Hello and Howdy. Salutations even

[Telrunya]

I'm glad to be here. I'm always looking for places to fellowship with other believers and bat around ideas. I was born and raised in San Antonio Tx. Served 7 years in the US Navy and have been around the world a couple of times. I was raised Roman Catholic and always had a sense of God in my life but never could accept it. I asked Christ for forgiveness and to take control of my life in 1994 and have been reading, studying, and loving ever since. I met my wife online in a comic book chat room. I write as a hobby and she is an artist. I moved to Washington State in 1999 to marry her. She has been my best friend ever since and we often get comments because we still like to do pretty much everything together. It's like the never ending honeymoon is what we're told. In 2000 we were blessed with our oldest son, John, who is autistic and the most loving person I know. In 2003 we were blessed again with our fiesty daughter, Morgan. Much to our suprize in 2004 we were blessed yet again with our second son Richard (Chard). When asked what I do I say I'm a husband and a father, but until I can make those two pay the bills I'm a Heating and Air Conditioning Technician on the side. I hope to make many new friends here and edify and be edified by them. God Bless.

 

[evenifigoalone]

Welcome

 

[Mike]

Welcome to CFnet!

Nice intro. My job in Michigan has had me doing a lot of work with a mandate by the state for insurance companies to cover autism testing and treatment. I never thought I'd need to know so much about it, but I suspect you would say the same thing as a father of an autistic child. God bless you, brother.

 

[farouk]

Hi T, good to see you here; how are you doing? God bless your family and God bless His Word to you.

 

[Telrunya]

Thanks for the warm welcome all.

Mike, yes I had to get up to speed on Autism realitively quickly once John was diagnosed and still more once he started school. We lived in a pretty rural area at the time and the school there had no program at all for special needs kids. They started out by farming him out to another school district and bussing him there and then finally got their own special education teacher. She was straight out of school though (And the school district's Superintendant's wife) and had no experience in dealing with autistic kids. She would get him so wound up that she couldn't deal with him and lock him into a storage room full of unused desks and chairs with a window in the door so he could look out and see all the other kids playing on the playground. She would then call my wife or myself to come pick him up. After a few times of that the school district started calling us complaining he had low attendance. All in all not a good situation so I had to aquaint myself with the law on top of the medical facets of autism. Since then we've moved to a not quiet so rural an area but with excellent schools. 3 years later, John still has a bad feelings towards school but he's coming around.

Incidentally, after rereading my intro I feel I should clairify. I was raised Roman Catholic but since being saved am protestant and have gone to Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist, Assemblies of God, and Non-denominational churches, each for a year or more. Currently I am going to an excellent Non-Denominational church

 

[farouk]

T: YW.

The main thing re. fellowship is to find somewhere that follows your understanding of what the Scriptures really teach about a church, right? Blessings.

 

[Telrunya]

Also I am a pre-millenial post trib escotology student. My favorite book in the Bible is Ephesians but my favorite verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good. I'm also an archery enthusiast.

Anything else anyone would like to know about me, please feel free to ask

 

[Mizzy]

Welcome Telrunya!

 

[Telrunya]

T: YW.

The main thing re. fellowship is to find somewhere that follows your understanding of what the Scriptures really teach about a church, right? Blessings.

Actually I would reverse that and say that fellowship is to find what the Scriptures really teach about a church. My personal understanding may be wrong. By fellowshipping with other believers who can point out Scriptures I may have missed. I firmly believe the Bible does not contradict it's self. So if I have an understanding based on Scripture A and someone has a different understanding based on Scripture B then we need to put our heads together and look for other Scriptures that will bring harmony to both our understandings. I'm not dogmatic in my beliefs about alot of things. I'm always willing to listen to a new point of veiw. I may not agree with that new point of veiw and I will most certainly speak up and say why I dont agree, but my drive is always to deepen and broaden my understanding.

 

[Mike]

Since then we've moved to a not quiet so rural an area but with excellent schools. 3 years later, John still has a bad feelings towards school but he's coming around.

This sounds encouraging. It seems unfair to the worker who just graduated from school and hadn't focused on autism to put them in that position, but it's tragic for the autistic child to have an unqualified person dealing with them. Few people are cut out to be Board Certified Behavioral Analysts (BCBA's). In addition to everything they need to learn and practice, they must have patience and a heart for these children. I know the Lord would give me the strength to handle such a thing at home, but I can't imagine it day in and day out in our home.

I don't want to give the impression that I know anything about the clinical aspect of this. Our children are not autistic and I don't work with them directly. My role here in Michigan is only to write contracts with BCBA's so that members with our insurance can have access to qualified BCBA's. Through this process, I've toured autism centers and met with a number of the therapists. They are remarkable people! :yes

All said, you know how blessed you are to have John in your family, and you know you were blessed to be a blessing. That is wonderful to hear! God bless you all as you minister to him, he ministers to you, and everyone who knows you witnesses His Love in action. I've already prayed that He grants you continued patience and perseverance. I've prayed that the Lord puts the right people in his path to work with him, that his school is supportive, but most of all that he knows he is Loved by the Lord.

God bless you, brother.