I wanted to share the latest update to Operation Hope.  Part of Operation Hope is the Lost and Tired family moving forward.  In order to do that, we have to know that Gavin is in a safe place,  and he is. We have to be able to begin to heal the rest of the family and that's no easy task. A lot of damage has been done and it will take a long time to recover. Having said that, one of the things Lizze and I have to do is try to get our health back.  I'm excited to say that we are doing just that. I want to show you the progress we made today, towards our goal of weight loss, better managed depression and overall health improvement. Lizze…

More and more people are noticing Gavin's cognitive decline.  We need to get his IQ tested again so that we have a recent baseline for comparison down the road.  Everyone is concerned and yet there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about this.  We can't identify the cause and we don't know how far this will go.  I'm truly scared for what his future holds. The unknown aspect of everything just eats away at me until I'm nothing but raw, exposed nerves. Please keep Gavin in you thoughts and prayers.  My one hope is that as this blog gets more and more recognition, I will connect with someone that knows what the hell we need to do.  Right now, we exhausted all known options and are left with…

I wanted to share a victory we had today.  Lizze and I took the boys to the grocery store this afternoon,  on a day that the boys were having a pretty rough time.  We explained to the boys that we really need their help to make sure we don't forget anything at the grocery store. I'm pleased to announce that the boys did amazingly well. There wasn't any fighting and no one had the gimmes. Great job boys. :-) This site is managed via WordPress for Android, courtesy of the @SamsungMobileUS Galaxy Note 2 by @Tmobile. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Check out my #Autism Awareness Store to find really cool and unique #Autism Awareness Clothing and Accessories, designed by me. ;-) For more ways to…

I want to share something with all if you that I have never shared before because I am ashamed.  Perhaps your imaginations are running wild, but it's nothing really bad.  Either way, it's something I'm not proud of but I'm no longer going to allow this to control me. You might remember how I push for special needs parents to take care of themselves.  This is something that I take very seriously myself and here's why.  I used to be a body builder and was in really, really good shape.  I would hit the gym daily and I took really good care of myself. In my prime, I was right around 220 lbs and solid muscle. Everything changed after  I suffered a major back injury and I eventually became a…

As a parent to a special needs child, it can be very easy to find yourself in uncharted territory. There is never a set of directions telling you what to do.  So often, I find myself in a situation where there are  no good choices.  Sometimes, I literally have to choose from several bad ideas and pick the one that's less worse than the others.  It's important to know that sometimes you are going to make mistakes.  We weren't picked for this job because we were perfect.  We were picked for this job because despite everything that can and will go wrong, we are somehow the best fit.  Speaking for myself, I frequently question why I'm the best fit, especially when I can't seem to do anything right.  Thankfully, we…