There's no one like her

This is the conversation I hear yesterday morning:

Eva walks out of the bathroom and in to Eli's room: "Hey buddy? Would it be okay if I rode my bus this morning?"

Eli must have not said anything.

Eva: "Buddy, if I ride my bus today then I will ride with you again tomorrow. Is that okay?"

This time Eli must have said okay. 

"Thanks buddy. I will ride with you tomorrow okay?" <kisses his head>

She then walks back into the bathroom to finish getting ready for school. Never once did she ask me about it. And I could not be prouder of her. 

At the beginning of the year, Eli had anxiety about getting on the bus without Eva. Every morning she has faithfully put her own interests to the side and ridden the bus with Eli, even though all of her friends are on a different bus. I read once that if you ever want to know how to treat a kid with special needs you should watch their siblings. That could not be more true! Eva understands Eli. But she also doesn't make excuses for him and she will gently push him past his comfort zone. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When it's the latter she just tells him, "That's okay buddy. We can try again another time."

I'm still not sure how we got lucky enough to have this girl in our family, but man am I thankful! 

(This picture is from Disney World. She's taking care of a sleepy Isaac. I think it captures her heart and the essence of this story.)

Victory

Yesterday, I wore one of my favorite bracelets to church.  The colors tied in my dress with my boots.  As I put it on, I commented to Ryan that the bracelet doesn't fit as well anymore because a year or two ago, I was wearing it when Eli was having a meltdown.  He grabbed the bracelet and pulled it off of my arm which stretched it out.  It still works, but it's looser than it once was.

It hit Ryan and me at the same time.  It has been a really long time since we have dealt with a meltdown like that.  I'm so thankful for those moments, when God reminds me of how far we've come.  We obviously still have behavior issues, but the meltdowns that lasted for an hour have diminished greatly.  He has learned to calm himself down without hurting anyone or destroying anything.  Eli's language has also skyrocketed this last year, so he is better able to understand when we try to reason with him.  Though, it sometimes feels like I'm trying to reason with a stubborn mule.  :)  
I love that kid!

My favorite

I always tell the kids that each one is my favorite. I tell Eva, "You are my favorite girl in the world," or I tell Eli "You are my favorite blue-eyed boy" and Isaac "Tou are my favorite brown-eyed boy." Sometimes I switch things up and give a new descriptor. But the message is always the same. They're my favorite kids!!! 

This afternoon after church everyone was changing to pajamas because it's wet and cold outside. Isaac came and crawled into my lap and said "You're my favorite grown-up."  

I love that kid. He's definitely my favorite. 😉

Home is Where the Heart Is

When I was four years old, my dad took a giant leap of faith and made a career change at the age of 37.  He had been a salesman for Kraft Foods before surrendering to God's call on his life to be a pastor.  Our family of five packed up our house in Louisiana and moved to Texas so my dad could go to seminary.  That was my first move.  Two years later, my dad was hired as the pastor at a small church in central Texas.  Our family moved again.  One year later, we moved again.  Five years after that we moved again.  Almost 6 years later, I moved away for college.  Four years later I moved to Texas to marry my handsome husband.  And five years later, we took a leap of faith and left all we knew to move to the frozen Tundra... also known as Missouri.  :)  

As you can see, I've never lived anywhere for more than 6 years.  When people ask me where I'm from (because my accent still gives me away) or where I grew up, I just generally say Louisiana, because with the exception of three years between ages 4-7, that's where I spent my formative years.  

I still find myself saying to people here that "we just moved here from Texas", but the reality is we have lived in the KC area for 6 1/2 years now.  For those keeping track at home, that means I have actually lived here for longer than I've lived anywhere else in my life!  When I realized that a couple of weeks ago, I was kind of shocked.  It made me start thinking about if this feels like home to me.  The truth is, I still feel like a transplant, so I can't say that this feels like home.  It feels as much like home as Fort Worth did, I guess.  It doesn't not feel like home.  I'm not sure that any place in the world feels like "home".  Perhaps that is a good tension to have as a follower of Christ.  There is no place in this world that is my permanent home.  My home is with Him in Heaven.  

My ultimate home is Heaven.  My temporary home is with the four awesome people that live in this little house with me. 

It's what we do

Eli got a tunnel for Christmas from his Gi and Papa. This is how I found him after his first day back to school today:

Just laying down and eating a snack! I knew he would like it, but I didn't realize how much. 

It's been so amazing to watch him in the last year as he has begun to recognize his sensory needs and either be able to meet them himself or tell us what he needs.

When we were on our trip to Disney World, we realized that he loves the sound of trickling water. I downloaded a noise machine app for my phone with that sound. One night we were crammed onto a bus with lots of people including crying babies and kids (one of his triggers).  Instead of melting down, he was able to tell me "turn on the water". So I turned on the app and held it to his ear all the way back to the hotel. It was such a huge moment for us.  It was only a couple of months ago that the sight and sound of kids left him covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut while completely shutting down in every other way. He's come so far!!! 

New Year's Rockin' Eve with Haley and Eva

Ryan has had the flu for the last 8 days. It has made for a long week. I have caregiver fatigue. I've been taking care of a sick husband, 3 kids, and trying to clean so no one else gets sick on top of working my full time job. Thankfully I didn't have too much going at work this week and I mostly work from home so I didn't have to find anyone who was willing to take my kids. 

Between all of that, it made for a Rockin NYE party! Eva was determined to stay awake until midnight this year. If it weren't for her I probably would have been asleep by 10. 😊. I introduced Eva to the movie Ever After which was fun. I had also promised the kids earlier in the day that I would take them to get cupcakes. However, when we got there they had already closed. We made our own instead. 

Mmmmm!

We did the midnight count down, I kissed her, sent her to bed, and I crashed on the couch for a few precious hours of sleep. I'm hopeful next year involves less sickness. 

Tonight we're having Friday Movie Night and watching Finding Nemo. Although it appears that two kids are more interested in their popcorn. 😊