Sunny Woods' Farm: First visit....Mothers Day 2013

We were able to visit Austin for the first time over Mothers Day. It was a beautiful time, though it started out on a bit of a roller coaster.
The night before we got there, another boy had gotten upset at Austin, and hurt him pretty badly. According to the staff, Austin's behavior was exceptional, and he did not retaliate. We were so thankful to hear that! It did rock Austin's boat quite a bit, though, and it was the first time something of that magnitude had happened to him. While they have told us that every child asks their parents to take them home on the first visit, the situation the night before had, understandably, made Austin's requests more emotion-packed.
Eric and I listened to him, yet we still believed it was best for him to stay there longer, so finally around 3:00 p.m. Austin seemed to just make up his mind to make the best of it, and from there on out, we had a really nice time!
We went to Target and bought him some more things he needed, then had dinner together at Olive Garden.

The next morning, before we left to go back to House of Hope, Eric started sharing with Austin some of the things that God has been showing him through our counselor and parenting classes at House of Hope in Charlottesville. He reminded Austin that, while he was learning and growing and changing in Florida, we were learning and growing and changing at home. With the hope and confidence that when the time is right for us to move forward together, we will all have a deeper relationship with God which will help us through the hard times.

Austin really surprised us by sharing that he had experienced some "incredible God moments" already, just in the five weeks he had been there! We were amazed and thrilled! He also shared his appreciation for all the staff. We could tell by the way he spoke of them, that they really had been living out the love of God in their lives!

We left for House of Hope, and while Austin rejoined his friends and went back to school, I got to spend 1-1/2 hours with Linda, Austin's counselor! It was a beautiful and amazing time! I sat there with tears running down my cheeks, as I found out that she personally had a son that was more like Austin than anyone I've ever known. Linda shared with me that there is actually a physiological aspect to his syndrome, and she had found a doctor that helped her through the time her son was at home. The doctor could not fix it, but was able to do things to help. One of the major 'signatures' is that the kids typically act very appropriate while in public, but when they come to their 'safe place', which is usually home, they have great difficulty with their behavior.
He also told her that most of the time the patients he sees with this particular scenario are boys if young, and they tend to eventually 'outgrow' the syndrome. He said that sometimes if girls are pre-disposed for it, their symptoms show up as they go through puberty.

Wow! It is hard to describe the emotions I felt sitting there in her office as God revealed one more reason that Orlando was the place for Austin. His counselor understands him, from experience with her own son, better than almost anyone else! Linda's son is graduating this year with a Masters degree!

Meanwhile, Eric had taken Channing and gone to the store to purchase some items so we could cook dinner for everyone. Then he got to spend an hour with Linda, while I took Channing on a walk around campus and took lots of pictures! Here are a few!