I’m raising a sneaky little snake.  Jayden lost his tooth last night and stuck it under his pillow with so much excitement in him I felt it flow through me.  The kid is almost 10 and believes in all the magical things still – including the tooth fairy.  He goes up later that night to go to bed and looks under his pillow to check on his first molar that he’s ever lost, and it was GONE!  After searching EVERYWHERE for it, we decided that he just needed to write the tooth fairy a letter explaining what had happened.  At that point Ella decided that she would go up and help him find it – the little sneaky butt girl led Jayden right to her pillow where his tooth was!

Yesterday I saw Jayden’s sensory issues truly affect him – pretty much broke my heart in two.  We went to a birthday party at a place called Science Works – there was a lot of kids, and a lot of parents, and a lot of noise which all caused Jayden to end up in the corner with his ears plugged. It made me so sad for him, but it made me feel so secure in our decision to bring him home from public school.  I wonder how many times something like that happened at school and how his mom wasn’t there to snatch him up and flee the situation.  I know that there are a lot of kids out there that have this and their parents probably aren’t putting them under a rock like I’m probably doing, but I can’t stand to see my sweet Jayden feeling that way. 

All of the kids at the party looked like they were having so much fun and clicked and connected together – even my Ella – but Jayden was a different story.  He didn’t cling to any of the boys, just played with himself.  I went to some of the exhibits with him and he honestly didn’t care that he was looking at the stuff by himself.  That’s just him – he’s okay with who he is and that some kids probably find him odd.  He told me recently when we were discussing how one of his really good friends at school called him gay that “friends just sometimes are there and sometimes go and do their thing, and that’s okay.”  Saying I’m thankful that God trusted US with HIM is a complete understatement, because I will probably learn more about life through that little boy than I ever could have without him.  And he’s right, friends do come and go and they leave their marks on your heart, teach you a lesson that you needed, and when they’ve served God’s purpose in being in your life they flutter off.  It’s like seasons, they change.  One of my favorite quotes is “Don’t be sad it’s over, be glad it happened.”  I hope that Jayden will be able to keep his optimistic views on life and people that he has forever.  My goodness that boy is amazing.

I was introduced to Stephanie Nielson’s blog {Nie Nie Dialogues} yesterday.  The impact that it had on me was astounding – all of the petty stuff that I’ve been worrying about suddenly felt so insignificant, and the bigger picture of life shone down on me and put chills all over my body and tears in my eyes.  For somebody to have such an enchanting and positive outlook on life after having 80% of their body burned is UH-MA-ZING!   I then went and found her {interview done} on Conversations, which is a Mormon podcast that sealed the deal on my new addiction to her life.  WOW. There are no words that can even explain what that interview can do to your faith and your direction in life.  Yesterday I felt down about all sorts of happenings going on in my life, especially the challenges that Jayden is and will be going through throughout his life – But the Nielson’s story touched me.  It just sheds light on the fact that we can and should find the silver lining in life.