Such an amazing weekend in Utah!

We had such an amazing weekend in Utah. To start it off my niece was born on Wen the day we drove to Utah. That was our good luck omen for the whole week, because it was a great week. Thanks Paige!

We got to Draper late Wen night and then first thing Thursday we headed to Salt Lake to a school called Carmen B. Pingree school for autistic kids. I heard about this school when Porter was first diagnosed and have had him on the waiting list ever since. I will tell more about the school later in the post. So we arrived there at 10 AM and did not leave until 1:30 PM. While we were there Porter was receiving all kinds of testing and Dallin and I meet with three different specialists and we interviewed as well. First we met with a medical doctor who has worked with and studied autistic kids for 35 years. Hello jackpot! Also he has been there at the school for 35 years. His job is to diagnose, research, and can provide any medical treatment and testing to the children there at the school. He interviewed us and went over Porter's history and we talked in great detail all about Porter. He then gave us a diagnosis of Autistic disorder with of course we knew but also told us that Porter was high functioning. This was news to us because we have always been told he was severe if we were given an answer at all. So that was exciting. We were also able to ask him any questions we wanted about his diagnosis which no one has ever let us do before and was so helpful. We then met with the preschool program manager who talked to us about the kids day there schedule's and showed us the school. This was amazing. To walk around and see what amazing things they are offering there. Dallin and I started to get super excited from this point on because we just knew this was a fit for us and something we wanted for Porter. We just were on pins and needles hoping he would get accepted. After that we met with a social worker who talked to us about services for the families offered at the school. They offer grief counseling as well as individual, couple, and family therapies. So that you can learn to cope and deal with life with autism. They also offer sibling camps and training for parents to learn how to talk with your kids as they grow about their autistic siblings. They also offer training sessions for the families on how to provide these therapies at home etc... As you can imagine by now Dallin and I are just sitting there praying that Porter will be accepted. To be frank this was truly the first time Dallin and I sat down looking at therapy or some time of service for Porter where we felt like, you know what this is it. This is what we have been looking for. We also for the first time felt hopeful! We left feeling like he can actually grow here and in some dramatic ways that will help him become so much more functional in life. During all this time Porter was downstairs being tested and actually had a really good time. We were lucky enough to get a phone call later that day to say that he was accepted into the school starting fall. So the last week in August and school goes until the June. So as I am sure you are all asking yourselves what are we going to do. We know this much Porter will be attending this school in the fall. Obviously the school is in Salt Lake and we do not live in Salt Lake. So what do we do? We are still working on that. I am sure there are many opinions on what we should do but Dallin and I know that we were lead to this opportunity at this time and that we will find a way to pull it off. It may not be a perfect way but we look at it like this. This is a short term trial for our family that will help us with our long term goals. We are just hoping that we will have lots of support in however we decide to make this work.

A little analogy I think of when I think of all this is, imagine you have a child who you love dearly and would do anything for. Your child becomes very sick and is diagnosed with very serious cancer. You are given all your treatment options none of which are anything you want to choose. You don't want to sit back and do nothing which can cause your child to die, you know that treatment will be painful and very difficult on your child. Your child will be very sick and have many bad days. As a parent what do you do? My son does not have cancer but he has autism which means that the outcome of his life can vary depending on what treatment options Dallin and I decide to do. There of course is a lot of risk and tremendous sacrifice made by all in our family. We have chosen to fight our hearts out for Porter at a risk. He may never be 100% functioning. He may never be able to live a typical life even after we do therapy. But you know what, I refuse to not give him that chance. I will fight for every little skill and we will endure all the hard things for that fight. It has been hard on all of us, but I have to say it also has been amazing. We have grown closer in these last two years than I ever thought possible. Mainly because we know what is the most important thing to us. That is one another. We also have seen Porter truly have miracles in his life. He has gained more already than we thought possible. Every parent who goes through this makes their own choices and chooses what is right for their family and I would never judge anyone for their choices about this. I am just glad that Dallin and I prayed a lot and both felt strongly to fight and fight hard. So we are going to continue to fight. Of course we need to find a good way to make this as easy as we can on our whole family.

After all this the weekend was not done. Friday we drove to Richfield and spent the day with Jake, Janalyn and Paige. I cannot describe how much love I have for this little lady. She is so beautiful and we just could not get enough of her. I was so grateful I could meet her.

Saturday we were able to go through the Draper open house with the kids and we loved the temple. It was so beautiful. Then we went to Clark and Susy's for Cannon's 3rd birthday. We had so much fun being tigers and cougars and celebrating Cannon. It was so much fun.

Sunday we had a nice day with Dallin's parents and were able to go to sacrament meeting with them before heading home. It is always hard to leave because we love our family so much. I love all my in-laws so much and am so grateful for the love, support and advice we get from them. We enjoyed so much sun in Utah and then hit Pocatello and hit some serious snow. Stinking Idaho! Anyways we are glad to be home and glad to get started on the next week. Let the planning begin. Anyways it was such a wonderful couple of days and we are excited to get things going.