Days 11-20

(These are accurate for the dates, just hadn't made it on the blog till now ;))

I am thankful for...

11 Children's church workers. Their willingness to volunteer means that I can sit and learn in church instead of trying to occupy the boys. Except for the days I'm one of the volunteers ;) But doing it is a blessing too!

12 Being able to brush Ethan again. I haven't been able to "brush" him (Google Wilbarger protocol if you're interested) in two months because of a hand injury. His behavior went waaay downhill :( His OT gave me a handle for his brush and I can brush him again! By the next day we already could see an improvement in his behavior :) Just in case we thought it wasn't doing any good...

13 A huge blessing... Someone who knew we were in need took me to Walmart and bought us almost $100 of diapers :happytears

14 Cool weather, and yummy chili!

15 Knowledge of food intolerances and their symptoms. Ethan had a severe behavioral reaction to a food. When he was younger, citrus fruits gave him diarrhea and a diaper rash. My mom is allergic, so I thought he might be too. I haven't given him any in a long time. His allergy tests came back negative for citrus. I thought it might be an intolerance he had grown out of. Someone gave us some satsumas off their tree recently. Ethan and I split one. Within a couple minutes after he finished it, he told me his mouth burned. That's the beginning of an allergic reaction for me so I knew what had happened :( Later, when the behavioral reaction kicked in, I recognized it for what it was. Jesse said he was acting like he was possessed. Unfortunately, he's right... Ethan was possessed by a chemical reaction in his body that he couldn't control :( And when he started coming out of it, he realized he was out of control. And he was SCARED. Knowing what was going on enabled me to stay relatively calm and help him through it. It wasn't easy, but we all made it through...

16 Good day with Ethan. After the rough night before, it was incredibly wonderful to have such a great day! He was very even emotionally, happy, curious, etc. It was nice to not have to deal with his issues hardly at all, even if it was just for one day :) (That might sound terrible but parents of special needs children understand exactly what I mean!)

17 Opportunity to bless a teen mom-to-be (daughter of a friend) by attending her baby shower. Yes, she made a mistake. Yes, she still deserves our love and support!

18 Operation Christmas Child. We are struggling so much financially but Jesse found little bit of money for us to do one shoebox this year :) Ethan remembered doing it last year and was excited to do it again!

19 A friend who blesses us with free haircuts :) We find ways to bless her in return but she refuses to accept money for them!

20 Cuddly kiddos <3