Things have been pretty normal here at the Kroeker house the last little while. Fully back in the swing of kids being back in school. I did take them out a few times last week which is worth noting since I rarely do that anymore! We went to Joso's play place on Wednesday and my church Mom's group on Friday. Both days I was rushing to get home in time to put Adam on the bus (one of the biggest reasons I rarely do go out) but still well worth it:).
Nathan is still not walking well, but he is very stable and can walk several steps while being completely balanced. He doesn't like it yet - he gets a bit upset with us when we let him go. I'm not sure when he'll be "emotionally" ready to start walking for real, but it certainly seems he is physically there! He's a bit of a mess right now because he's got a bit of a cold, which isn't helping his state of mind. He really gets around, though - I have to keep a much closer eye on him these days!
Lynsey is becoming such a big helper with her brothers! More then ever! She got Adam's breakfast for him the other day while we were being lazy in bed which was really nice:). I was at a training session at Adam's preschool yesterday morning, so she took care of Nathan while Brian was on a phone meeting - apparently she was walking him, got tired so tried sitting and playing with him but then he got bored and wanted to walk again so she did . . . quite taxing on her:). I love how she takes so much responsibility and ownership over her brothers! It's like God knew that Adam would need a big sister that would look out for him and take care of him:). I volunteered in her class on Friday and that was a really neat experience! I really wanted to see how things happened in the class and where Lynsey fit in, because if our parent/teacher conference was to be believed, she must be quite the slacker! They did this assignment where they were sounding out words themselves and writing them down, and she is nowhere near the lowest in this category - somewhere in the middle, even upwards of the middle I would say. She definitely has a bit of a concentration problem, though. I would like to see her apply herself a bit more and not be so easily distracted, but it didn't seem that out of the norm from what I saw of the other kids. Perhaps the other kids parents are getting the same reports that we got:). I did ask the teacher how she had been doing lately, and she said she has seen some improvement, which is good to hear. We'll just keep reminding her to work hard:).
How I feel about how Adam is doing varies based on which day you ask me. I'm going to share something a bit more personal than what I usually write. Last week at youth, we were discussing the Holy Spirit and how He works in our lives. I found myself wondering how He had been working in my life lately, and I came up empty. I asked God to bring something to me that I needed to change, something I should focus on, and it wasn't long before my thoughts turned to how Brian and I don't pray together before we go to bed anymore. When we were first married, we did this regularly and it was really important to me. Somewhere along the way (oh maybe about 5 or so years ago??) I guess we started feeling so tired that this habit just kind of fell away. Anyway, as I was thinking about this, I felt like God was telling me that we needed to pray for our family and for our marriage more regularly.
So I went home and told Brian, and he said he had been feeling the same way! Holy Spirit telling us something?? I think so! And who says youth is only for teaching the young people?? I think as a leader, I learn more than they do!
So we've been praying, especially for Adam and his treatment and that we will know what direction to take with it. I found out last week that the waiting list to get therapists into our home to work with him is another 8 or 9 months yet - like we haven't already waited long enough! A bit discouraging to say the least, especially since all you ever hear from people is, "The earlier you get intervention, the better!". How are parents supposed to cope when the clock is ticking and you can't get the help you need for your child??
Anyway, back to the praying thing! I am going somewhere with this:). Since we've started praying more regularly, while I still have some concerns and anxiety over his future and whether or not we are doing enough for him, I've been feeling some more peace about where he's at. This has been especially true over the last few days. I went to a training session at his preschool yesterday that was about communication and ways to get him to communicate more, and when I got home, I tried to really focus on how much he actually is communicating with us. This has really come so far and I was able to see that yesterday! He understands so much more than he did even 3 months ago, and the words he is able to use to articulate what he needs are increasing all the time! I feel like he's "with us" a lot more, like he wants to be where we are - when we ask him to come with us, he does. When the rest of the family is doing something, he is interested. He has started doing "independent work" at preschool, where he sits at a station and does some kind of matching activity or something with the help of a teacher. Sitting through Circle time AND doing independent work?? He really has come so far!
He still has so far to go to catch up with other kids his age (and obviously we don't know if he ever will catch up completely) but I continue to have so much hope. And I'm feeling a lot more peace about just doing what we can for him and TRUSTING that God will provide what he needs. I know there will be many more ups and downs, but I feel like it's going to be okay. If Brian can say one time, "5 more minutes until we go get the pizza", and Adam hears it and starts walking around saying that exact sentence as clear as can be, there has to be hope that he is paying attention to what is going on around him and is trying to learn how to talk.
So there's an update on how I feel about Adam's progress! Hopefully I can continue to post about how far he continues to come:).
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