Things have been hectic for a few days with Greg gone, but sometimes not as hectic as I thought. Other times, much more hectic. I guess it all evened out. We had the pleasure of having Nini (my mom) spend the night one night for a girls spend the night party! The other two nights was just me and the girls. We had Pizza Sunday night and watched Ratatouille and Chicken fingers and mac and cheese last night and watched American Idol! Maddie is growing up to be such a big girl and a big helper with Kathryn, although if I ask her to give Kathryn her paci one too many times in one night, she lets me know that she "can't do it all!" (I want to say sometimes, "Well, me neither!!", but then again as a parent I guess we are supposed to "do it all.")
My nephew Reed is still in the hospital in Montgomery. They don't think it's pneumonia now but possibly the preliminary signs that he is going to have asthma like his daddy!! Please continue to pray for Reed, Beau and Brittany and give the doctors wisdom to discern what is wrong. Pray for good health!!
I check a caring bridge website daily for another one of God's miracles born to a wonderful family I have yet to meet. They also have a Katherine and they face some of the same daily struggles we do and then more. In reading their blog this morning, I ran across the following story about what it feels like to raise a child with different circumstances (not necessarily special needs, just different). I could never rewrite what she wrote and could not do it justice, so I took the liberty to copy it here - and of course, give her the credit. Please read!
By Emily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. Michelangelo's David. the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
We’re still learning about our new destination.
Here's to finding your windmills and tulips each day no matter what life throws at you!! I know we feel like we have a house full of them!! May God bless you as he has blessed us!
Faithfully, Kelly
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