~ Friday ~

Brad and Trevor were both out doing stuff with friends until late in the evening, and Sidney had a friend spend the night here.  Rarely does a weekend go by that the kids are all home anymore which is fine because I am thankful for their strong friendships. It was a rough day for Travis and me, anyway, as we weighed our options regarding what to do next with Ryan. We did make the decision final to go ahead with surgery.

~ Saturday ~

Brad went to the pumpkin patch with a friend in the morning and I told him he wasn’t allowed back in the house until after six so he stayed at the friend’s house all day and watched football.  Trevor and Ryan headed to gpa and gma’s for the afternoon so Sidney could have her birthday party boy free!  She had six great friends over (and was sad a few others couldn’t make it), and they ate lots of snack foods then made pumpkin people with gourds.  It was a complete hit and an idea I got from Family Fun magazine.

So they didn’t quite turn out exactly the same, but ours were still cute.

This is the one I made….no one is ever too old for a little arts and crafts fun.

They are all such sweet girls and aside from jabbing a wire into the palm of my hand trying to get the gourds to sit on top of each other, everyone had a fun time.  Mess and all!

~ Sunday ~

We tried a new church for the second week and will most likely be staying.  It’s a very difficult decision to leave our church family of five years but because our church is so small, the kids are not getting the Sunday school and Wednesday night groups we want them to have.  This church is a good fit (the kids love it) and is also starting a buddy program and Sunday school class for special needs kids and adults which means we’ll be able to take Ryan with us every week….very important to us.  Sidney had two volleyball games in the afternoon, and we all ended the day pretty exhausted.

~ Monday ~

Ryan was fitted for new leg braces which is never fun because he is so strong now and fights the casting process.  One of my friends and I had the opportunity to speak at a college nursing class (taught by another friend) about what it’s like to raise a special needs child.  It was a wonderful experience; I never shy away from sharing our story and also think personal testimony is  a much better way to learn (coming from my college experiences) than just reading about something in a textbook. At the same time it was really  hard to cram eight years of experiences into 25 minutes.  There was so much to say, so much that has happened.  When it was all said and done, I wish I could have shared my faith in Christ because that is the real answer to the question we hear all the time – “how do you do it?”.  We do it because we understand that our job, and Ryan’s, is to change people for eternity.  To bring them to Christ.  To show them God’s love and grace and forgiveness is enough.

~ and today ~

Travis and I enjoyed the  day at home together until it was time to get the kids.  I moved a bunch of plants, and Travis mowed the yard.  I made sugar cookies and cinnamon rolls, he ate the frosting and made chili.  I called the doctor this morning and told them we are going to move forward with surgery so now we wait for an appointment with the surgeon.  Travis and I agreed we won’t let it happen before January so we can get through the holidays without this added stress.  Last year was rough because Ryan was healing, and we simply don’t want to be hospitalized during the kids’ favorite holiday season. Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving and Christmas though?!  I don’t even know if they could get him scheduled before January anyway at this point since these things take forever…..insurance approval, scheduling.  My guess is that we are looking more toward February.  I can’t tell you how difficult it has been these last few days for us to make the decision to go back to the OR again after the year we’ve had.  I don’t even think it’s actually the physical aspect of it for Ryan that is bothering us so much but more the  emotional and mental toll it takes to get through something like this.  And this surgery is going to only require one surgery and 3-4 days in the ICU compared to 3 surgeries and 10 days in the ICU last year.  Remember this?

Boy is he cute! It’s just a lot to deal with on top of kids, jobs, finances, sports, trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy for the other kids.  The emotions of it all are completely overwhelming.  But like the saying goes, “every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day”.  If you ask me, it’s all about perspective.