Dinner with the Nellesens

Last Thursday we finally got to have a good chat, 3 hours worth, with Keith and Melisa Nellesen.

Darren and I were totally impressed by them.  It felt good to chat with VERY successful people about their journey with Autism.  They both said a lot of things that really left an impression on me.

-the most important thing we can do for Luke is to love each other as a couple! 

-church is STILL hard for them with a 17 year old, 14 year old, and 3 year old.

-they have done EVERYTHING with their money to try and "cure" their kiddos and nothing has worked.  We need to accept our children for who they are and love them to pieces.

-Melisa went through a lot of the same feelings I have about where I fit in in the mommy world.  Sometimes I feel like Autism has been the hardest on me.  Darren has work.  Luke is happy being Luke. And I'm stuck trying to figure out where I belong.  But I'm excited about finding out where "I fit"

-some of the best people on this planet can be dressed in jeans and a BYU pullover

-the goal with Bridges is to turn no kid away.  I love that! Keith said he wasn't going to fund something that had long lists of waiting.  Time is not on your side when dealing with Autism.



So jump to now, last week we found out after our dinner that the Nellesens donated an additional $100,000 to Bridges after our chat.  Man alive I feel so blessed to be a part of something so good.

There are ordinary people out there doing EXTRAORDINARY THINGS!