When the people wake up illegally early... Benjamin needs a down day... and Wyatt doesn’t do down.

Jam stayed home with Chris while I took Wyatt mall-walking on a rainy morning. We arrived an hour before the mall opened, and the boy lived his best life. He got his first glimpse of an arcade (my nightmare) and rode every ride. (Let’s never tell him you are supposed to buy tokens and actually make the rides move, ok?)

Chris traveled through South Africa earlier this month, and we’ve had the privilege of hosting many guests lately. Our usual, unwavering routine has been all over the place lately. But there’s nothing that can make the Ladds feel more like family than the kickoff of rugby season!

THIS IS OUR LAST RUGBY SEASON!!!

We had an EPIC time on Bree St! Thank you Young Urbanists s for the Open Streets Africa Experience. I was so moved by the power of passionate people to bring change to their city. THINK ABOUT WHAT WE COULD DO FOR GOD'S KINGDOM WHEN WE UNITE AND MOBILIZE!

The little Ladds lived their very best lives being able to move freely downtown while four blocks of a major road were shut down for cars.

I did a ridiculous thing. I ordered a walking pad to use for five days and return. I can explain. (A walking pad is a treadmill without handles to slide under a desk and walk while you work.)

My husband went out of town for EIGHT days. Our two youngest sons only attend school a few hours in the morning and struggled with Dad being away….

You might think mud pies are made with a bit of mud, sticks and leaves. Not our mud pie. Ours needed an additional 14 hours of co-regulation, copious screen time, a special picnic packed, and brute force to get out the door. It's even more than just that day...

It's in the daily choosing to do all the things you said you'd never do as a parent... and repenting for the earlier days when you passed judgment on others...

It's always having plans A-Z ready to action, knowing the preparation will likely get tossed aside and be unappreciated...

I joke with friends who tell me about their relaxing weekends that there's "no chill at the Ladd house". Benjamin has always required less sleep and more intense physical activity than all the parenting books said. During the extra-long days and nights, I've learned terms like "sensory seeking" and a profile of autism best understood as a nervous system disability.

But we found our rhythm: high energy, always moving, wildly caffeinated (me!), and full of connection and joy…

Wanna see Jam dance-hike? (Yes. Yes you do.)

Can’t get enough…

We called last week "our turning point or breaking point". An autoimmune disorder building in our five-year old's system is wreaking havoc, exacerbating existing autism-related complications. We were losing sleep, and our son woke before 4am, requiring more than we had to give. The worst of us collided as we each found our end points.

I was up late recently, rattled by the twists and turns of parenting a child with special needs. A teething baby demanded comfort just as I started to settle. One hour of sleep later, it was time for a new day to start! There was a redeeming moment in the nauseatingly caffeinated day that followed. All three kids were in the car, and my four-year old was practicing the Bible verse we were learning. My teenager said…

When summer is simmering so hard, we don’t go camping… We go to the air-conditioned camping store and jump around in the “Cold Chamber”. Follow me for more tips on camping in the summer heat!

After six straight days of Benjamin’s persistent begging to go back to the bunnies… He won! (We all won.) A scorching summer morning was well-spent watching my little boys in their elements… Benjamin with animals and Wyatt with chicken and chips.

Sunday Funday at Boeretroos_koffiewinkel . Benjamin sat with that bunny for 45 minutes. I had to pull him away!

And the fun just keeps going… Happy Meals, an ocean breeze, a perfect riding ramp and a portable soccer goal. I am not overlooking our blessings for even a single moment.

Blueberry Bar!! A fantastic Saturday morning in the sunshine with my 3 best boys. The blueberry juice was FANTASTIC! 🫐💙

I laid next to my 2-year-old son last night and tried to read bedtime stories. He interrupted every word I said, unable to withhold his enthusiasm. He chattered and grinned, while bobbing a pacifier in his mouth like a cigar. I stopped and savored the moment, completely consumed with love for him.

For an instant, I felt like I was on the outside looking into something extraordinary. Love for my son was pulsing through me, despite his remarkable defiance and destruction that day. I spend days cleaning mess after mess, doing unseen and unappreciated tasks, and exchanging my needs for his. And last night, as that powerful love cascaded over me, I realized that I am the one truly experiencing God's love.

Grade R (Kindergarten) orientation today.

We are walking in the answer to prayers we never knew we’d pray. Benjamin will start Grade R on Wednesday at a cottage school created for children with special needs. There are two loving teachers to care for the four children in his class - a class he can continue with until he’s 16…

I don’t always want to be the mom that has to turbo-pack the car and kids, ready to hit the road by 7:30am for an outing I make up on the fly. I don’t always want to pack PBJs and snack boxes on repeat.

I wish I had more compassion and patience. I wish I could stay steadier while trying to operate as my son’s external nervous system because his doesn’t do its job. I wish transitions and life in general were easier for him and, consequentially, for us too.

Presenting the first ever Kirstenbosch Library Book Crawl! We loaded up library books and PBJ roll ups for a last minute; pre-bedtime adventure. We read the first book at the jumping rock, the next book on a bench by a riveting frisbee game, and then marched uphill for a rugby book by the duck pond. This (obviously) led to spontaneous rugby training. It was such a fun way to mix reading, active play AND get dinner taken care of.

If you know Benjamin, you know he loves anything that involves soldiers. He was THRILLED to find out there is a castle right in the center of Cape Town because, “Mom, everyone knows soldiers live in castles.”

We only scratched the surface this morning, but Benjamin gave us a riveting tour of the castle with his very own historical details while Wyatt free-loaded on my hip. Another grand adventure in the books. 🏰