And the Dallas Cowboys win, 34-6, with a score like that, how could today possibly be a bad day? While life in general has continued to dump on our family left and right, in any and every way imaginable, we have handled it well, pulling together and drawing on the strength of each other, as well as leaning on each other and doing our best to pick up the slack when one member of the family is in need of some hiding from the world.

It has been wonderful to see everyone pull together as one unit, as well as actually function as one unit. This can be a rarity for families, especially when the family is dealing with members whom have emotional and or behavioral issues, which our family happens to be challenged with both. However, after years of therapy, hair pulling, pacing, hard work, love and persistence, as well as some more hair pulling, and admittedly some yelling we have all finally seemingly risen to the challenges ready to face them all head on as a united family, which couldn’t feel more fulfilling.

There were so many times in the past where I honestly thought that I was goingto give up, throw in the towel and call it quits. I can recall sitting time and time again wondering what I had gotten myself into, and actually asking myself over and over why I had decided to adopt my husband’ child. This is not something that I am proud to admit by any means, but it is never the less, the truth. I had struggled for quite some time with feelings o being trapped into something that had been nothing more than a giant mistake on my part.

The stress of day to day life, combined with a child with severe emotional problems, an autism spectrum disorder, ADD, as well as some not so fun behavioral issues had left me not simply burned out, but burned to an absolute crisp. I had no energy left for anything, and no desire left inside myself to continue to fight to save not only this poor little boy whom had had such a hard start in life, but the integrity of my family as well. That’s right, I had been ready to walk, to throw it all behind me, dumping the blame for a life gone bad on none other than that little boy I had so desperately at one time wanted nothing more than to save, to love, and to be a family with.

The truth of the matter was that it was not the fault of the above mentioned child. Sure he had his issues, and he could be an extremely difficult child to deal with at times, but he was not the only one in the family whom had issues, and who to some degree or another needed saving of their own. We all were struggling with inner demons, yet somehow none of us could see our own, we could only pin point the ugly in each other. It was not until we each began to work on ourselves, as well as support and try to understand one and other that our family began to heal and move closer towards one and other.

Once we were able to see the faults that we each carried ourselves, it became enormously easier to find the good inside the other members of the family. Blame that was once desperately shoved, duct taped, stapled and then encased in cement onto others in the family, was finally shared between all the members, as it should have been in the first place. There had been no perfect member of the family, and the moment that that had been realized, was the exact moment that our family began to heal, become stronger, and move forward for the first time in a long time. Once each of us stopped trying to fight and deny those things that we did not wish to admit, we were all able to see that we were equal. We all had our own faults, and weaknesses. Yet with those faults and those weaknesses also came strengths, positives, and love for one and other that had been dying to be expressed. Once the positives were able to been seen in each other, the fear that each of us had of being rejected by each other began to melt away, leaving a clear path for trust to grow towards each other.