Prologue...

In the coming days, I hope to share the highs and the lows we have experienced since receiving the diagnosis of autism for our son, R.J., more than 13 years ago. 

This is an ongoing journey, a fight against a disorder to which we refuse to surrender.  

And we still pray for a cure.

Yes, a cure.

You see, contrary to what so many have allowed themselves to believe, there is nothing normal about autism.  

It is not a gift.

There is very little more frustrating to us as parents than to watch the son we love, a perfectly normal teenager with all of the hopes and dreams that go with that age, struggle to achieve those hopes and dreams while trapped in an autistic body, denied the ability to pursue the same kinds of relationships as those he sees around him because he is different.

But we also know how far he has come, what he has achieved to this point in his life with God's help, so we have hope for his future.

John 9:2b-3 (ESV, paraphrased):

“Rabbi,who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born with autism?”  Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We have no idea what works God wants to perform through our son, but it is this hope that keeps us going.

It is our hope and prayer that you find something helpful and encouraging as this develops.

There IS hope.