“Rather light a candle than complain about darkness” Chinese Proverb
Mark won a gift card to Barnes and Noble and we weren’t really sure what we wanted to buy with it, so we decided to just go relax and look. After getting a cup of coffee, we decided to walk the whole store and see what we could find. We found an awesome adult color by number book for Peyton. He is really into doing stop motion videos, and wants to learn how to use color better etc….plus coloring is calming for him. Mark suggested I get a journal. I am a journal fanatic, I love to write down everything in journals. It helps me not only remember things, and be more organized, but it has a calming effect for me as well. I ended up finding an awesome journal that promotes inspiration. I love being creative and recently have started doing inspirational pictures. This journal is the perfect item for me to get inspired on those days I just don’t feel like doing anything, as well as write down thoughts, ideas etc…. 
Peyton shows a lot of interest in trying creative projects…I love this. We encourage him to be creative… I firmly believe it is helping him find himself, be more confident and relaxes him. He seems to have a good eye for color and now we are working on other aspects, such as depth, shadows, how to add music etc….he has taken some awesome classes on LinkedIn…yes he is even on LinkedIn! We are really trying to encourage him to find things he loves doing as well as is good at. It’s easy to find someone’s “weaknesses”, and too many dwell on what their autistic kids can’t do….we are trying to find Peyton’s strengths and encourage him to direct his energy to them. He loves making stop motion videos and we encourage him to. Anything we can do to help him excel at something, we do. Peyton is almost 18 and a new set of challenges are approaching for him. I truly stress about we will be facing as he becomes an adult. I also know that I can only help prepare him just so much. Peyton is aware that there are many changes coming , as he becomes an adult. He and I have discussed some of the types of “changes” he will be facing . He also has the advantage and disadvantage of having older siblings and he has seen them grow up. He does realize that some of the changes they experienced, he may not. Such as moving out, having a career etc… It hurts my heart that he won’t be able to do many of the things his older siblings do. He is such a sweet kid and I know he wants to “have a life” when he gets older. For now I know we have to take each day at a time and focus on the positives, not the negatives. We will have “dark days” ahead but as long as we continue to focus on the brightness of the day, not the darkness, we will be fine.