A few days ago I wrote about thanking God for trials & suffering.Today God gave me a test. I think I passed!  Joshua is my 13 year old special needs child. He is severely mentally challenged, about the same mental age of  a two year old. He is extremely physically healthy, and a big young man now weighing about 160 pounds and about 5ft 10 inches. I recently pulled Joshua out of his special education school because Joshua was beginning to get extremely violent with the staff & other students. Picture a two year old trying to get his own way who has learned he can kick, hit, pinch, & bite when he's angry. Violent behavior is apparently typical with these adolescents because I was told Joshua was the least aggressive of these young men. They obviously become rather dangerous as they grow  stronger! Because I've raised nine children and I think it is one of the most effective forms of discipline and because I believe it's biblical, I'm going to tell you that I will resort to using a "spanky spoon" on a little bottom when a child flat out refuses to listen to a directive or shows extreme disrespect or gets agressive with siblings. Honestly, I don't remember using it all that much with my children because they generally learned to obey. Joshua is a different story though but I pretty much just show him the spoon & say "spanky" when he begins to show his anger. I use it some, like when he bangs on the front window quite HARD & I really am afraid he'll break it. Afterall he has banged & broken several mirrors & the glass in a few pictures because he REALLY likes to bang on things even when he isn't angry.     So early in my day I called 911 & asked for the police to help me find Joshua as he pulled a corner of the fence down ( 5 foot of chicken wire atop a 4 foot chainlink wire) & run off while I was distracted with a bit of gardening ). We found him alright (thank you Jesus) about 7or8 houses down the street where he had run into a house & scared the man there enough that he had a gun out. That was all the details I heard. So we decided to stay inside where Joshua was watching a Veggie Tales in the bedroom & I had been in the garage with the door open to keep my eye on him but I was listening to the radio & didn't hear Joshua kick the wall which he must have done to begin the nice large dinner size plate hole he made by picking drywall & throwing it around the room. I happened to have a large chalkboard that covered the hole nicely but as I was drilling that to the wall, the drill slipped & nicely punctured my finger which bled a LOT & I'm hoping the bleeding cleansed the wound enough to prevent infection later.      So now  I'm reclining on the sofa writing this, Joshua watching cartoons next to me playing with my toes & I am truly thankful for my day,  "considering it all joy" as James writes in Chapter 1, knowing God is producing patience & endurance in me. I didn't even have the old thoughts today that I've struggled with in the past : ( I CANNOT handle this, I need to put Joshua in a home, extreme anger & worry, etc.)    Today is a good one!  Joshua is basically happy (despite bouts of agression & boredom) and this special child has taught me so much about love. Love is a simple, basic language, it does NOT need words. Joshua is always ready to be loved & to love even directly after he gets spanked. He does NOT hold a grudge! When we love the "least of these",we love Jesus. My finger is so tender, I think I'd better take it easy, definitely NO cooking! Smile!      Love & prayers, in Jesus, Cynthia