[Note: This post was originally shared on the former Dallas Moms Blog; since the post went up, Now I See the Moon has been read far and wide and is currently listed as Amazon's #3 Book for Special Needs Parenting! If you have not already read it...I strongly encourage you to do so!]

Aug 2010 - During the Autism Society National Conference, Elaine Hall, author of Now I See the Moon: A Mother, a Son, a Miracle (HarperStudio, 2010), and founder of The Miracle Project, took time out of her schedule to meet with me. It was a true pleasure to interview this petite, vibrant woman who exudes kindness and contentment.

 A former film and television coach for children, Elaine worked with the likes of Dylan and Cole Sprouse from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, long before they became “Zach and Cody.” (My son, Ethan, is a big fan of these handsome, talented boys!) Elaine’s work as a “baby wrangler” helped prepare her for motherhood, but when she could not biologically carry children, Elaine turned toward her Russian heritage to adopt a boy from a Russian orphanage. In Now I See the Moon, Elaine details this difficult, yet moving journey to find Neal, bring him home and raise him. When they arrived back in the States, Neal was just shy of 2-years-old and not well; it took a good 6-to-8 months just to nurse him back to health. Not long after that, Neal’s Autism diagnosis took center stage. Elaine shares in the book, “Now comes the reckoning. I am not ready for it. I do not accept that anything is really wrong with Neal. I see his soul. Neal’s soul is whole. Why would anyone imply that he is broken and needs fixing?” In reading Elaine’s words, I felt her pain…I relived my own.

Once Elaine came to terms with Neal’s diagnosis, she began a quest to find ways to reach him and bring him into her world. It was not until she entered his world that they truly connected as mother and son. When I met with Elaine, she shared a story with me which is also in her book; a story about pulling Neal through parking lots, even though he would resist time-after-time; so much so she sometimes felt she was dragging him to the car. One day, she slowed down and allowed Neal to guide her to stop and examine his particular fascination with the cars in the parking lots. Elaine recalls, “Now, following his lead, I stop with him, kneel down, and stare at the hubcaps. What I see is the most beautiful thing: the sun falling on a hubcap creates a starburst of brilliant, shining shards of light. They are magical, mesmeric.” As Elaine retold this story to me at the Hyatt Regency Dallas, I teared up and apologetically wiped at my eyes and nodded in understanding. But, Elaine didn’t mind my tears…we connected then and there. The truth is, when I force myself to slow down, my sweet son – Ethan, like Neal, is able to astonish and astound me with profound understanding and appreciation for the beauty in the world surrounding us. Like Elaine, I feel truly blessed to be a mother of such a special child!

As Now I See the Moon progresses, Elaine shares about the challenges that Autism brings to her family; she is candid about her marriage and frank about what happened to friendships when her sole focus became helping Neal and tending to his therapies and needs. Elaine shares about working with Dr. Stanley Greenspan to learn to better enter Neal’s wo