Today, on the 4th Annual World Autism Awareness Day. Prominent buildings across North America and the world — including the Empire State Building in New York City and the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada will turn their lights blue to raise awareness for autism and to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day.
To see a wonderful slide show with amazing photos in blue go here. The pictures are stunning. I love the Empire State Building, but I think Christ the Redeemer is my favorite. It is truly majestic bathed in blue.
Light It Up Blue is aiming to light the world blue all throughout April — city by city, town by town — by taking action to raise autism awareness in our communities. So help us, LIGHT it up BLUE this month!
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| Dan in blue |
The stats were 1 in 10,000. Today, the stats are 1 in 100. 1 in 100, wow, the numbers are staggering. If you don't already know somebody with Autism, you will. They say better diagnosis is the cause for the incredible rise in the numbers. I don't know if I believe that. I will never know why Dan went from talking, imitating and socializing to his world of Autism. I have my theories, my friends and family know what I believe caused it, but today, that is neither here nor there. Dan is Autistic. We are the parents of a child with Autism. It was such a scary prospect 17 years ago. What were we going to do? How were we going to handle this, emotionally and financially? What would happen in the future? It is now 17 years later and we have survived, we are even stronger. Dan still can't speak, but we are his voice. I know what he wants, I know what he needs. I can look at him and know how he's feeling. That all works for me. Our marriage has survived, and we are still in love. We are still friends. We are a better family than I thought we could ever be. So whatever those fears were 17 years ago, we are still going strong.
One way I have of dealing with some of the stress involved with our day to day lives is through crafting. I picked up a set of adorable digi stamps from Dustin Pike about 6 months ago. I decided to break them out and make a simple card today.
I used my circut to cut 4 puzzle pieces from Don Juan. I printed out the dragon and colored him with copics. I used two flowers and a button from Bo Bunny's Abbey Road collection for a little embellishment. I plan on making a few more projects this month using some of the other stamps from Dustin Pike, so I hope you will stop back soon!
Happy Crafting!
Colleen
Thanks so much for sharing your story. I had come by to thank you for your kind and supportive words on my Autism Awareness post and am so touched by reading about you and your family. I also think it's fabulous that you and your husband have stayed strong through all of this. I often say that I can't imagine going through this without my husband and I'm so blessed that we are a team.
ReplyDeleteYour card is wonderful and I LOVE the sentiment. My prayer is that the puzzle will be solved one day. My son is high-functioning, so our struggles and challenges are not the same as yours - but each puzzle needs to be solved.
Many blessings to you and your family. (Thanks for noting that you are gonescrappin too! I don't think I would have made the connection otherwise.)
Thank you for sharing your touching story.. The card is great, and the thank you for the comment on my blog, I am very happy my friend is stateside right now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog and leaving such a sweet comment. I'm glad I had the chance to come and take a peek at some of your incredible work. This post was so personal, but I'm glad you shared. My works in a special education department, so I have been surrounded by the beauty of the special children for many, many years. Sending you lots of joyous days and happy crafting!
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