I'll be honest..

Sometimes I wonder if this was a good idea, the whole posting personal insights about my Son, his ups and downs, his preferences, his strides forward, our triumphs and fails at parenting, and dietary needs. I've been through the whole gamut of "Am I exploiting my kids differences?" "Am I doing this for unknown selfish reasons?" "Am I doing this for some sort of personal gain?" And every time I climb through that web of craziness I always come back to this...

The reason I'm putting together this blog and my video blog on you tube is because of my beautifully autistic son and the many wonderful things he has taught us about thinking differently. He has, in his short 3 years of being here, taught us what it means to be patient, unconditional, limitless, and boundary breaking rebels. Seeing the world through his eyes has been heart-breakingly beautiful, and a true gift to us. And we could not be more grateful for him and the way he sees the world.

    Another important reason we're doing this is because of a beautiful resilient woman, who is now one of my hero's, who saved me and my Husband by writing "The Spark." Through her knowledge of ASD and her experience with her own Son, we had the strength to move forward with our Son tucked tightly under our wings. And I am ever so grateful to her for sharing her journey. Thank you Christine Barnett. As my son would say, "You are amazing!" We want to pay forward this kindness.

So to sum things up, this blog is to you who have a child on the autism spectrum, to you have kids with sensory needs, to you who are in the middle of the storm and might be saying, "Um, a little help would be nice," to you who have kids, and to you who want to see one family do the impossible.

I guess I should take the time to introduce us....

We are Amber Jones (Amber Walker is my name in the art world) and William Jones (Raistlen Jones in the art world). We've been married almost 6 years. We're both professional artists and have a myriad of different things we do. Which if I went into now would take some time so I will post tidbits along the way. We are getting ready to start our 7 year journey to becoming Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctors. Like I said we do the impossible. He he he....

Here is our inspiration to do the impossible...

6 month old daughter. Eltiyena

3 year old Keltanys.

 We want them to know they are limitless.

So, what can  expect from this blog? Well, it will be focused on creating sensory toys for kids with sensory needs. It will also be a documentation of our crazy life and how we manage it all. We may have some random artsy thing we're into and we will hit on diet. So expect a little bit of everything. Below I have posted a link to our youtube channel which focuses primarily on sensory projects for kids with sensory needs.

 https://www.youtube.com/user/tananachristiana

Anyway, I'm sure I've left something out due to Mom brain, but if you have any questions feel free to leave questions in the comment section.  I look forward to sharing our story and hearing yours.

Always with Love and Gratitude,
Amber Jones