We're now in Week 6 of Financial Peace University and are struggling to get through our first full month on a "count every penny" budget. It's not easy, especially, when we've gone through most of our food and gas budget only half way through the month.
Why?
Well, we've got an almost 15yo who plays soccer 4-5 days a week at fields that are anywhere from 20-50 miles from our home each way. We also have an 8yo on the GFCF diet, who refuses to eat "rice and beans" because of sensory issues.
Oh and did I mention the cost of feeding a teenager, who plays sports and exercises at the gym and on the track during all of her other free time. It's like feeding a football player. I make enough rice and beans for 8 and we rarely have leftovers.
So for the first time in my life, I truly understanding the meaning of NO PAIN NO GAIN!
Our daughter, Jessie, who is autistic and has a major speech deficit, is frustrated, because she has to work twice as hard as everyone else and, as a 9th grader, she can't even begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel - a soccer scholarship.
Our son, Taz, who is also autistic, is frustrated, because he's lucky if he gets one day a week when we dedicate time to him and he's lost his usual pursuit - Michael's craft making - due to the lack of creative funds in our budget.
And most of all, we're frustrated! Budgeting every penny BITES!
And yet. . .
We can't quit!
We couldn't quit when God gave us two special needs children, we couldn't quit when we found out their infant health issues were nothing compared to dealing with autism and we can't quit now.
We can only continue to take Baby Steps forward as Dave Ramsey calls them, so that some day we can Live Like No One Else.
You'd think we would be used to that by now, since parents of autistic children have to Live Like No One Else, whether they want to or not.
So it's time to suck it up and remember Erma Bombeck's poem "The Special Mother."
Finally He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child . . . I will permit her to see clearly the things I see . . . ignorance, cruelty, prejudice . . . and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing My work as surely as if she is here by My side. . .
Nianya
P.S. Taz is learning to adapt. He's making his own creations from plain copy paper, markers and Dollar Store paints and he's very proud of his little pumpkin, which he bought with his chore money.
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