A village of therapists.

I have had a few moments over the last few months when I have been able to see how much the therapists that help my kids are huge blessings. So often it is easy to feel bombarded with the schedule and the work and then the homework for afterward. But once in a while, in the midst of the routine realize how thankful I am for each of these people. Here are just a few tidbits, for what they are worth, of reminders that I am not alone in my parenting.

Leaving Katie's sensory therapy appointment I felt so encouraged. After a quick conversation on our way out the door, I am touched by the words her OT Therapist spoke. We have both been surprised to see Katie and her progress. Her OT lady melted my heart when she told me what a good job I was doing and how much progress she had made since being back in my home. It really is those little words that help get us through the hard times and help us keep going.  Driving home I really reflected on how far we have come. There was a point about 2 years ago when I was in tears at a physicians office begging for answers, for help. I was at the end of my rope and felt like I was failing Katie. I had tried everything. We had so much stress in our home and I didn't know what to do. I am amazed at how many doctors just let me leave with no offer of help or advice.

Just the other day I had been really struggling with the anger that came from my youngest. He is only 1 and a half years old and has had the power to make me forget all of my parenting tools before. I found myself feeling like I didn't know what to do. I had tried it all and nothing was working. I felt like I was failing him and my family. Robert always gets comments for being the happiest little boy. And he is. But those moments of frustration send him through the roof. There is no middle, he goes from 1-10 in a matter of seconds. I confessed my frustrations to one of our therapists that makes home visits. I was so thankful for her supporting words and advice. She reminded me that it isn't the parenting styles but rather this behavior is a result of how his body was wired as a result of his his birth and exposure in the womb. She gave me some new techniques to try and I felt such relief.

The PT that comes to our house has been working with my 3 little kids most of their life. He has seen my on our bad days and good days. He knows them and there is comfort in that. I don't have to explain their behavior to someone new each time. Sometimes just watching him play with them gives me inspiration to try something new when I feel like I have been in a rut. There have been a handful of visits when I hear the most simple instruction or advice and yet I have had my head so buried in the busy schedule that I overlooked it.

These therapists have become our family. So often I joke that I see them more than my friends. We are busy with appointments right now but the reality is that we need them. The kids need this help to get them going, that jump start on an already hard life.

On days when I feel like I am doubting myself as a parent I love that I can word vomit on these people and they will support me in a way that I didn't know I needed.

So, Thank You to all of the people who have spent their time helping my children.

Home Sweet Home Part 3

I have to conclude that we found a house. Not the one I mentioned before but a house provided by the Lord none the less. We almost dismissed it because of the pictures online. It made it look smaller inside.

Last weekend we had two open houses to look at, one that I loved and one that my husband loved. We thought for sure we would pick one of these homes to put an offer on. As we pulled up to the first house we saw that nobody was there even though it was just minutes after they were supposed to open. I have a bad habit of being early but still, I expected them to be on time. Sadly they weren't and on the way we saw a sign for another open house so we decided to turn around and go check it out.

As soon as we pulled in front of the house I realized this was the one my agent sent me the pics to. Well, either way, it doesn't hurt to look. I ran inside while my husband sat in the car with the kids. This was our routine. With 5 kids little kids, house hunting can get a little crazy with having to find babysitters. So we would take turns going through the house.

I was pleasantly surprised as I walked inside and saw how open it was. Much bigger than I thought. I was the only one looking so I could take my time and was able to chat with the woman showing the house. I could really take a minute to picture our family in this house. After my husband looked he felt the same way.

We left chatting about all the things we loved about it but had an appt to see another house. The one I loved. Once inside I was sadly disappointed and realized the neighborhood wasn't something I was interested in driving by every day.

I have to say it is so hard to think about our needs, wants and then give it up to God. I was constantly asking myself with each house we looked at...Am I being to picky? Am I settling? Is this the house we can have holidays at? Could we stay here and have our grandkids over in this house? What would it look like to have 5 teenagers running around? It was exhausting. I wanted so desperately for God to just say "Here, this is the house."

We asked our realtors to drive over to the open house and see this one we loved so much. That was our second trip in a matter of just an hour or so.  :) After we left I knew we were going to make an offer. Both my spouse an I loved it and we felt it, this was the one.

Since we had been looking at so many houses all with good and bad things about them we decided we needed a list. This list was our Criteria List. One one side it had our needs. We needed a backyard for the kids to play in, an open floor plan for our youngest son and his hearing loss, enough bedrooms that Katie can have her own room because of her sleeping problems. These were things we were praying for. On the other side we listed our wants, the things we hoped for or could obtain with the house. We wanted to stay in the same school district. I wanted a soaking tub to retreat to after a long day. We wanted to be near a park or school for playing. The list went on.

This house had just about everything on the list...all of our needs and most of our wants. Anyway...our offer went through and we could not be more happy. Again I find that when I take things to the Lord and wait on His perfect timing I am much more satisfied than I would be if I rushed out and picked out something for myself.

This house hunting journey has been exhausting and tiring but I have been blessed with so many things. New friends/neighbors at our current home we are renting, we were able to sell our house in this crazy market and now God provided a house before the market climbs upward in price. More importantly, we have a roof over our heads, friends and family have stepped up to help us through meals, packing, and babysitting.

I am content, truly happy knowing that this must be exactly where God wants us to be. We almost over looked this house but God had the perfect day for us to drive by and showed it to us right at the perfect moment.