Thankfulness

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  As I sit in my brother's living room at his house in Colorado Springs, CO listening to my sister-in-law make stuffing and watching my three adorable nieces all play together, I think about how blessed I am.  When I feel blessed, I feel thankful.

Usually there are times that I don't feel blessed or thankful, but discouraged and depressed, and it is in those times that I know, God doesn't leave me or forsake me, but walks with me through the trial that He has presented before me.  It is in those times that I dig down really deep and find the inner strength to be thankful.  Last night at a Thanksgiving Eve service at my brother's church it was worship and testimonies on how we are thankful for all that God has done for us.  One of the gentlemen and his story really spoke to me.  He ended with hearing the Lord asking him if you take away all your circumstances, is Christ enough?  I have keep thinking about that since last night, is Christ enough?  I will be the first to say there are times I will say yes and times I will say no.  As a Christian who asks all the time, to get increased faith, then more times I will say Christ is enough?  Just remember that as non-perfect people, we will have lack of faith and it is in those times, God gives of strength. 

So today I am thankful for my family, friends, food, fun, fellowship, and all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me, but no matter what I am most thankful that Christ is enough.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

T~Money

What is Asperger's Syndrome?

After way to long, I am finally answering the question of what is Asperger's Syndrome?  One definition of Asperger's Syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.  Symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome are problems with social skills, eccentric or repetitive behaviors, unusual preoccupations or rituals, communication difficulty, limited range of interests, coordination problems, and skilled or talented.

So those terms must be really confusing to everybody I know, they were to me first when I found out I had it.  Now if you remember from my last post, I didn't find out until I was 21 years old that I had Asperger's Syndrome.  There is apart of me that wishes I would have found out much sooner because there definitely would of been some things I said or actions I did I would love to change, but that will not happen and I am just going to move on and live my life now.  With that said, let me us myself as an example to explain what Asperger's Syndrome is.  I will start with the social interaction piece.  I don't like interacting with people that I don't know.  If I am at a party or event, I will not come up to a stranger or even somebody I met probably once at all.  Same thing goes with talking on the phone, I dislike talking on the phone so typically won't answer a call.  Now if I know the person who is calling me then it depends on my moody, but if it is a number that I don't know then it goes straight to voicemail.  Now when it comes to nonverbal communication or cues from people, I don't get them at all unless they are extremely noticeable.  Sometimes I laugh at a joke because everybody else in the group is laughing.  Now when it comes to my patterns, I do the same thing over and over again.  When I was younger, I would wake up and get the newspaper off the front porch and read the sports page first thing, I eat my food the same way, I dress in the same color and patterns and so forth.  I do have a limited range of interests.  My life revolves around sports, mainly basketball and following the Gonzaga Women's Basketball Team, but there is also reading and dissecting sports statistics.  So this will bring me to the skilled and talented piece.  I am really good with analyzing sports statistics and mathematics.  Then finally, I can have a loud voice and don't even notice when it goes up.  Now some other examples of people who have Asperger's Syndrome are Bill Gates, Shelton from The Big Bang Theory, and Max from Parenthood.

Now there are different levels of Asperger's Syndrome.  That is why it is a spectrum disorder.  I am considered high-functioning.  I can hold done a job, live on my own, and so forth.  There are people who have Asperger's that can't do that or have a difficult time doing it.

So there you have it.  This is just one opinion on what Asperger's Syndrome.  The rest of my posts will be on how I live my life with Asperger's Syndrome.  I hope you stay tuned for more posts.

T~Money

Weight Lifted Off My Shoulders/Day Life Was Changed

I was a senior in college, four months away from graduating 1 year early with my Bachelor's Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies.  I was studying extremely hard, wanting to have great grades.  Trying to look for a job as I was going to be entering the real world and making money like everybody else was.  I was scared and worried that I wouldn't succeed in that life, but I had the confidence in Christ to take the risk and try.

I had just come back from an amazing weekend celebrating a friend of mine's ending collegiate basketball career in Montana.  One night my parents asked me to join them in the living room as they wanted to talk to me.  They told me that they had seen a child/adult psychologist regarding me.  I was a little taken back and relieved at the same time.  Earlier I had seen on a calendar that my parents were going to an appointment and my first thought was something was wrong with one of them so you could see the worry on my part.

Growing up I acted a way that was quite unusual to others.  Some things that I would do were dress in the same types and colors of clothes, read only the sports section of the newspaper, enjoyed looking at an analyzing numbers, eat food the same way, have the same routine, and spoke extremely loud just to name a few.  The most important thing is that I had a hard time relating to other people around me.  I had lots of friends throughout my school days, but was never invited to anybodies house on weekends.  I just thought that was normal and enjoyed being at home with my family.  Then there were the times were I would have close friends and then become obsessed in the friendship.  I thought that was okay.  Another thing is that as a little girl I would play with imaginary friends.  Also I would become protective of my family and friends all the time.  I never understood want a balanced friendship was.

So after talking with my parents about their appointment with the psychologist and seeing how much they cared for me, I agreed to go see the psychologists for some testing.  I went for three testing sessions and then a fourth that would change my life.  I would do IQ testing and then the psychologist would ask me questions like in an interview were I just got to talk and talk and talk.  Then during that 4th appointment, the psychologist diagnosed me with Asperger's Syndrome. (In my next post I will talk all about it).  Once I heard the diagnosis I felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders.  I knew I was different and did some crazy things, but I was just so thankful for that their was a name for it.

So since that day, my life has forever been changed.  Even though I have Asperger's Syndrome, I am still a beautiful creation from God who has a plan and purpose on my life.  So stay tuned for the next post which will be all on what Asperger's Syndrome truly is.

May God bless you in all that you do and thank you for jumping on the bandwagon with me.

Trinity aka T-Money     

A fresh new start

A new idea popped into my head a month or so ago to revamp and bring back my blog, but in a whole new way.  Some people know and some don't that I have Asperger's Syndrome.  It is a syndrome on the Autism spectrum.  I have decided to share my journey of joys and struggles with Asperger's Syndrome on my revamp blog.  So stand tuned for my next entry as I will tell the story of how I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.