I am thankful for the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas! I cannot fathom the love that God the Father had for us. That He would send His only son to be born on this earth, to live a sinless life, and to die in order to pay the price for our sins. Truly Jesus is the greatest gift ever given! Praise His name!
I am also thankful for the picture of God's sovereignty that is so beautifully displayed in the birth, life, and death of His only son. What a gift to know that Jesus understands our pain and grief, because He suffered more than we can fathom. He knew the Father's will. He knew what He would endure at the cross, and He still submitted to His Father's plan. We do not know what the future holds, but we can trust that God has a plan that will bring Him glory and that will be for our eternal good.
Our Christmas celebrations had moments of ease and moments of difficulty. Jalen had another seizure on "Christmas Eve Eve," and it was more severe than the previous two. It is a heart wrenching thing to watch him when this happens. Seconds feel like minutes. We took him for an out patient EEG yesterday. What a challenge it was to put him through that testing! It was a reminder to me that Jalen's sensory sensitivities are profound at times. I was so proud of him for doing as well as he did. And he was thrilled with his reward: McDonalds and a trip to LifeWay to spend his Christmas money. We meet with our neurologist soon to discuss what needs to happen moving forward. 
Christmas Eve we headed to my brother and sister-in-law's house to celebrate with our family. My parents have 16 beautiful grandchildren. We are blessed indeed! Josiah loves his family so much, but ALL gatherings tend to be challenging. Sensory Overload! Our support staff worker Shinika, Jeremy, and myself took turns taking Josiah on van rides. He tolerated everything very well considering how hard the past few months have been. There were only a couple of instances of more minor self-injury. It was a great visit overall. I love our family, and I am so VERY thankful that they love and support us where we are at.  |
| Some of our boys with their boxing gear! |
Christmas Day started at 7am. The kids were so excited to start the day! But Josiah woke very off. We settled everyone on the couch while I called my Dad to come and get him. Jeremy and I calmed Josiah until my Dad arrived. He had settled by the time Dad got there, but was ready to go for a ride within a few minutes. Josiah left and Jeremy and I shared a quick moment of sadness in the kitchen before swiping tears away and rounding the corner to celebrate with the rest of our children. There is a profound sadness about this that is difficult to convey. But the "glass half full" side of this is that Josiah has two of the most selfless grandparents who structure their lives around helping to meet his needs and the needs of our entire family. I could write a book about my parents, but, suffice it to say, I do not know what we would do without them. Josiah returned home after his ride, and he and I stayed home while Jeremy and the kids headed off to church. I could tell he wasn't feeling well. He took a nap while I streamed our church service. Napping is always a clear sign that his body is trying hard to regroup. My Mama fixed us a wonderful lunch, and Dad and I took took turns driving Josiah around. We all drove to visit my friend who is in jail. Our visits always remind me to not take what I have for granted. The rest of Christmas Day was filled with ups and downs, but nothing extremely out of the ordinary. It was a good day overall, and again what a blessing to be with family! The past few days Josiah has done ok. He still seems off though. He is swinging in his therapy swing for hours each day with his head covered and he is taking a lot of showers. He has had lowered amounts of self-injury overall, but the self-injurious moments he has had have been severe. He smacked his head very hard twice against the concrete outside yesterday. He has a huge knot of the back of his head that is very tender. We do our very best to protect him, but sometimes it isn't possible to keep him from getting hurt. We just keep trying to comfort him and meet his needs.
Our family has so much to be thankful for this Christmas! One of the things we are grateful for is how God is using all of you to meet Josiah's needs. We know that this therapy room and therapy pool are going to make a significant and potentially life long change in Josiah's life for the better. We cannot thank you enough for helping us!
I pray you all had a wonderful Christmas!
Christy
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