After quite a few months in blog-abstentia, here I am. (Actually during this time away, I started 9 different blogs, but never finished them. Maybe it will be good stuff for another day.) I could give you all a whole buncha great excuses as to where I have been, but it would all be just that - excuses. Truth is, while I was bumbling around in a physical, occupational and speech therapy stouper -- I got swept away by an out of control, dyslexic, ADHD, curly headed tornado.
Focus people. I'm gonna need you to FOCUS. When the much publicized "sight word" debacle stretched from 2012 all the way into 2014, Darby finally got all the people in her corner to realize that there was way more to her story than we knew. After quite a few "Darby Clark Herrington Fan Club" meetings, a few diagnostic tests, and some new "focus" meds, the glorious light has come on for my curly headed tornado. She has made amazing improvements in reading and school since January and LIFE IS GOOD! This kiddo has realized that letters form words, words form sentences, and sentences tell a story. Darby has gone from US reading her the Bible stories at bedtime, to HER reading the stories now. She is a new kid. Can I get a hallelujah?!?!?!
Parson has gotten quite a full head of curls now as well. I guess I have to specify which curly headed tornado I am referring to nowadays. Perhaps I should name the storms - (maybe like Maggie used to refer to my sister and me) - the big'un and the littl'un. So, the Littl'un has kept me hopping also. She has 3 physical therapy, 2 occupational therapy, and 2 speech therapy sessions a week. (Why am I so tired if that is only 7 hours of actual therapy? ) Honestly people, I have never worked harder in my whole life. On top of that, we have the occasional doctor visit, various tests and infusion center appointments. Parson still has developmental delays, is slow to walk, slow to talk and even slower to eat by mouth. But you know what? She has been given the "all clear" by her doctor to get out and about and be exposed and she is loving life and ROCKIN' her new lungs! (Afterall, we didn't get new lungs to live in a bubble.)
While Parson was so sick, I saw something about life being like a boomerang. You get back what you send out. I have thought about that little ditty a lot in the past few months. Some circumstances lately have left me a little jaded, others have left me a lot jaded. And I have been bumbling around for the last several months in boomerang limbo. I mean, if you don't send anything out, you don't get anything back. Being completely consumed by my own two children's lives has gotten the best of me. Exactly as it should be. I can't think of a better way to invest.
By not "working", I have really struggled to find my worth since giving up my old day job and paycheck. It is absolutely crazy how the devil has used that on me. I have felt like I am not sending any boomerangs out to help, when in reality I am investing in the most precious of all kids - my own.
Please understand that I am not putting my children's business out there to belittle them in anyway. I thought sight words and oral aversion were gonna be the death of me. I know there is somebody out there in the trenches that needs some encouragement. Right now you think what you are going through is gonna kill you - but take heart and send out your boomerang. YOU WILL SURVIVE! Joy cometh in the morning.
Take it from this bumbling boomerang -- You send nothing out, you are gonna get nothing back. Throw out your boomerang and invest in someone else's life. I promise it will come back to you when you need it most.
(Photo credit: Nadia Martindale)
