did I sign up for this?

I just returned from the Sixth Annual Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Related Concerns Conference. It was wonderful and difficult. I've known all the symptoms, of course, but to hear them over and over and over for two days was tough. Now, the speakers I heard are all very much advocates of children and adults with ADD/ADHD. I heard physicians, experts in education, adults with the diagnosis and counselors who specialize in the treatment of adults and children. They said things that I already know. But they also showed me what life is like for my son. I wanted to cry, and did when I could. It was so hard. Being a momma is hard.

A high school senior had an interactive computer program to show what it's like to have ADHD on both auditory and visual tasks. As soon as I started the auditory task, which consisted of following directions involving different shapes and colors, my "virtual ADD" made my stomach hurt. I failed the task. I wanted to drive straight home and hug my boy. I still think I may have a touch of ADD, but not like Elijah. Bless him. Now I am left to wonder when and if and how to go about medicating and treating him. I have lots of praying to do. But my mom kept reminding me that the way Elijah is is all he knows, and he's a happy boy. I know God made him wonderfully. But I still cried.

Yesterday morning, as I walked in to the conference, I asked God to show me a true and encouraging picture of Elijah in what I would hear. After lunch He delivered. A counselor who treats these children, and has an obvious heart for them, spoke such encouragement to me. After all the "bad" things I'd heard - symptoms, outcomes, motor vehicle accidents in teens, incarceration as adults (yes, incarceration) - she spoke life to me. She gave the following characteristics of children with ADHD:

• creative
• artistic
• intuitive
• empathetic
• visionary
• inventive
• sensitive
• original
• loving
• exhuberant - {having unrestrained joy}
• have the gift of gab
• think outside the box
• dramatic
• intelligent
• playful
• passionate
• spontaneous

Elijah is all over that list. {Talk about wanting to cry for joy.} And I just adore him. I'm just not sure what to do with him.

She also had audience members read many quotes from famous people who live {or lived} with ADD/ADHD. Here are a few that I love:

• All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. {Picasso}
• I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. {Picasso}
• The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. {Albert Einstein}
• Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. {Michael Jordan}
• The capacity of man himself is only revealed when, under stress and responsibility, he breaks through his educational shell, and he may then be a splendid surprise to himself no less than to this teachers. {Harvey Cushing}
• Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. {Benjamin Franklin}

So, I'm left with much to think about and much to pray about. But also with much to be thankful for. My Elijah will face many challenges, but I know his Father will help him find his way.