In less than two weeks I will return home after five months of helping care for my grandchildren Emilio and Laylani. When I first started this journey I had no expectations, but I did know that I had to find new ways to connect with Emilio who has autism; learning about autism has been an enlightening experience.  Prior to this experience, the comment “It’s the responsibility of his parents” kept me at a comfortable distance. I knew that I needed help to enable me to understand and help Emilio better, so I took a course called “The Son-rise Program” where I learned techniques and strategies that can dramatically help improve Emilio’s learning, development, communication and skill acquisition. (more…)

Recently a question was asked at a Facebook group which I thought would be interesting to explore as we start the holiday season and begin to think about the new year:  How do we grow our soul? (more…)

For the past few months I have been helping care for two of my grandchildren -  Emilio, 6 and  Laylani, 4 - hence my absence from blogging. Both children are very special to me, but Emilio is extra special because he has autism.  While it has been a challenging experience giving him the needed care, I in turn have been learning so much from him. Every day he teaches me about unconditional love, and every day he gives me the opportunity to practice it. It is not easy.  My biggest challenge is when he is having a typically autistic meltdown.  Unlike a regular tantrum, an autistic meltdown is loud, risky at times, frustrating, and emotionally exhausting. This morning was one of those mornings - I had to continually monitor myself so that I favored keeping my heart open in my responses as I tried to get him ready for school.  The meltdown stopped as suddenly as it started and I felt drained as I waited with him for the school bus.  Then something happened that lifted my spirit and reminded me what a privilege it is to have him in my life.  As we waited for the bus, Emilio saw a man coming towards him.  He immediately called out “Hi,” and gave the stranger one of his beautiful, spontaneous smiles that are always so full of appreciation and love.  The man was taken aback at first - he looked worried as he walked holding a cup of coffee.  Minutes later the stranger came up to us and stooped over to Emilio saying, “I want to thank you for giving me the most beautiful hello I have had in months.  With all that is going on in my life, you have made my day - thank you.”  Emilio smiled lovingly at him and said, “Okay.” As the stranger walked away, Emilio turned to me:  “Nana, where is friend going?” For Emilio everyone is a friend, and I cannot help but wonder what a different world it would be if we all would smile more freely - we never know the difference it could make in another’s life.

This week I began training as a volunteer for the Florida Guardian ad Litem program - a partnership of community advocates and professional staff providing a voice on behalf of the state’s abused and neglected children.  During the training I learned that prescription drug abuse by parents is now one of the leading reasons for the need to put their children into foster care; drug use often leads to abusive parenting, sexual assault, and neglect.  Remedial measures for the parents such as counseling, rehab, and anger management workshops are often insufficient, and the children remain in a system in which worker turnover limits the ability to establish and maintain relationships with the children and their families.  That is why the Guardian ad Litem program was started, to provide consistency in a child’s life.  The court-appointed guardian is often the only person consistently advocating for the best interests of a child - ensuring the child has visitation with siblings and is progressing educationally, medically, and emotionally.  (more…)

Jesus’ teaching is centered on the gospel of the kingdom of God, but what does this really mean?  The kingdom of God is generally associated with the church, Christianity as a whole, or a physical kingdom on Earth in which the Messiah will administer God’s law to bring peace and prosperity to humanity.  In this blog I will explore what I truly believe is the true meaning of the kingdom of God. A good place to start is to explore how the term “kingdom of God” was first introduced. (more…)