Thankful For. . .Late Bloomers

I am honored to have, Ridgecrest's very own, Jean Huffman guest blogging for me today.  I asked her if she would mind doing a guest blog and was thrilled when she said yes!  Jean writes under the pen name: Sislyn Stewart.  She is a Christian, wife to our church music minister Al, mother to 3 grown children, and an AMAZING writer.  She has a great blog Sislyn Stewart's from The Church House.  I have known Jean for close to 20 years but our love of writing has drawn us into a closer relationship over the past year.  I've enjoyed getting to know her better.  She is such an encouragement to me and I know she will be to you also. 

The theme of my blog for the month of November has been thankfulness for God’s myriad blessings. So when Kim asked if I would write a guest blog for her, I tried to pick a topic God would use to resonate with you, Kim’s readers. I know most of you are moms and care deeply about the issues of kids and family. Being a former homeschool mom (4 total years total--a long, long time ago!), I chose the subject of my daughter Audra’s educational journey to hopefully encourage you along your way. . .

God gave me a late bloomer. Audra is my middle child, my second girl. She was preceded by the typical first-born sibling, my take-charge first daughter, Melanie. Audra was then followed by the baby in the family, a fun-loving, let’s-not-take-anything-too-seriously son, Casey. Yep, the typical compliant middle kid, sandwiched in between two strong siblings.

I remember her terrible ear infections as a baby and the difficulty she had learning how to talk. She babbled like a brook, attaching the important word at the very end of the sentence where we could catch it: “Yabdanneubullubeindabaludna-cookie?” A couple of years later, Audra was formally diagnosed with learning disabilities. She has attention deficit disorder and also has receptive/and expressive auditory processing disorders. The latter means that she cannot always easily understand what is said to her and she can’t put her response back very easily into words. The words seem to get stuck, both ways, for her. Still do sometimes, though not often.

Because of her communication levels, school was HARD. Public school was ESPECIALLY HARD. Real friends were a valuable commodity for her. It was painful for Al and I as parents to watch this happy, pretty-much-oblivious child go through life, taking her share of hard knocks. I remember the doctors always telling us to be patient. We were told to expect her to be behind the eight ball until she became an adult, when everything would eventually “level out” academically, socially, and emotionally for her.

She’s 24 years old now, and she’s there. (Big sigh of relief.) She lives at home with us until the time she can support herself out on her own. She has an associate’s degree from Durham Tech (in a technical field not hiring because of the poor economy, sigh) and another certificate of training in another area (the internship and job opportunity never manifested themselves, another sigh). Yet, she works as part of the DPAC event staff and actually has a blast doing this. If you know Audra at all, this is right up her alley. . . .She is her father’s daughter.

She’s also begun to learn medical transcription under my tutelage and works from home as I do. Once she has enough experience under her belt, the doctor’s practice I now oversee for her, will be her account alone, and she can hopefully go on to other transcription gigs or medical office jobs in the future.

Our children are not always “finished” when they reach the end of high school. Or even when they have a college degree hanging from their wall. Some special little plants need a little more sunshine, a little more water, a little more TLC to grow and flourish, to reach their highest potential. If you have been blessed with a child like this, God chose you for a special job. He knows you are up to the challenge, even if you don’t think you are!

The road thus far for us has been long. . .and full of potholes and accompanying tears. . but God is faithful. He has listened to my heart cries as a mother, He has remembered Audra. And He is in the midst of carving out a “good place” for her to serve Him in this world. For this, I am truly. . .thankful.

Thank you Jean!  As usual your heartfelt words pierced mine! I cried as I read this thinking of my sweet Sophie!  You are a gem!  I appreciate how you have loved her and helped her through the Discovery Class!  Again.....If you would like to read more of Jean's writings you can follow her at Sislyn Stewart's From The Church House,

Happy Monday!