By Melody Kraemer

Every morning I wake up and thank the Lord for another day and always ask to protect my family as we go off for the day in our separate directions.

On one day last week, I was praying and said Amen. However, I bowed my head again, asked for protection for my family, and said Amen. For some reason, I did this four times this morning. Something in my heart kept telling me to keep praying.

Little did I know what would transpire on this day. But, according to the timeline of this incident, twenty-five minutes after my prayers, I learned that they had lost my boy at school.

The story of events from that morning: The kids all lined up at the gate and were all there, so they proceeded to walk to class. All but one. My son. He wandered off. I am still unsure why the teachers were front-leading the “autism” class instead of behind them. Oh, that’s right; they did mention that the aide, that is usually in the back called off sick that day.

When the teacher told me what happened, it made it sound as if he was missing for a few minutes, but come to find out, he was missing around 10-plus minutes or so before they figured he was gone.

Once they realized he was missing, they ran out and found my boy in another person’s car. He had buckled himself in and wanted to go home. I am thankful for this parent. She was kind to my son. She had to get the principal, and the principal had to coax him out of this stranger’s car as he was asking for mommy.

They told me about it after school. All the what if’s crossed my mind. My heart broke, but I didn’t cause a scene, yell or scream. I drove off and broke down in tears.

At that moment, I knew why I had prayed so hard that morning for God to keep us safe.

Psalm 121:7-8 NIV

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forever more.

Melody Kraemer is the Editor and Publisher of AutismMomAdventures.com. Follow her on Instagram @lifewithmelody_k. Tik Tok @lifewithmelodyk and Facebook.com/autismmomadventures. For more information or general encouragement, feel free to email her at: autismmomofboys@gmail.com