yet, but you can pre-order here! A Step of Faith (Walk Series)

For me, I need a bit of extra caring this holiday season ~ for some it is a sad time, a time to remember those who have passed and to never forget that we are blessed with the PRESENT of PRESENCE in the here and now!  So if you’re looking for something special, think about curling up with a good book that will feel like an old friend telling you a heartfelt story that will make you happy that you are here!

I copied his autobiography from Amazon in case you want to know more about the author! 

Enjoy! xoxo

Richard Paul Evans

When Richard Paul Evans wrote the #1 best-seller, The Christmas Box, he never intended on becoming an internationally known author.  Officially, he was an advertising executive, an award-winning clay animator for the American and Japanese markets, candidate for state legislature and most importantly, husband and father. The Christmas Box was written as an expression of love for his (then) two daughters. Though he often told them how much he loved them, he wanted to express his love in a way that would be timeless. In 1993, Evans reproduced 20 copies of the final story and gave them to his closest relatives and friends as Christmas presents. In the month following, those 20 copies were passed around more than 160 times, and soon word spread so widely that bookstores began calling his home with orders for it.

His quiet story of parental love and the true meaning of Christmas made history when it became simultaneously the #1 hardcover and paperback book in the nation. Since then, more than eight million copies of The Christmas Box have been printed. The Emmy award-winning CBS television movie based on The Christmas Box starred Maureen O’Hara and Richard Thomas. Two more of Evans’s books were produced by Hallmark and starred such well-known actors as James Earl Jones, Vanessa Redgrave, Naomi Watts, Mary McDonough and Academy award winner Ellen Burstyn. He has since written 10 consecutive New York Times bestsellers and is one of the few authors in history to have hit both the fiction and non-fiction bestseller lists. He has won three awards for his children’s books including the 1998 American Mothers book award and two first place Storytelling World awards. Evans’s latest book, The 5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth, is now available.

Of his success, Evans says: “The material achievements of The Christmas Box will never convey its true success, the lives it has changed, the families brought closer together, the mothers and fathers who suddenly understand the pricelessness of their children’s fleeting childhood. I share the message of this book with you in hopes that in some way, you might be, as I was, enlightened.”

During the Spring of 1997, Evans founded The Christmas Box House International, an organization devoted to building shelters and providing services for abused and neglected children. Such shelters are operational in Moab, Vernal, Ogden and Salt Lake City, Utah and Lucre, Peru. To date, more than 16,000 children have been housed in Christmas Box House facilities.

As an acclaimed speaker, Evans has shared the podium with such notable personalities as President George W. Bush, President George and Barbara Bush, former British Prime Minister John Majors, Ron Howard, Elizabeth Dole, Deepak Chopra, Steve Allen, and Bob Hope. Evans has been featured on the Today show and Entertainment Tonight, as well as in Time, Newsweek, People, The New York Times, Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, USA Today, TV Guide, Reader’s Digest, and Family Circle. Evans lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, Keri, and their five children.