I am Karen…a mom of 3 wonderful kids. J is 14, O is 5, and E is 2 1/2. Peter, my husband, and I lead this family of 5 and get to encounter all of these wonderful parenting situations together. In August of 2009, our middle son, O, was diagnosed with autism. It has been a very trying, human experience of which we feel blessed, happy, sad, discouraged, and a multitude of other emotions on a daily basis. In November of 2011, our oldest son, J, suffered a traumatic brain injury. Trying to manage the autism, the TBI, the teenager and the toddler at the same time in this terrifically confusing world just adds to our happy all boy household. I wear pink as much as possible to offset all of the testosterone around here.  We live in Seattle and are graced to live near my parents and have very supportive families and friends. All of whom have wonderful senses of humor and remind us who we are.

***To protect the privacy of my family members, I’ve changed their names in this blog. Please help me respect that.