Harvesting Happiness

When you cannot leave your house together as family for more than 3 hours at a time, you forget what it is like to be spontaneous. Caring for our Pop required many sacrifices, one being that we were unable to leave him for more than a few hours a week, and if we left him, we had to arrange care for him. So much work for a few hours of alone time. There is a blog forthcoming regarding our decision to place Pop in a facility that is able to care for him better than we could, but for now, it has been difficult to write. It is coming however.

So I find myself trying to literally harvest some of these happy times because my superheros are so much in need of some quality family time (and so are their parents). The challenge of course is doing this all on a very restricted budget, but as you can see we manage just fine!

Last Friday, we took a field trip to a zoo (also a blog upcoming this week). It was in lieu of science class so we considered it a field trip. After our fantastic day together, we decided to spend the rest of the daylight over in Downtown Disney. Since we had the ability to do this (nothing keeping us from staring at our watches and a backpack full of sandwiches...we just spur-of-the-moment decided to go)! The best part was that we called Mr. Incredible to join us...and that was just the icing on the cake! Oh how we all love just being together outside of our home!! Mike joined us (he too is just getting use to this spontaneous mindset) after he finished his clinicals, and when we spotted him in the parking lot, it was as if we hadn't seen each other in years (even though we had just seen him 9 hours earlier). So cute, it almost made me get choked up, all the boys and myself just ran up to him and embraced him.

Yes, still in his scrubs, but that is a constant reminder of the amazing story of how God blessed our family by providing a way for him to go to school this year! (another blog...I have some serious catching up to do!)

Here we are with one of the living statues! So fun!

This picture makes me happy. My son Brendan has had the most difficult time this year. Because of his caregiver personality and his sensitive heart, he took on so much during the past few years of caring for Pop. We had no idea just how much his little heart was carrying. Being so close to Pop's room, Brendan could not sleep well at all, always awake and waiting for Pop to get up and call for Mike (Pop would get up all hours of the night and come wake us up on a regular basis--he even woke up the boys on occasion). Brendan was fearful that Pop would burn the house down, or have to call for Mike and Mike not hear him, so his sleep was fretful. Then right before we chose to place Pop in a home, my husband's Mom passed away from a 9 year battle with cancer and we had to say our "goodbyes"--so much for a little boy to handle. Needless to say, he has developed some coping mechanisms that have debilitated him in his everyday life. As of a few weeks ago, Brendan was diagnosed with Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He has struggled so much..just crying about his fears and anxieties..wanting this to be over.

So this is why this picture makes me happy. Throughout the evening at Downtown Disney, Brendan couldn't help but tell me, "Mom, I think I'm doing so much better! Mom, I think that God is really healing me! I'm so happy Mom!!!" He had so much fun. Three months ago we came to Downtown Disney and he had such a hard time being there! So here we are harvesting happiness.

Shane has struggled with everything that has gone on too, but he exhibits in different ways. Not so much debilitating like Brendan but you could tell once we placed Pop in a home everyone seemed to be shell shocked, as if we were living with post traumatic stress or something. Shane springs back quickly and here he is being the entertainer that he thrives on being. You know, he wants to be a missionary that sings!

Speaking of singing--our friend Dominic Gaudious he plays at Downtown Disney five days a week and since we frequent so often he actually remembered us. My boys love his music. No singing, just instrumental, but so much fun...the bamboo didgeridoo is loads of fun! We had a blast just dancing to the music, laughing and walking around all night long.

Then there is Kyle (very red lips from his Italian Ice), I think somewhat protected by his specialness, he too has struggled, but we can always see the hand of God in this boy. Don't they just make you smile? My superheros...overcomers in every way! Throughout all that we've been through the Lord was faithful to give us joy in the midst of our circumstances. Now that our circumstances have changed, we are having a wonderful time harvesting happy moments to cherish and meaningful memories! More to come!