To the Siblings of Kids With Special Needs

To the siblings who sometimes feel invisible...I see you.

To the ones who have celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving in the hospital instead of around your dining room table...I see you.

To the kids who get shuffled from one family member to the next during hospitalizations...I see you.

To the children who trade video games at sleepovers for blown up medical gloves during hospital visits...I see you.

To the students whose parents have missed games, performances, concerts, and school presentations...I see you.

To the kids who turn speech and physical therapy into fun games…I see you.

To those who have blown out birthday candles in hospital playrooms...I see you.

To the kids who share their houses with nurses and therapists...I see you.

To the students who have been picked up unexpectedly from school, only to find out your sibling has been taken to the hospital again…I see you.

To the children who had to grow up too fast and have way too much medical knowledge...I see you.

To the doctors-in-training who can give tube feeds, suction trachs, silence ventilators, and clean hearing aids...I see you.

To the kids whose world gets turned upside down by a medical emergency, yet you are expected to keep it together and be well-behaved…I see you.

To those who must worry about how long you will have your siblings, and wonder what life would be like without them...I see you.

I see you having a compassion that others your age just don't have. I see you unabashedly loving your siblings and being their fierce protectors. I see you trying to change the world's perception of special needs kids by reminding people not the use the r-word. I see you playing with your siblings and accepting them just as they are. I see you growing up to be therapists, doctors, nurses, and special education teachers, because you have seen first-hand the difference these people have played in your sibling's life. I see you taking on the role of caretaker as adults when your parents no longer can. I see you being thankful for the small things in life, because you understand that those are really the big things.

To Caleb, Ryan, Kennedy, Anderson, Sara, Jade, Peyton, Nate, and so many others who have sacrificed so much over the years...I see you.

So to the siblings of kids with special needs, THANK YOU for all you have given up so that your brother or sister can get the best care possible. We couldn't do it without you. You are loved!

Cerebrocostomandibular Syndrome

If you happen to pick up the latest Reader's Digest, there is an article in there about Piper Breinholt , a four year old with CCMS. If you've been around here a while, you'll remember wayyyyyy back when we first received Abby's diagnosis that I was able to speak to Piper's mom, Reagan. The article is more about their story and not as much about the ins and outs of CCMS, but I think it's probably enough to get some people googling it and I'm hoping a few will end up here. Every once in a while, I give a blog post the title of Cerebrocostomandibular Syndrome so that it would show up in Google. My ever-present hope is that people will stumble across my blog and 1) be encouraged by the hope we have in Christ, 2) feel a connection with someone in a similar situation as them, or 3) get excited over the miracles that have been performed in Abby's life!! (a combination of all 3 is great too!) :) Notice that it's not to get famous and it never wi

The Potty Man

Caleb LOVES to go potty! I have never heard a potty training story like this one....Caleb tells us when he needs to go, we take his diaper off, and he goes! Now, is it perfect? No, not at all! We aren't trying to potty train at at all, but we figure every time he goes is one less diaper we have to change! The only time we consistantly put him on the potty is when we give him a bath (he always pees in the tub, so we know he needs to go!) He almost always goes on the potty now instead of the tub though. When he's not "really" going potty, he's pretending to go potty! He's such a funny kid!

Lego Party: Favors

I'm a little slow in posting the Lego Party pictures, but I think I have a few excuses I could use. At any rate, I wanted to share what I did for the party! It will take a few posts, so stay with me. I'll start with how I did the favors. These are the goody bags I made. I just bought solid colored gift bags and matched scrapbook paper to each bag. Then I punched circles and attached them with the 3D foam tape so that the circles were raised. I used the keychain (explained below) as a name tag on the outside. These are Duplo blocks. I put a round magnet on the back and...voila! A magnet! (note: hot glue doesn't work so well...I ended up reglueing them with my apoxy because the magnets fell off.) I made crayons using Lego man crayons. Yes, I know this guy has lost half of his leg. The others were already packaged and I didn't want to open one up just to get a picture. I used a Lego mold to make the crayons. Caleb put small pieces of crayon in each m

Life as a Leach

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