Max invented a New Word!

Represemble - which Max says means... We need to represent and resemble Christ.

Magnificent Max gave a talk in church.

Hello I’m glad you are here.  I am here for you today to talk on “Now is the time to prepare to meet God.”  I would like to live with God again.  The way we get back to God is through God’s Plan.  Elder Nelson in his April 2005 conference address, said, “We are here to be tested to see if we are worthy of receiving all that our Father in Heaven has.”   He said, “We prove ourselves worthy of his Glory, through our obedience.” Obedience to what? 

In Abraham 3:25, it says: And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.

Jesus said in John 14:15; If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Heavenly Father loves us and wants us all to return to him, but he has said through his scriptures that “No unclean thing can be in his presence”.  Yet he knows that we are human and we have faults that will keep us from his presence.  Because he loves us he prepared a way that we can wipe away those imperfections so we can be with him again.  We all know that this is the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Jesus was the sacrifice that will allow us to return to our Heavenly Father, if we repent.

Alma 34: 32 & 33 says:

“This life is the time to prepare to meet God; Yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.”

33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

This tells us that we need to prepare now.  We should not put this off because our eternal destiny is what is at risk.

In Elder Nelson’s talk, he shared the experience of the passing of his wife.  He talked about her worthiness and how she was prepared to meet God.  If we expect to live with God again, we have to prepare for that day. 

Everyone has talents.  One of my talents in life is baseball.  If I want to improve, I have to practice and prepare for the games.  To prepare I go to batting cages and baseball practices so my coaches can teach me about the game.  Each time I go to the batting cages and baseball practices I gain more knowledge of how to improve myself in this sport.  The baseball practices and batting cages help me to prepare to  play different positions on the field and to be a good team mate and how to make a homerun.

Like my baseball team, we have coaches in life that help us to gain the knowledge we need about life.  They are people that have been called by God to lead us, like the prophet and apostles and other church leaders..  God revealed in Doctrine & Covenants 1:38

 38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

In Amos 3:7 it tells us:  7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Like I said earlier, I want to live with God.  I Love Him and I appreciate all he has done to help me to be able to progress in life.  So I’m willing to make the changes in my life that will bring me closer to him and his kingdom.

I hope you can have the same desire to prepare, by listening to our loving Heavenly Father who wants to wrap his arms around you.

Max went on his first date!!!

About two months ago, I was wondering about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Prom. I asked a beautiful young lady in our church if she knew when it would be. She let me know a couple of weeks later and I felt she was the one Max needed to ask to prom. 

Max and I thought about the theme which was western. Max's first idea was to get bales of hay and put them on her doorstep with a sign that said, "Hay want to go to prom with me?" I thought that was an awesome idea, but knew they probably wouldn't want large bales of hay on their front door step. Then, I thought of the idea of putting a basket with something in it. We came up with flowers. 

So Max picked out the flowers and together we came up with this...

 

 

Max was so excited about dropping it on her door step. He wanted to make sure to wear his running shoes and to be really quiet when he went up to her door. 

This young lady responded with 

One of Max's rehabilitation goals is to be able to tell something that happened and when he came home from his date he said, Mom the dance was fantastic and Ashlyn was fun ...

From the look of the pictures I think they had a fabulous time together. 

Before the prom his date came with him to his Baseball Banquet dressed in their prom attire. 

All his baseball team was dressed in their uniforms so they really stood out.

 After the banquet his date who is a senior at his high school drove them to the dance.

This young lady is an amazing and a blessing. She is beautiful, smart, and very fun to be around.

 I appreciate her being Max's date to prom. 

What a fun memory he will always have. 

When Max was three, four, five and even twelve I never ever thought he would be capable of dating.

Isn't his date gorgeous?

Max's 16th Birthday Party

Max hits a homerun.

Max Got Braces

Yesterday, after we walked out of the orthodontist office Max was sure to let me know he had been embraced with braces. He sure has a sense of humor. On the way home he kept asking me if he will ever get use to wearing braces. The last 48 hours have been difficult and he won’t eat anything besides homemade banana bread and soup.

Max takes everything literally and when the orthodontist told him to not eat anything sticky, chewy, crunchy or hard he has decided not to eat. Why you ask, because Max believes everything is sticky, chewy, crunchy and hard. The orthodontist gave him a paper with pictures of everything he should not eat and drink and one was no sugar products. So he has decided not to drink pop or juices.

Max likes routines and one of his routines is to take the same food for lunch every day. He has been taking the same thing for lunch for the last three years. Now that he has braces his routine will be disrupted because he can’t eat corn chip with homemade Salsa anymore, his favorite.

We have been watching several YouTube videos on how to floss and brush braces. Hopefully this will  help him get a better idea of how to floss and brush. I have always been the one to floss his teeth because he can't figure out how to do it. I hope in time he will learn.  So our nightly routine will be changing too with longer dental care.

My prayer is he will eat and get use to the braces.

Mom Get a Vase Ready...

As I was answering the phone from Max’s school I thought…maybe the nurse is calling to let me know I need to pick him up because he is sick or maybe the teacher wanted to let me know about something that had gone wrong when he arrived at school. Negative thoughts filled my mind when I answered the call.

Max says, “Mom get a vase ready…I need a vase.”

I need to hold off on that phone conversation and share what came in the mail a month ago. A letter from Max’s school.

Here is what the letter said,

“Dear Student;

CONGRATULATIONS! You are scholastically eligible for membership in the National Honor Society.

Candidates are evaluated on the basis of leadership, service, character and scholarship; if you wish to be considered for membership, your application and teacher recommendations will be evaluated by the National Honor Society officers and adviser, as well as a faculty council. The faculty council will consider each application and will make the final decision for membership into the chapter of the National Honor Society.

Membership in the National Honor Society is a significant academic honor, as well as a personal achievement.

When I read that letter, I thought, they have to be mistaken. They have made a huge mistake. I question myself under my breath, “My son who lives daily with Autism who needs occupational and speech therapy? Who was non-verbal until the age of 5 and needs help with learning how to spell and still believes in Santa?” Tears formed and poured down my face. They have got to be mistaken him for another student.

I folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope and told myself I can’t share this with Max. It would crush him to see they got him mix up with someone else and I figured he wouldn’t know what NHS was anyway. I can’t tell you how many years I have seen the honor roll student list come through my hands and never did I see Max’s name on that list. I have told myself that Max is already a star because he is amazing in his own way. I don’t need to see him on an honor roll list to know he is extra awesome. It wouldn’t make me love him anymore, because I already love who he is.

Who is Max? He is a teenage boy who believes in Christ, loves baseball, swimming and playing the viola. He loves being a Special Olympics Athlete and eating the same foods everyday for breakfast and lunch. He won’t eat any food that is green (he has been that way since he was 2).

 

Well, the weeks passed and early on a Monday morning I felt the spirit tell me to call his school and see if they had accidentally sent that letter to Max. The words “Yes, your son is eligible for NHS.”  Made my heart burn and I realized that was the same day the paperwork needed to be sent in.

When Max arrived home from school I had him fill out the papers. His second grade hand writing was perfectly placed in the right spots. I don’t know if Max realized what NHS stands for and why he was filling out the paper, but I could tell he was thrilled to do so. We spent the next couple of nights talking about what NHS stands for and my hope was he would be accepted.  

Hope and pray was answered when Max finished his phone conversation with me. “Mom I need a vase for my flower. I got into National Honor Society. They gave me a letter and everything. Oh Mom get the vase ready.”  My heart was filled with joy.

When he walked in the door he held the flower like it was the most beautiful thing in the world and the letter was in his hand too. Here is a part of the letter…

Dear Prospective National Honor Society Inductee;

Congratulations! You have been selected for membership in the high school chapter of the National Honor Society. The NHS has worked hard to bring the accomplishments of outstanding students to the attention of parents, teachers, peers and the community. Chapter across the nation strive to give practical meaning to the Society’s goals of service, character, scholastic achievements and leadership.

Unbelievable that Max would receive this letter because when Max was 4 years old I was told he would never achieve the scholastic abilities of a child above 3^rd grade level. I’m pleased to announce Max is in all resource classes and taking algebra. He has been out of an all day self contained class since 7^th grade.

For those of you who have a special needs child like my son Max please don’t let anyone tell you they can’t achieve whatever they want to achieve. I can honestly say I never believe what the child psychologist told us. Autism is a different path of life for Max, but he is seeing that he can reach the same destination as anyone else. Only in a different is type of car and the speed it travels.