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Hives, Goldfish & Snot: the Christmas Recap
100 Plays5 days ago
Join Collin and Larah as they describe the Christmas adventures their family went on and what they learned from it that includes breaking out in hives, goldfish, snot, and blessing the Lord at all times.
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Transcript
Finding Comfort in Simple Pleasures
00:00:00
Speaker
You wanna know one of my favorite things in the entire world? What? like Like, you know how, like, relaxing is sometimes hard, like, because of anxiety around everything? You know what kind of weird thing that I enjoy? Is sitting on the couch where I'm at right now, with a cup of coffee, with a candle lit that smells like Christmas with our Christmas decorations up, and the sound... Of nothing. No. Of the sound of the dryer going in the laundry room.
00:00:31
Speaker
That's odd. I know. But for some reason, when I sit here in the mornings, when it's quiet, coffee, candle, Christmas decorations. The dryer's running. And the dryer's running for some odd reason. I feel so like relaxed and like, wow, yes. Interesting. I know. Yeah. What is it about the dryer? Is it just the to do, to do, to do? No, it's not even the sound. It's just like, you know, I'm accomplishing something. Oh, there you go. Yeah.
Holiday Reflections and Family Adventures
00:00:59
Speaker
yeah Even when our kids throw change in there, and it's just is like, to change. Colin, it's like goldfish and... And all the clingy things. It's not. Goldfish and snot. That's our... Merry Christmas, everyone. Merry Christmas, was everyone. Goldfish and snot. That's what we're Yeah. That's what we're gonna label this episode. and Oh, okay. Goldfish and snot. Yeah. Cue the music. I think we've had this epiphany recently.
00:01:37
Speaker
some reason, our are leaving vacations just haven't yielded a whole lot of fun. Yeah. Have they d are they? No, they've been fun. They've been eventful. Eventful. Eventful is the right word. Yeah. Well, hello, friends. Welcome back to another episode of Raising Autistic Disciples, where we plan just to recap our Christmas holiday. Adventures. Adventures for this year, because we've done a couple podcasts on how to prepare for them. Now we're going to tell you if we put our own advice
00:02:11
Speaker
to work. And also too, hopefully to spurn a conversation for other other families, other couples, whatever it is, just to count your blessings. and We've talked about it before. Sometimes you just got to put monuments in. like You do, to where you can remember. remember good things where were the What are the things we can laugh about? What are the struggles? But just don't don't miss an opportunity just to recap how the ah the Lord did something.
00:02:35
Speaker
Okay, so when you say eventful, so we hope for uneventful, right? Yeah, absolutely. So... Well, first of all, I believe we talked about this, our kids in the car is just like a... I don't know, I guess the Lord just knew we couldn't handle kids otherwise. Yeah, so they're very good travelers. I mean, they love
Health, Tech Challenges, and Appreciation
00:02:55
Speaker
traveling. It's a 13 and a half hour trip, including all the stops. And they were wonderful. They just sit there. They hardly ever bicker. Yeah.
00:03:05
Speaker
We play this Tesla game where we just spot Teslas. yeah Levi gets upset when he doesn't win, but that's pretty much it. That's pretty much all the... but so okay let me set the scene though all right because you need to know this okay he does have like this i don't know you have throughout the whole entire year like a a nasal drip of some sort like a but like it's been like this like walking pneumonia thing yes so he has been sick what feels like a whole entire century yes century center cent century century century century
00:03:39
Speaker
Get the southern in there. um Okay, so we're probably gonna have to edit out a lot of coughs and... That's what the smart gate's for. I got that covered. Okay, well, editing genius. Okay, so, but the reason I bring that up is because Khan's been sick for a long time. Walking pneumonia is running rampant, right? And so, um also if you didn't know, listening, Khan's also on church staff as ah the production director at our church, so he literally runs around like crazy, making sure everybody can hear and see and sing along with lyrics on the screen and any other technical things that the devil lives in, right? Because yeah the devil lives in if audio equipment. The technology is going to go bad. It's going to go back at seven o'clock on a Sunday morning. Yeah. so So he's that guy. So two weeks before that Sunday we left, ah that's when I got sick the first time. Right. So you were like in the
00:04:30
Speaker
It was in the throes of it. This Sunday that we were preparing to leave to travel 14 hours, 10 hours, something like that. Yeah, 14 including the stops. Yeah, like Colin was right. You know, it was the heightened of yeah walking pneumonia, right? And just for all the health people out there, it's not contagious.
00:04:47
Speaker
I would have already gotten it. Anyway, whatever all right so um saying all that to say, also, let me just take a side note, when you do see your audio guy at your church, be sure to give them a high five, him or her, but or the ones that run the lyrics. you know The only times that they get ever seen is when something goes wrong, right? yeah yeah So make it it make it a point this Christmas season, because they're running around in line crazy. Yeah, because we talk about rhythms on here a lot. so mind part of the things that I like as far as margin goes for my life is on a Sunday morning, because usually I build in time for technology to break. So like our, our, our down head of the devil, head of the devil, we're going to, and the, uh, that's good. We'll put that on a t-shirt. I'll wake up at 3 AM and get to the church house. I'm going to head to the devil. Beat the devil to church. wake can wake up before
00:05:39
Speaker
And so usually like, you know, for margin's sake, if our downbeat for the band rehearsals at 630, I usually like to give myself three hours of float in the front end, just in case something breaks. And so I was already, I was already coughing up along, already just not feeling at all like it. So I got there at my normal time, everything was working fine. And then we're in the middle of rehearsal.
00:06:03
Speaker
And at this particular juncture, like i'm I'm coughing, I've taken some new medicine, which we'll get to in a second on
Travel Chaos and Humorous Misadventures
00:06:08
Speaker
the on the outflow of that. And all of a sudden, about seven o'clock, 7.15, we're in the middle of band rehearsal and both projectors give me the death warning. Ooh. Like, I mean, right. So if you're a Mac user, the death warning for projectors is like the rainbow wheel. Yes. Or the blue screen of death if you're a Windows person. Yeah. And so it gives me like, in 10 minutes, your production is going to shut down because they're overheating. So anyway.
00:06:32
Speaker
um which I won't go into the technical details on why that was just a glitch, but anyway, but in the moment we had, you know, we had 45 minutes to get something prepped. So without all the gory details, we got a screen propped up, we got it ready to go. ah Sunday's going well, but like for the first part of the morning, I just, I got, there's these certain spots on my upper back and like on my legs that were just, I couldn't get to stop itching.
00:06:58
Speaker
I just thought it was something, I just thought it was some sort of just like new laundry detergent, whatever. So whatever. So it finally went away around, around noon. We get in the car. We get in the car and I take ah somebody had convinced me that, uh, for the control of the cough, that just takes some like liquid mucinex DM.
00:07:18
Speaker
which I've taken the pill of Musin-X-D before and it was it was fine. This is not a sponsored post from Musin-X-D. It is not. not posts This is not a sponsored podcast. but yeah <unk>s We're not gonna cue the cheesy inspirational music from Musin-X. No. And so I timed it to where when we left at one o'clock that afternoon after getting you know get all the stuff prepped and ready that we needed, um I was gonna take my dose of Musin-X.
00:07:47
Speaker
as we start driving. So I wouldn't cough the entire time. And so I take it about one o'clock when our path is through Atlanta, through Alabama, Mississippi into Louisiana, right? So we're on the other side of were but getting on the other side of Atlanta and I'm just, I guess break out in the house. Like I just can't stop itching. I think it was even before that, like the itching alone, like I, okay. So,
00:08:15
Speaker
Listen, I'm all about our podcast listeners getting to know us more and more, and I am ashamed to admit, but also it is... I'm glad you were going to say it, because I was going to say it. I get it. It's sanctification, and also I have put it to prayer. I am not the most empathetic person. No, no. You are many, many things that are wonderful and lovely.
00:08:38
Speaker
But I am, I've never itched like this. He was annoyingly itching. Like I was itching to my core, even to the point like all the clothes, like I had to take my shirt off to drive. Like we're driving down I-20 and Colin just takes off his shirt. So if you were traveling on I-20 the week of Thanksgiving and you see a bare chested man driving down the road, itching at the same time and his wife looking like... Not scratching. Like getting me out of here, that was us.
00:09:05
Speaker
That was us, yeah. So Colin broke out, like is having an allergic reaction to mucin-XD. DM. DM, sorry. Yeah. So the first hour I was like, I feel really bad for him, but then by the second hour, my forearm was on fire from helping alleviate this. She did not scratch for an hour. You were empathetic for the first like five to 10 minutes. Oh, okay. Give me a little bit more of that. Yeah, but we're like, I could have used, I could have used like a badger at that point, anything to scratch. It starts as a TMI, but this is real life. So let me just paint this scenario. We are on a 10 hour drive, right? We're most likely going to pull in at midnight, so it's gonna be a long day, right? So, okay, we're driving along, Collin breaks out in hives, allergic reaction, itching like crazy. Why, you know, at this point, we're just trying to survive. We don't think, hmm, probably should find a drug store or Walgreens or whatever and get some, so we let it go for like five hours you were itching.
00:10:05
Speaker
Like, I didn't get to the height of itching till we got around Alabama. And then when we realized, oh crap, this might be a... This might be a thing. This might be a real thing. I thought it was, cause I thought it was still at that point, I thought it was still the laundry. Okay, yeah, so... And then when we finally realized, this is hives. This is hives. This is crazy. This is red and splotchy and I was like, you're gracious. So we get into a Walgreens, but what we have... It took us an hour and five minutes to find one. Yeah, what we have not told everybody yet is a long... So like, here's what I've been saying, like,
00:10:32
Speaker
for us parents raising autistic kids like it's not just autism that's a part of our life like we're a regular family too right like you have outside stressors other than autism that you're like you you as a parent you get sick yeah as a parent you are having stress of jobs and all the way so it's like autism is just a part of it but like it's not just the only stress you have right so Colin's broken out in hives, itching like crazy. I'm annoyed because I need Jesus to help me, you know, because um'm I need more empathy in my life. But anyway, and then we clocked it. Graham asked, every five miles are we there yet?
00:11:13
Speaker
or specifically nanny's house because we were going to nanny's scripting routine was like uh like and then once he realized they were going and it was like the it was cute for the first hour yeah it was like i were coming nanny's house coming to save you like it was just all like but he asked a question me any any the question has to have a response or the scripting won't stop yeah because then he started telling us what to say Yeah, so like yeah now he's into to the stage of like he will like if you're not going to enter into my scripting, I'm going to tell you what to say. He's a director. He's a director of his own movie. he's like
00:11:46
Speaker
And so like, he'll come. He's surrounded by a bunch of bad actors. They just want. We're such bad actors. So he'll feed us the line, right? so like Anyway, that is cute for the first hour. But when you have 10 hours to drive, well, he did finally go to sleep when it got dark. But that is when the that is when the scripting and the questions stopped. Yes. Is when he went to sleep. So we did. We clocked it. Every five miles, it was an autistic kid in the back seat asking us, are we there yet? Then delivering our line that we're supposed to say back to him.
00:12:15
Speaker
And then, um yeah. And so Colin's itching in the front seat. I'm annoyed in the passenger seat, Graham's in the back seat, and then our other two are, you know, just, we have no idea what they're doing. But anyway, but then, so you take Benadryl. No, no, no. This was before Benadryl. We decided to stop at Bucky's. Oh yeah. That was, because Bucky's was in between. That's right. Yes. Oh gosh.
00:12:40
Speaker
And let me just tell you something. I, listen, I know there are big fans out there and I was too. At some point it's kind of a little bit too crazy. You go and the you, the media, the it's, it's like, you know how, okay, okay. We're going about to upset some people. Colin Roberts will not even dare or speak about ever taking our kids so to that place in Orlando or California, California. He will not dare even think about it. He says it's thinking about like how he describes this is what? It's like standing in line at the DMV on the surface of the sun. now That was a Jim Gaffigan line. Like it's just like he will not even entertain the thought of taking our kids to that place. You can. Okay. You're welcome. Take them. All I'm saying is I think, I think I feel the same way about Bucky's now. Oh yeah. We're definitely there.
00:13:29
Speaker
Like you walk in and like people are in my face before those revolving doors open. Yeah. And it's one of those places like you, there is a flow that you have to enter. But the cleanest bathrooms I've ever seen in my life. Yeah. But also if you don't enter the flow and get in it, you're gonna get run over. I know. Cause you're like you're, there's people's pilgrimages. You're the Bucky's. If you've not been to Bucky's and you're listening, it's like the a resort gas station. It's a resort gas station, right? So there's gas pumps miles long and it's like a grocery store meets gift shop meets barbecue joint meets all the, okay. So your Circle K and Cracker Barrel had a baby.
00:14:10
Speaker
And then it was a big baby. It was a big baby. All right. So picture this. I mean, if you've seen Colin, I mean, just, okay. Guy who is itching, going through the Oz and Bucky with his family of, you know, five of us. Any sharp corner to scratch on. Oh my gosh. with an autistic kid who only wants to see the big Greg truck and then who's scared of the mascot. Well, he's kind of... He's friendly with the mascot. And then we have our little one Levi who will talk to anybody, right? And so all of us are in there just trying to get like, you know, a bottle of water or whatever to make this drive. Anyway, so Bucky's was in there and then we get back in the car, Colin's still itching. We find been a drill. We get been a drill. This has been a long story. Anyway, and then we're on our way. Colin falls asleep. I have to drive at night. I'm getting older. For only 45 minutes. I don't like to drive a night. I know you don't, but it was only 45 minutes. I sound really like, I can't believe, I'm at this point in my life. It's okay, I'm glad we're experiencing this. My eyes get blurry, like... Yeah, that's okay. I just needed 45 minutes to kind of let this bender drill kick in. You did. And then Collin got us to Nanny's house. So, friends, that, I know that probably took longer to explain, but you know, it was looking back
00:15:28
Speaker
Man, just, yeah absolutely it is something. It is something. All the time. It is. Like we hoped for uneventful. We got very eventful. But then honestly, the whole entire visit with family and things like that was fantastic. Graham was an angel, nothing was destroyed. No, no, it was. And so. ah Me and Addie installed some floodlights at Nanny's house. She learned how to run some cable. And so. It was great. It was great. Yeah. And I, you know, looking back, um,
00:15:55
Speaker
I think what we talked about in previous episodes is you prepare as best you can. yeah yeah right like um and And you do your best to help. And I think a lot of times though, and I've said this before in in other posts and things like that, but like I think it's important for us to understand, and and it is amplified at at the holidays, it is important for us to understand as parents, we do not control these little humans. like we can help them that like We can help teach. That's what we're required to do, right? But like we're not in their bodies. like I cannot anticipate his every meltdown. I can't anticipate that you know he's going to ask me. out i mean I could learn from that. He's probably going to ask me a thousand questions on a road trip. but yeah yeah
00:16:41
Speaker
No matter what, like taking a deep breath and going, you know, I'm going to enjoy this the best I can, but there are some things I'm not going to be able to anticipate and it may be ah an eventful event. Yes. Oh, absolutely. And also too, just managing expectations is just knowing that as we talked about that on one of the previous holiday episodes, I think, right. It's just not walking into a situation with preconceived expectations.
00:17:12
Speaker
Cause once you do, once you do inevitably, something's going to go different. Right. And then you're not only managing the obliterated expectations that you already had and you're going to come off of that cause you're having your your own internal meltdown. Cause it's not working out the way you wanted it to. But just
Handling Emergencies and Stress
00:17:29
Speaker
understand that, but the Lord's not surprised by any of the circumstances that you ended up in and that as you, as you work that stuff out, like just in not necessarily just enjoy, but just kind of rest in the fact that You're on vacation together, right? Yeah. And just enjoying, enjoying your family, enjoying your kids, enjoying all the things, but just leaving the expectations at home, like just leaving them, leave them out of the situation. Cause you just never know. You should never know when you're going to come up on a rec on the interstate and you're going to be sitting there for 12 hours. You know what I mean? Like right there's all sorts of things that.
00:18:05
Speaker
that can derail, but just expectations I think are the absolute enemy of a restful content, contented holiday. Yeah. You can just create them and it's not, it's just not useful or beneficial. Right. Speaking of which, how did the vacation end?
00:18:22
Speaker
Oh, yeah. That's another thing. like um We have other things that we're juggling as families, and the night before we left, you know i got to like I just said, Grandma's an angel. Nothing was destroyed. during the note No fights happened. no you know The cousins played fantastic together, you know all the above. It's great. And then we take the seven grandchildren to my mom, me and you, take them to a park. And ah Jolly time. Jolly. Oh, yeah. It was fantastic. Kids had, it there was a tree that fell in the park. They were climbing all over it. We had plenty of opportunities to get hurt. We did. And and again, that that's a, you know, it's just like the whole, like when they're a baby and you buy this expensive present and all they want to do is play with the box. Like there's playground equipment and our kids just want to play on the dead tree. and Yeah, absolutely. Of course they do. It's just innate in all of us. That's true. But then we load the kids up and
00:19:13
Speaker
My mom falls and breaks her shoulder. Like not at the park, not playing on anything. Just, we didn't know what was happening. We were too, too many vans parked beside one another. And one of the, one of the cousins had to come inform us that Nanny had fallen. It's like those movies back in there. We used to watch Olympus has fallen like, Oh, Nanny has fallen.
00:19:35
Speaker
yeah Yeah, our matriarch. She will. Anyway, I spent the a little bit of the night in the ER, and so Nanny is on the mend. But it's things like that. like You just have outside things that happen that are not, you know those of you who are listening and raising um raising aut autistic kids, like the Lord gives grace for every single
Inspiration from CC Winans: Facing Challenges with Praise
00:20:00
Speaker
thing that happens. and um You know, you, I think it's just a good discipline for us to go into the new year with, um, cause I know for me, like reactions, like you mix expectations with reactions and it's just a dumpster fire, right? So like going to the new year with, um, well, okay, let me, so I ran across a CC Winans video where she's given a talk and like, I love CC Winans. She just doesn't age. Yes, she doesn't. She's so beautiful and inside and out. Like, she loves Jesus, right? And so I love her music. I love her heart things. And she is saying something. She's going to talk, and she begins to talk with, um you know, you stump your toe and cussing comes out. And then the audience starts laughing, right? Because everybody knows, you stump your toe. you know, that'll give an indication of what's in your heart, right? That's right, 100%. And she's kind of looking at her like, why are you all laughing? Like, you know, kind of thing. And she's like, that's not what's supposed to come out. And so then she begins to go on and explain, like, she had a leak, you know, her family, her and her husband found a leak in their basement. And her immediate response when she sees the water flooding the basement is, Lord, I praise you.
00:21:13
Speaker
you know, kind of thing. And again, audience laughs. And Cece is not trying to tout herself or to like, you know, put her, elevate anything, but she begins to explain, it's what the Lord has done in my heart to help me react to certain situations because I have trained myself.
00:21:32
Speaker
to bless the Lord. yeah And so, i it has stuck with me. And I know the Lord's redeeming social media for that very fact, because that video, I mean, has been on replay in my mind of helping, because the psalmist says that, I will bless the Lord at all times. times yes absolutely And so, one of my prayers going into this next year is that when circumstances, even, I mean, it's the spontaneous ones that'll
Cherishing Positive Moments and Gratitude
00:21:55
Speaker
get you, right? Obviously, but even the ones that, you know, we know we have an eye-peating in a couple of weeks or we know we, you know, have this conversation or whatever triggers kind of thing in our autistic type of world, but also anything else. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I didn't know my mom was going to, you know, spend the night in the ER and watch her be in pain and um then, then, you know, traveling back hours and leaving her and and things like that. Like, like,
00:22:19
Speaker
even though sorrow and grief are are were going to have that on the side of eternity, I just want my heart to immediately respond to things that are that that come up blessing the Lord. That's right, yeah. Immediately. I think that's what Christmas reminds us about too. He came. He came, yeah. Right? So that we could bless His name. That's right. Absolutely. Because it's because I'm sure there's some people that enjoy listening to our incessant ramblings about our Christmas vacation. Yeah.
00:22:47
Speaker
But I think the point of us doing this was also what we talked about at the beginning is, it's not only just kind of cathartic, like therapeutic, or enjoyable to talk about, like just to reminisce, like how did it go? But the I think the reason why we we started this with kind of the circumstantial things is like, if I were to ask you now, like what did the Lord teach us in that all that circumstance and scenario, it'd be probably about what you said, right? Yeah. Is that the, when we died, the died, what have you said before it died, the death of the things that we, that we thought were going to occur. Yeah. and just what be like Yeah. Well, life would be like, yeah, that's right. And it's the one thing that we didn't, we didn't talk about it at all was once we got there and even in the car ride, we didn't have any meltdowns and nobody, you know, like it was,
00:23:45
Speaker
Like Nanny has this creek that runs through the front of her yard. I mean, he spent pretty much the whole time out there. The kids played pickleball. Like we had sweet time with our family, with your brother and sister in law. And like it was, it was just sweet. It was good. Yeah. But the enemy wants to distract us from that. And so we, we want, we, we can talk about the the itching and we can talk about the shoulder breaking. We can talk about distractions, right? But but we forget to kind of count the blessings. Yeah. Yeah.
00:24:12
Speaker
Like if we were to put another memorial stone out for this past Christmas vacation, but we don't have to, we don't have to reminisce about it negatively. Like the circumstances are, they're not comical all the time, but we don't need to miss the blessing by distraction. Cause I mean, that was just a, it was a sweet time Lord gave us. And so it was,
00:24:37
Speaker
It was nice. yeah So I think that's from my my personal takeaway from it is just, even in the midst of all the other circumstances, just don't forget what the Lord's doing in your family. He's keeping you and sustaining you.
00:24:49
Speaker
Because even in the worst case scenarios that you can think of in your mind, and I know this is a hard um this is a hard example or a hard practice or whatever to to think about, there are still reasons to praise the Lord. oh yeah yeah So even in the worst, like if I think about the worst, kind of it is dragging Graham out.
00:25:14
Speaker
from his ankles, from our church's children's ministry with everybody looking. like That would be your worst nightmare? that Probably not my worst, but like that would be one where I remember, you know, it took a long time to get over my soul and my heart and anxiety, whatever. Even in the worst, there are still ways that I can praise him. Hey, you know what? Even in that circumstance, not yeah not in not in spite of it. Correct, right. Like through it. Right.
00:25:39
Speaker
and like because everything, and the if you're a believer and you're submit to the Lord and to the the Spirit's work in your life, then everything is ah is sanctifying. Right. So even if it was a worse trip or a worse Christmas season of whatever happens to you friends listening like, find what you can praise the Lord about. That's right, yeah. Because He's still good. And how you respond to to how you respond to situations that squeeze you, how you respond to situations. And I think that's what CC is getting at in that conversation. Whenever you're squeezed and whenever you're pressed, whenever you're tried and tested, right what comes out is what truly is in you. right And so that's that's a point of sanctification for all of us, of growing in the Lord is that
00:26:26
Speaker
When you stub your toe or when something negative happens or when your expectations are shattered, how do you respond internally or verbally? right So if anger comes out, then anger's in there and it's not truly contented. right That's just a point of prayer and sanctification for all of us.
00:26:43
Speaker
Absolutely. So that's encouragement. That's our encouragement for both of us, as well as you that are listening, that as you go into the holiday season, as we in the 2024 year, that praise is always on our lips, that our reactions may be God-florifying, and um yeah.
00:27:07
Speaker
So from our family to yours, friends, Merry, Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Thank you for listening to Raising Autistic. This is our first full year of podcasting. And hey, we're going to get better as we go. But thank you for entering into our chaos chaos and craziness but just know this like we've said before in previous episodes we're all in this together we're running a race and this race is hard and it's exhausting but there are like you said milestones and monuments and memorial stones like