This saying could not be more true
for us so far this new year.
On January 15th, my mother suffered a massive stroke. My mom is 85 years old. The past few years, she has had some health scares, but she has always bounced back. As much as we knew a major health issue could happen, it was something I sort of lived in the land of denial about. I had other plans for my time with both of my parents.
My mom is an amazing person. She is strong and a fighter. So is my dad who has been by her side non-stop since the stroke happened. Their tenacity and strength has been a source of inspiration to many as they both work to make my mom healthy again. Their trust in the Lord and His comfort and plan for their lives has been a witness to many during the lengthy hospital stay.
My mom is currently working to get to a rehab facility to see what she can regain from what she lost from the stroke. If she can stay healthy, I think she will make some gains because she is so determined to work hard and try her best.
Having a family crisis like this, when you have 2 little boys with special needs, just adds some interesting layers to life. I have not been home as much as I usually am. When I am home, I admit I am distracted. I am operating at getting the bare minimum done with housework, meal prep, book work, and unfortunately even with my activities with the boys.
How this affects the boys differs because they have such different personalities and approaches to life.
Ben has pretty much rolled with it. If anything, I have felt closer to Ben these past few weeks. Maybe the saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" is working in my favor, haha.
Jonah has regressed in his bathrooming success- we were at the point of staying dry for 2-3 hour stretches! Now we are having more accidents again. Jonah has also been having impulse control issues, however, Jonah's HYPER thyroid has not been under control for the past months, so that is definitely another factor in his behavior issues.
Just a lot of stuff going on.
I have to be honest. Life with children with special needs is usually very doable for me. However, when there a bump in the road, it sometimes can be overwhelming for a period because everything can get off kilter pretty easily and pretty quickly. It just requires me to be patient and put my trust in the Lord into over gear until we get on solid footing again.
So 2019 did not start out how I expected it to- life never does really go as we expect, does it? Ben's amazing ability to roll with things is a gift I think would be helpful for all of us.
Who would have thought our little Lithuanian wonder would have the secret to life? God certainly uses both our boys to teach me lots of life lessons. I guess life never ceases to amaze me either...
And now some pictures to share so far from 2019:
Abigail hanging out with our
2 valuable sources of wisdom :)
Ben, top photo. Jonah, bottom photo.
Beautiful winter day hike by Lake Michigan with Stephen and our dog Tucker
Abigail travels to Mexico over Christmas break with her Bio-Medical Engineering group
Lydia's amazing art project
After hardly any snow for the month of December, we now have snow! The boys love playing outside! Good way to get out some energy!
Since the boys have been unable to see Grandma (or Grandpa) since the stroke, we made this video for them. They miss "Bebop"- their word for Grandma and Grandpa.
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