Off to a Promising Start

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.  The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.  -James 5:16

We had such a wonderful weekend together as a family.  Although it wasn't very relaxing, it was just so wonderful to feel 'normal' again.  We ate at Chipotle, Haven's favorite restaurant and went grocery shopping on Saturday night.  We also had a mix up with Haven's seizure medication that resulted in Aaron running to Boardman's Walgreen's at 10:30 p.m.  On Sunday we attended church as a family.  It was so wonderful to worship in God's house once more and to see our church family.  Haven surprised us all by crawling and walking by herself a few feet at a time.  She is shaky, but improves daily.  I guess home is the most therapeutic place to be!  Unfortunately, packing took up a great deal of time on Sunday so the day flew by.

The theme for today was change.  We have changed therapists, housing, and schedules today.  I will admit it; I was a bit apprehensive about all of this 'newness'.  Since I am a rigid creature of habit, I really enjoy having a predictable routine, but today went well.  It was extremely difficult to leave the house this morning, knowing that we would not be together as a family in our own home again until Friday night.  I had to change my bluesy attitude to one of thanksgiving that we now have the weekends to spend together.  That is definitely a positive step of progress.  I keep reminding myself that in the whole scheme of life, four to eight weeks is not a terrible amount of time.  I CAN do this.  Still, it was gut wrenching watching Aaron walk out the door of RMH tonight with two long-faced children whose turn to stay with Mom doesn't come until Wednesday night.  SO tough!

Let's talk about more positive things...Today was evaluation day for Haven with all of her new therapists, so it wasn't as intensive as it will be as she progresses.  I shared last week that I was apprehensive about Haven working with a new physical therapist.  After all, the last time that happened it didn't turn out too well.  Haven, like her mom, often doesn't do well with change.  Mix in high intensity stranger anxiety and you have a recipe for an hour long screaming, snotting....well you get the picture what that hour might look like if you refer back to the crying face photo a couple of posts ago.  Anyhow, PT was our first session for the day.  Remember how PT is our least favorite event?  Today I was stunned as our new physical therapist walked into the room, picked up our daughter and told her that they were going to go look for some toys to play with.  Amazingly, Haven went right along with Miss K without any resistance - and she was SMILING!  I was so stunned I murmured something about Haven having stranger anxiety and Miss K shrugged it off and told me we weren't going to focus on that today.  Do you know what happened?  There was absolutely NO screaming for PT today!  NONE!  Haven played and didn't even realize she was working.  It was beautiful!  Hooray for no screaming fits!  Hooray for the power of prayer!

Occupational therapy went pretty much the same way.  Although we worked with a new therapist Haven was just fine.  Perhaps this is because Miss MB offered her a snack while working on Haven's pincer grasp.  Haven was mostly cooperative and even asked for 'more' when it was time to leave.

Our last therapy session was speech.  Haven was able to follow instructions and demonstrate her knowledge of English vocabulary.  In her assessment, she scored 'low middle' which the therapist and I thought was wonderfully incredible since Haven was only introduced to the English language eleven months ago.  So, we are not nearly as behind in language skills as I thought.  Yet another blessing.  Haven still needs much work learning new words and enunciating them better, but that will come with time and practice.  The best news of the day is that she understands more than we thought she did.  We just have to get her to pay attention to what we are telling her first!

Another positive change today is that our kiddos are with us more - they're here assisting with the move into RMH and observing therapy sessions.  Brenna and Levi are staying with me for a couple of nights and then it will be Eden and Micah's turn.  Levi was permitted to ride a little bike around the gym while Haven participated in PT.  He was so happy to ride a bike indoors and only had a few close calls.  We all ate lunch together in the cafeteria as a family and enjoyed some afternoon playtime in the RMH play yard.  Dinner was a wonderful meal prepared by one of the many RMH volunteers.  The bread pudding was delicious!

As you can see we have experienced many blessings today.  Thank you to our faithful friends who are praying specifically for this week to go smoothly.  So far, we're off to a promising start.  One small area that needs improvement is that our little ones are having a difficult settling down at the end of the evening.  As I write this, Levi is still awake and causing quite a commotion.  It's so hard to sleep in an unfamiliar place!  In addition, Haven refuses to sleep in her own bed.  The only way I can get her to fall asleep is to snuggle with her in my bed (which is a twin by the way).  My, how far we've come!  Just a month ago, Haven didn't want me to touch her at bedtime.  I'm so thankful for all of the blessings that have come from Haven's stroke!  It's so great that she is not only making physical improvements, but emotional ones as well.  Thank you, Lord, for healing your girl both physically and emotionally!  Thank you, friends, for lifting us up in prayer and for the many ways you are supporting us through this challenging time.  We are so blessed!

May His name be praised!