Best Christmas EVER!

It has been a while...  Some major life updates are in order.  Wally is 7.  Doing very well.  Leo is 4.5 and has started going to preschool because he was diagnosed ASD on December 11th.  Our 3rd son is due at the end of March 2021.  I was the 3rd son in my family so I feel a weird and cool connection to this child already.

Kim and I will both finish our Masters Degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in May 2021.  What's next?  Adventure!  I was accepted into the PhD Divinity at University of St Andrews on December 8th, 2020 or as they say it in Scotland, 08 December.  This is a dream come true.

So we will be adding to our...wonderfully complex life an infant and an international move...changing almost every detail of our physical existence with not one but TWO Autistic children...during a pandemic.  

Why?  Because God has clearly and repeatedly called us to this.  And because together we can do impossible things.  

People often ask how we are doing in the midst of the pandemic.  We are actually doing quite well.  There is a weird way that the pandemic has made life easier for us.  There were no longer all these social things that we were missing.  There's a way that living with Autism is like living in a pandemic all the time.  At least socially.  Before the pandemic we could not go to most things.  They are not fun for Wally and therefore not possible for us.  The people, the lights, the noise, and the unfamiliar spaces are all overwhelming for Wally.  Also his inability to understand what is dangerous and his bolting - suddenly running away - possibly into traffic, or the ocean and drowning, or off a cliff...that also made "going out" a very rare occurrence.  Therefore, we were already not going to all those social things with Leo, so we never got to see what he would have been like at them.  But my guess is it would not have gone well.

Not traveling for Christmas, not being around 9 or more unfamiliar people with tons of gifts and noise in an unfamiliar place...was wonderful.  Wally said many times on Christmas day, "Best, Christmas, EVER!"  Now I think he is quoting something but that does not mean that he doesn't understand and also mean what he is saying.  I know Kim and I were much less stressed as parents...and I'm sure that helped Wally and Leo both have much better days on Christmas.  Doing a Marco Polo/Zoom Christmas with just 2 friends here was a wonderful break for Wally, and now I'm sure, Leo as well.

Leo's Autism diagnosis was both a shock and a relief.  His ASD is VERY different from Wally's so it was not obvious to us for a long time...until it was.  But now that we do know, having a simpler Christmas, where we can control the environment and the rate of present opening and take breaks whenever we need them...this was the best Christmas ever for our family.

Merry Christmas to all!