I am blessed....

          Yes, I am blessed. I feel blessed. I am very thankful to God for all that He has made possible in  my life. 

        I am saying this though I am not feeling well myself, my children have not fully recovered from flu, and hubby is overworked. Why this sudden burst of faith?

             Well, God has opened my eyes and taught me to be grateful with what we have. I was waiting outside my daughter's occupational therapist office when an old grandfather started chatting with me. His grandson is having speech therapy and later to go for occupational therapy as well. He told me that he and his wife is solely responsible for this grandson of 5 years old, since his parents divorced. The father has since gotten married again and had 2 more children. And he never gave his parents money for taking care of his son. As for the mother, the grandparents were not willing to part with the grandson though she is willing to care for him herself.... but she works full time with no one else to look after her son while she is at work, unless of course she gets a nanny. Well, the background aside, the grandfather is worried about his grandson who has been diagnosed with autism. 

             When the grandson came out of the Speech Therapist office, he had to wait for his appointment for Occupational Therapy. And I get to observe him.... He can talk very clearly, though his grandfather said that he tend to repeat words by himself. And he can write and read. I am impressed as he wrote numbers, the alphabets and Chinese characters on a piece of paper another lady gave him. And as he wrote, he would read them out loud. AND he is only 5 years old! The grandparents never taught him all these at home. He learnt them in school. I told the grandfather that this boy has a bright future. But further explanation from the grandfather dampened my spirit. This boy, who has been drinking sweetened water his whole life, is hyperactive, has the tendency to hurt himself due to his hyperactive condition, slept only a few hours at night (that the grandparents even resorted to sleeping pills) AND the thing that saddened me most is that the grandparents cannot afford more therapies for him other than the monthly occupational therapy and speech therapy (I am not sure how often is the Speech therapy) provided by the government. Yet I strongly feel that this boy could be much better if he had more interventions. 

          As I was driving home after the therapies, I kept thinking about this boy. Though it's not nice to compare. And even worse for me to find comfort in another person's pain, I began to feel Grateful. 

          My soon to be 6 years old daughter, does not talk as fluently as this boy. She can't write nor 'read'. Yet. (I am not sure if she can read in her mind - just not out loud). She had to be taught certain things over and over again (we are still doing basics, which we have been doing in the past 3 years). 

       BUT... 

1. I am blessed that she has mild temper which makes it easier for us to cope with her.

2. I am blessed that she has improved so much in these few years, because we were able to afford her early intervention programs. I even believed the early interventions helped with her sleep at night and now I am grateful that we do not have to resort to sleeping pills.

3. I am blessed that those days of sleepless nights plus shrill screaming at night for me is now over. (she will have some sleepless nights but very far in between).

4. I am blessed with a supportive and loving husband, who has been my pillar of strength.

5. I am blessed with parents in law who are supportive and rejoices in every little achievements.

6. I feel blessed for my education, with which I am able to understand and explore the infinite possibilities to help my daughter.

7. I feel blessed for my occupation, with which I can still contribute financially, and at the same time still able to spend time with my children in the afternoons, weekends, and school holidays.

8. I am grateful that, financially we could still afford her extra therapies and learning materials. Though we are not rich, and still have to be careful with our expenses, God has truly been generous to us, by providing when we needed most.

9. I am grateful for all that she has achieved. It is through hard work and resilience both from us as parents and in herself. I can sense in her, that she is very happy with her own achievements. Whenever she was praised for doing a certain thing right, the chances of her repeating the action is quite high. She is improving in her speech, imitation and self help skills too. 

I believe there will be more to come.....  Amen.

AND....

Please keep this boy in your prayers too. May the good Lord open his father's heart to care for his own son and contribute to his emotional and financial needs. May the grandparents find ways and means to provide for his extra therapies which they know of, but unable to afford. And finally, may this boy continue to improve and be blessed. Amen.