labels.....

Fat. Skinny. Gifted. Dumb. Athletic. Clumsy. Beautiful. Homely. Nice. Mean. Friendly. Snobby. Delayed. Accelerated. Labels.......some can be positive, while others can be quite negative. Lets face it....no one wants to carry around a "bad" label with them for a lifetime. Positive ones are A-ok, but with socially negative labels comes a plethora of struggles. It seems like I wasted away a large part of my childhood trying to escape some of the negative labels that plagued me as a child, and I still carry around a lot of insecurity from some of them. I know....sad! I'm a grown adult and shouldn't care, but I do.

You may wonder where I am going with this. We are all uniquely, beautifully, and wonderfully made. We are all a series of ingredients, or labels.....like reading a recipe. God knits us together and gives us all gifts to serve His purpose. These are the labels that we should care about, but we don't. Humans, in our selfishness seem to be more concerned about worldly labeling than eternal labeling. People have created the "bad" labels (and the good for that matter). Society has decided what is desirable in a person, and we have also decided what is undesirable, or socially unacceptable.

My daughter stims. My daughter has sensory issues. My daughter may not play with toys like your child. My daughter may tap her nose while dropping a toy, or she may pop her fists together with force when she is frustrated. My daughter is non-verbal. My daughter may do things that others may perceive as "weird," but guess what.....I don't care about what you think. I don't need people to stare at her in the grocery store and tell me what they think is "wrong" with her. I don't need you to tell me that you think she is autistic (which her doctor reconfirmed again yesterday quite emphatically...your child is not autistic....btw!). I do not need you to tell me how lucky she is to have a family because we are the blessed ones. I love her. I rejoice in watching her smile while hearing sounds that she has never heard before. My heart skips a beat listening to her giggle over and over while the wind hits her face. I laugh seeing her sign for her milk cup when I open the refrigerator. I am overjoyed to watch her explore her environment. The labels we choose for her are......chosen, child of God, daughter of the Savior, redeemed, wonderfully and beautifully made, forgiven.....These are the labels that we care about (and all of my children labeled), even though society may not agree.

I have fallen into the labeling trap at times. I have spent the past 8 months over analyzing everything that my sweet A' does. I have obsessed about silly things that I shouldn't worry about. In a strange way, perhaps I desired a "label" from the medical establishment, although I was fearful of it at the same time. I wanted a magic bullet. I wanted to be able to tell people, "oh, she does that because she has....., " or, "she does that because she is......" Selfish of me, I know. Insecure of me, I know. I don't need to explain her behavior to anyone. She is who she is. Amazing!

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering how her appt. went at Children's yesterday....very well, thank you very much. Her neurologist was very pleased with her progress. She has made "significant gains" and from a medical standpoint she is doing quite well. Her diagnosis, or label by her neurologist is "thriving in her new environment." I think I can handle that. :)