Well my friends WISHES DO COME TRUE - my first book will be published in 2010

Why Don't They Come With Instructions? will be published in 2010 by StoneGarden.net Publishing.

 Why Don't They Come With Instructions? is a collection of personal essays about the triumphs and troubles of parenting special needs children.  My two have had difficulties at school, trouble making friends, irrational fears, crazy nervous behaviors and full blown meltdowns.  My husband and I were puzzled about how to help the children.  Every year I asked the teachers if they had any suggestions and questioned the physicians at length, but had difficulty finding out how to assist them or get accurate diagnoses.

In our household we have found that humor is the best way to deal with the difficult situations that life gives us.  Our two children live with a combination of learning disabilities, attention deficits, Asperger's Syndrome, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Tourette's Syndrome.  We try to make light of most situations and not get too hung up on diagnoses.  We figure, if we don't laugh at ourselves we'll end up crying, so we've learned to laugh with each other.

I had grown up feeling like I never fit in.  As the middle child I often felt invisible.  Nervous tics and anxiety plagued my youth; in my early twenties I even had a panic attack that brought me to the emergency room.  Since my children's diagnoses, I now realize I was a child who lived and grew up successfully despite my undiagnosed problems.  I was able to teach myself to work around my deficits even though the world often didn't make sense to me.

I hope you'll share the journey with me and help support my non-profit organization for at-risk youth.  My website is up - with much more to come.  A portion of the book sales and my art sales will support the Lavender Door Foundation.

Thanks for all your support and friendship.  I hope to keep writing and publish more!

Jan