There are many moments in this profound, nonverbal autism parenting journey that leave me completely stumped…like trying to solve a puzzle without all the pieces. Last week, Skyler attended his second group Spelling to Communicate (S2C) session. Since Skyler has only ever done S2C sessions individually, we were excited to see if he enjoyed being…
I’m currently writing the third book in my Purposeful Journey series, which is centered around autism in adulthood, and throughout the process, I’ve found myself continually reflecting on the fact that God doesn’t waste our stories – He layers them. Each of my memoirs in the trilogy were never meant to be separate stories. The…
Tomorrow morning, Skyler will undergo his third colonoscopy since being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2018. It’s a routine procedure designed to help his medical team determine whether his medications are working and whether his disease is finally under some control. Like every parent of a child with Crohn’s knows, the scope itself isn’t the…
My 21-year-old daughter and I were chatting the other day and one of her questions caught me off guard. She asked if I had decided on an age when her brother would move somewhere outside of our home. At first, I wasn’t quite sure how to answer. The truth is, I don’t have a specific…
There are seasons in life when everything feels uncertain—when decisions carry weight and the future feels like a question mark. And then there are seasons when, somehow, everything begins to fall into place in a way that feels too intentional to be coincidence. Since making the decision last August to move to Colorado for Skyler—to…
Happy 23rd Birthday, Skyler What a year it’s been. Just one year ago, you were facing one of the hardest transitions of your life — aging out of your autism center, leaving behind everything familiar, and stepping into months of uncertainty, with no programs, no routine, and very little connection to the world outside our…
Last weekend I had the honor of delivering the keynote at the Rising Moms Caregiver Retreat and I left that room feeling incredibly inspired. When you gather a room full of caregiving moms together, you quickly realize something powerful: these are women who carry more than most people ever see. The sleepless nights, the appointments,…
One of the hardest balances caregivers walk is managing expectations while still holding hope for a safe and meaningful future. My nonverbal, profoundly autistic 22-year-old son, Skyler, is enjoying his adult day program and opportunities to be out in the community. But during a recent outing, he became dysregulated — smacking a few employees and…
When we moved to Colorado 6 months ago, we did so with intention and purpose. We uprooted our lives for adult services, programs, and opportunities for our 22-year-old, nonverbal autistic son, Skyler — with a future in mind that felt supported and possible. We arrived with concrete ideas of what Skyler needed to be successful….
I like to step into each new year with a heart full of gratitude for everything that brought me to this moment—and with genuine eagerness for what is still unfolding. Not because the road behind us has been easy, but because it has shaped me in ways I never could have imagined. As I reflect,…