How Things Are Going

It's amazing how every day is so different. One day I'll think I'm finally getting it together and everything will be running smoothly and the next day I'll feel like I'm on my way to going crazy because things are so overwhelming. Thankfully though, the better days are starting to outweigh the more difficult ones.

Both boys are enrolled in a program called Birth to Three where they are receiving interventions and therapies for the different areas they are delayed in. It's a wonderful program and we are learning so much through it. Jack has physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and a structured developmental play group that he attends twice a week. Sometimes I think the information we receive is more helpful to us than to Jack. For example, we're learning all sorts of things to do to help him with his fine motor skills. Play-Do is a great tool to help him with the lack of muscle tone in his hands, so despite my dislike for Play-Do because of its horrible mess, we've gotten him Play-Do.:) Jack's progress is slow, but he is progressing and we're all learning a lot.

Hank has physical therapy and a teacher who works with him on his expressive communication and social interaction. She was assigned to work with him because of how withdrawn he was and because of how little he smiled, laughed, or played. He is doing phenomenal in those ares now and has almost met all of his goals. He used to just solemnly stare at me when I would try to play Peek a Boo with him or interact with him another way, but now he is much more engaged and is always smiling. The other day he was holding his pointer finger out and I touched it with my finger and made a "bzzz" sound. He actually laughed and then kept reaching out to touch my finger so I would do it again. I know that sounds like nothing spectacular, but that was the first time I felt he was actually playing with me and I was ecstatic.

We all long for the day when, God willing, Justin will have a somewhat normal schedule. The past few weeks he has been gone from about 12:30pm-11:30pm three days a week followed by a shift where he's gone from about 8am or 9am to 6pm or 7pm. Those four days are very long days for us all. He still does so much for the boys when he's able to. He gets up with them, plays with them, takes them to their appointments, and whatever else he can to spend time with them and help me.

Among the biggest news is that we were recently told that the boys could most likely be adopted within two months. This was much faster than we were expecting and obviously very exciting. Since we first had them we've seen them as our sons, but to several others they're still our "foster kids" and it will be so nice when that is no longer an issue.

Justin and I were talking awhile ago about how we went from the hardest thing we ever dealt with to the hardest thing we ever dealt with. Meaning, not having kids to having kids. Infertility was an incredibly devastating process (I might write more about it another time) and very difficult to deal with. Then we got two kids and that process has now been the most difficult thing we've gone through. It's funny how God works, but His grace, peace, presence, and help has been there all along and once again His faithfulness is proving true every day. There were several nights where I felt like I needed to remind God that He wasn't supposed to give me more than I could handle (although the Bible never actually says ever that), but He is showing me, and maybe for the first time I'm seeing, what it truly means to be able to do all things through Him alone who gives me strength. It's sometimes very difficult, but also very cool, how God uses situations to bring the Bible and His Gospel to life. God has not only shown His love to us by giving us these two little boys, but more so in all the ways He is there to help us love, care and provide for them.