I’m so glad that January is almost over, aren’t you? Honestly, though, it’s been a good month for our family, considering it was January. We started off the year with a beautiful 8-or-so inches of snow. A real treat for North Carolina. If you like snow. This means that what was supposed to be our … [Read more…]
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… our family had three male birthdays in the course of sixteen days and we decided to celebrate the occasions with a big FAMILY-SIZED Star Wars Party! We kept the party family-only because of the special needs we have in our family. We didn’t want either … [Read more…]
As I write this, I am in the backseat of our minivan on the way home from our family’s 4th of July Summer vacation. For now, everyone is behaving. My heart is full, but I am unsure quite where to begin. Every patriotic holiday evokes emotion for us, but Independence Day is the happiest. It is … [Read more…]
*Quick note to my readers: This is the last Beauty in the Mess post that will be published publicly. From here on out, all Beauty in the Mess posts will be password protected. The password will be available to my weekly and monthly newsletter subscribers. So if you haven’t yet subscribed, feel free to do … [Read more…]
It’s hard to think about what kind of boy and man he will grow up to be because of some of the struggles he has, like his sensory issues. It’s another thing to have to worry about how he will turn out because he was constantly having a negative reaction to my disabilities. And ultimately that creates a storm of junk that we can’t “solve” or heal. We are left just to deal with it from day to day and hope that the end is not as bad as it sometimes appears it may be.
I know that Ezra’s issues are not as bad as other kids who have autism and stuff like that. But the stuff I deal with makes it, I think, just as hard.
When our son Jack was born in 2009, it seemed like a natural thing that he would grow up to enjoy many of the same things that I had as a boy and young man, which I thought to be synonymous with being a growing boy: throwing the baseball and football; swimming; trying various sports and activities; hiking, camping, climbing, rappelling, and enjoying the great outdoors; and so much more.
In other words, I was expecting what I grew up thinking was a typical male child. As it turned out, I was wrong.
Can I just take a moment and rave about how great the past few weeks have been? I’m not really sure what has made the difference. Maybe it has something to do with warmer weather, or maybe the new supplement my husband is taking, or maybe the fact that we got to take a vacation and … [Read more…]
…when I become more focused on the method I am using to reach that goal than the wonder of the actual goal itself, its time to get creative and do something very different.
The amazing story of us establishing contact with the family of our son’s namesake, a fallen soldier.
My husband’s thoughts about reconnecting with his son after a year-long deployment to Afghanistan.