Thank You Lord, You Knew What I Needed To Hear

We are still going through a very difficult phase with our son.  We are going on 3 months of this phase, even though it got better for a short time at one point.  And I'm only talking about perhaps a week of better.  He has hit a plateau with his speech, his behavior has regressed back many months, and his reasoning skills are still next to nothing.  But last night, we witnessed a small miracle.  We had just returned home from a trip to the mall, which is unusual for us to do these days with all of the kids.  But my husband and I had been talking about just living our life this year as close to the same way as we used to and learning how to include our son as best as we can.  He gets over-stimulated very easily, so we usually try to avoid crowds and loud noises.  This has been stressful on the rest of the family who needs some time outside of the house.  Anyway, we returned home late, already past our son's normal dinner time.  I sat him down in his high chair for dinner and started feeding him.  A couple of minutes later, he said, "Ouch!" and grabbed his tummy.  I asked if his tummy hurt and he said yes.  This really isn't surprising in light that he has always had digestion problems.  Another couple of minutes go by and he says, "All better."  That was it, "All better," and then the "miracle."  For the next probably 20-30 minutes, my son was speaking!  Non-stop speaking!  We were all shocked, and just sat around him listening and asking him questions.  He talked about the dog, and all the different sounds the dog would make if she were different kinds of animals.  He talked about colors.  He was trying to make jokes, and telling us to laugh.  My husband looked and me and said, "What did he eat today?"  I wish it were that easy, but really he didn't eat anything different.  Did the mall have magical powers?  I doubt it.  But I think God knew what I needed to hear.  I need to remember in times of stress that this beautiful little boy is listening, even if he can't speak, and he is absorbing everything like a sponge.  I will keep speaking to him and loving him unconditionally.  And maybe one day he'll be able to explain things to me.