"I love you, mom."

"I love you, mom!" How many of you have heard this from your kids? Makes you smile huh? Emma tells me all the time how much she loves me and that I am just like the Little Mermaid Ariel...she loves Princesses....she tells me I am a good cooker! ha ha

Nathan....not so much. When you say, "I love you, Nathan," he very often replies, "Yeah." But the last two weeks he seems to have opened up a little more. he went up to my mom, his MeMa, and told her he loved her. Then he told Chris he loved him one night, unprovoked. Last night he came up to me and said, "I love you, Mom," and again tonight. For most it would be something they had heard a lot of times. For me....much more rare from Nathan. Sometime he would say it if I would coax him like, "Do you love mom?" and he would reply, "Yeah I love you." But these last few times he just said it out of the blue!

Today we went to Nana's house for lunch and stayed until about 5:30. Nana has a lot of special and breakable things through out the house. Nathan was in the backroom when we heard a crash followed by some desperate sounding whimpers. I heard Nathan burst into tears so we went to investigate. He had broken a Belleek vase of Nana's! Ouch! He was so upset! I know you might be saying, "yeah of course he was upset because he broke something." As weird as this sounds Chris and I were standing there in shock and near joy with his absolute remorse. It's not that we enjoy him upset and crying but the fact is he was remorseful! Do you know how many times Nathan has broken something or messed something up and never showed the least little bit of sorrow or remorse for what he had done? He had no care or concern for how the person might feel after he broke their object. But tonight he was crying and so sad!

Nana was great. She held him and hugged him and told him she wasn't mad at him and that she was glad only the vase was hurt and not him. She said she could replace the vase but he was irreplaceable.

Nathan cried for a good long time. I think he loves his Nana very much. They are very close and breaking something that was special to her really got to his heart. I know it may seem like a crazy thing to say but Chris and I saw progress tonight and actually smiled at each other amidst Nathan's ongoing tears. Why? Because Nathan cared and showed he cared that he broke something of his Nana's.

2010 my daughter turned three. A month before my son's 5th birthday he was diagnosed with Aspergers. Chris and I found out we were expecting baby number 3. These are just a few of the things that happened in 2010. It is a new year now....

Now facing a new year I know that the Lord is still faithful to see us through. Step by step and day by day the Lord is there leading and guiding us. We expect great things for little Emma who is so stubborn and cute and 3 going on 16. And great things for Nathan who has an amazing mind and yet struggles with his emotions and showing emotions. And we meet this new year with hope.................