Good News: An Emotional Weekend
One of the first questions we received when we announced we were moving to St. Catharines was about Logan and Abby. Our two oldest children, who both have autism, live in a group home in Kitchener.
Our intention has always been to move from weekly short visits to overnight visits twice a month. This weekend was our first overnight visit and we were somewhat nervous.
I picked up Logan and Abby yesterday and brought them home. They were very happy and seemed quite content in our new place. We had a pleasant dinner together and watched lots of Veggie Tales. Justus was excited to have Logan sleep over as he misses having a room-mate. Everyone got along great.
When we put all of the kids to bed, it was an incredible feeling. For the first time in five years, we had all five of our children under one roof. They slept great and interestingly, Abby who had always been our early riser was the only one who slept in.
The visit felt so good that I must confess that I questioned why they were living in a group home. I soon got my answer.
The plan was to meet their workers half way. We were early and they were late. To make things worse, I thought I saw the van but it was the wrong vehicle. Confusion over expectations does not go well with autism.
Both Logan and Abby got very upset. I had the other children with me but I did not have Amanda. Dealing with two upset children with autism is not easy and I had no idea when their ride would show up.
Although it was not a pleasant experience, this was a helpful reminder about why Logan and Abby are in a group home.
Despite the difficulties at the very end, having Logan and Abby was so good. We are going to look into fixing the miscommunications and are looking forward to their next visit.
This is my good news.
