Friday Funding Update:
April 28, 2017

I am a flood of emotions writing this post. Jeremy and I both are. Our home is currently a construction site. It's loud and dusty. It's impossible to access our back yard. And there are a lot of people we don't know showing up early and leaving really late. And we couldn't be happier! I told a few people yesterday that this all feels like one HUGE Jesus hug. And that hug is wrapping around a home and a family that is struggling. 

Judah and Josiah.

Our older two kiddos were at their school's soccer game yesterday evening. Judah (our seven year old) was helping me care for his other three brothers. Josiah indicated that he needed to go for another ride. This wasn't surprising since he has been pretty much existing in the van for the past week. I walked the distance of our hallway to retrieve a shirt for him. While down the hall, suddenly the sounds of skull bashing against hard flooring rang out. Pound after pound as I ran down the hall yelling for Josiah to stop. When I got to him, Judah was kneeling at the top of Josiah's head. He had his little hands shoved under his brother's head so that they would absorb most of the blows. Judah has seen us do this countless times, and he knew that Josiah had to be protected. I felt my heart crumble. Such an odd feeling to experience pride and anguish at the same time. Once I calmed Josiah, I turned to find Judah quietly heaving and sobbing on the couch. His hands were bruised and sore, and so was his heart. Not even an hour later, Josiah had another meltdown that left Jeremy and I both crying and wearing the injuries of trying to protect our boy. I have chosen to just post pictures of Josiah sleeping recently due to his bruising and red eyes. It's becoming clearer to us that the extreme self injury is most often a result of pain. We think he was having lower GI issues yesterday and today. But it could also be the beginnings of another cold. Two of our boys have caught the ick again. Since Josiah's sleep is still off and his self injury is ramping up, our guess is pain. Only time will tell.

Our AquaShield was delivered Thursday morning! 

As hard as all of this is, we have the sounds of hope ringing outside our back door with every pound of the hammer. Jeremy prayed with me fervently yesterday that God would allow this therapy room and therapy pool to be just what Josiah needs. He prayed boldly that Jesus would use this to bring complete and lasting improvement to Josiah's life. And, with a crack in his voice, he acknowledge that our ultimate desire is for God's will to be done no matter what. I'm thankful that God has given me a husband who most often is the perfect compliment to me and me to him. When I am low, Jeremy shines. And when he is low, I shine. And the only explanation for this is the grace of God. I was low last night. I reached out to Josiah's teacher Miss Beth. I refer to her as my personal prayer warrior. She has been such an encouragement to me countless times. She sent me this song. It was a blessing, and it conveys what Jeremy and I try to show others. We are imperfect struggling people with just a mustard seed sized faith in Jesus. HE is enough! 

You are all being the hands and feet of Jesus in our lives. THANK YOU! This fundraiser is a testament to the faithfulness of God! He has used you all to help carry us. We are forever grateful! Our current total is $59,534.54! To GOD be the glory! Great things HE hath done!

Because of HIS grace,
Christy

*Check out the before and framing videos below! What a change!!!

PROGRESS!!!

On Tuesdays, I typically try to share just about Josiah on the website, and I reserve the project updates for Fridays. But there has been so much progress that I wanted to take the time to give an update today.

Nathan Hendry with RNH Services came and laid the concrete over our plumbing today. A huge shout out to him, not only for helping with the concrete, but for helping this Mama prep the carport for the framers to come tomorrow! That is right! THE FRAMING IS STARTING TOMORROW! We can't wait to post pictures on Friday of all of the progress. I wish you could feel the emotions Jeremy and I are experiencing! We knew that Josiah needed help, but the fact that this has all happened so fast is a compete testament to God's provision and the fact that HE alone can do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think!

I want to take the time to give an update about the funding. Folks, I am NO contractor. When Jeremy and I knew that we were at a point of needing to request help for Josiah, we had no idea how much all of this would cost. We did our homework. BUT so much of this was guesswork bathed in prayer. We want to be good stewards of the money that has been given, and we want to be open about how the funding is being managed.

Foust Pool Construction has been so gracious! They did a lot of advocating for us to get the price for this pool as low as possible. We are tremendously grateful to them! AquaShield also gave us a deep discount on our pool enclosure. I am not going to give specific numbers here just because I have not asked permission from these companies to do so, but I will say that the total for both was under $41,000. If you have looked thoroughly at our website, you know that the original budget for this portion of the project was $45,000. Because of God's grace and the generosity of these companies, we came in under budget here.

The rain has delayed the cement decking installation! 

When we first started the project, our hope was to simply enclose the carport to make a large therapy room for Josiah. After we began fundraising, a few other needs became evident and we started advocating and praying that these too could be addressed via the fundraiser or some of our other supports. Josiah still wears diapers, and it is highly unlikely that this will change. From time to time, we have issues with fecal smearing or overflowing diapers. It is important that bathroom access be readily available to help manage times like these. Additionally Josiah's self injury has gotten much worse and harder to manage. We knew that we needed padding on the floors and walls of his therapy room to help protect him during episodes of head beating. And we also knew that the windows in his therapy room needed to be shatterproof, because Josiah has a history of putting his head through them. He has done this six times to date.

Our AquaShield is being delivered Thursday! 

To cover the expense of the bathroom, padding, and shatterproof windows, we petitioned for federal funding through Josiah's waiver. This waiver pays for our support staff that help care for Josiah, but it also occasionally covers home modifications. It took a lot of work, but we did receive approval. The padding and windows were completely covered, but the only thing approved in the bathroom was the fixtures and flooring. We had to fund the plumbing.

The only way we were able to get approval for the home modifications was to make sure that Josiah's therapy room would be connected to our home. And the only way for us to do this is to build a breezeway between our house and the therapy room. Home Modifications are only approved for spaces that are part of the existing home. We had budgeted $15,000 for the therapy room, but, with the bathroom expenses and the breezeway room addition, that amount was obviously not enough. The $4,000 savings on the pool and AquaShield enclosure are providing some of the funding that is needed. My brother Jonathan and his company LaTour Electric have also saved us a huge amount by providing the electrical installation and by
advocating with many of his contractor friends to give us the lowest quotes possible.

Please continue to pray for Josiah's sleep issues. 

I'm sharing all of this to say how amazing it is that we are so close to reaching our $60,000 goal! God is stretching that money to cover so much more than we even realized would be needed. But I'm also sharing all of this to let you know that, if we surpass our goal of $60,000, those funds will not go to waste. They will cover some of the unforeseen expenses that occur with any construction. And the bathroom and breezeway were certainly unforeseen at the beginning of all of this. And, once the project is complete, any funds left over will go to the maintenance and upkeep of the therapy room and pool.

Everyone who has given to this project has blessed us in a way that we will never be able to fully convey! Our gratitude is overflowing!!! Thank you for following us through this journey! Thank you for helping us in all the ways that we have been helped. And thank you for rejoicing with us in the faithfulness and loving mercy of our Heavenly Father!

Because of His grace,
Christy

*This is a "Before Video" of the space that will become the breezeway and therapy room.

Friday Funding Update:
April 21, 2017

I have so much news to share this Friday! Our Faces Fundraiser is going amazingly! We have filled 55 of our 100 squares! If we fill every square by April 30th, then we will raise over $5,000, and we will officially reach our goal of $60,000! For every square purchased, the person making the donation can send us a picture to be included on the faces posters we are making for Josiah's therapy room. He LOVES looking at people's eyes so this will bring him a lot of joy! The pictures that we have received thus far are wonderful! Particularly the pictures of friends and family that have been sent in memory of someone who has gone on to Heaven. 


I purchased a couple of slots myself this week. One to remember my childhood friend Taitym who passed away in 2003 from Cystic Fibrosis. I miss him a lot. One to remember Joseph. The sweet baby boy that I cared for who died from SIDS in 2005. And one to remember our dear friend and brother in Christ Jerry Jarrell. Jerry went to Heaven this week after being diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. He was such a godly man who had a passion for telling others about Jesus. Back EONS ago when I was a senior in high school, I had a friend who started attending church some with us. This fella was interested in being more than friends, but my Daddy (very wisely) was having none of that. The first Sunday he visited, Jerry asked him if he could meet with him sometime the next week. When the guy realized that my Daddy was serious and he would be nothing more than a friend, he moved on. Several years later, I ran into him and he said, "You know that guy Jerry from your church? He still calls me often and we talk." I share this by way of demonstrating Jerry's passion for sharing Jesus with others even when no one knew he was doing it. Before he passed away, Jeremy spoke with Jerry about his rest home ministries. We were both shocked to find out that Jerry faithfully visited 11 different rest homes! He also visited so many people when they were sick or in the hospital. The last time I was at ARMC with Jalen when he had had a seizure, the nurse said, "I think your pastor is out in the waiting room." It was Jerry.  

Jerry and I have had several conversations in the past about our boy's autism. He shared with me how autism has touched his own family. And, with each conversation, he would assure me that he was praying for us. People often say the words "I'll pray for you." But, with Jerry, you knew it was a certainty. And there was a tremendous comfort in that. A few weeks before Jerry died, one of our pastors conducted an interview with him for our Sunday school class. Jerry lived a life of such exemplary faith that it was important for him to share about the hope he had in Jesus particularly when enduring suffering. I had determined that I would share Jerry's interview on this website, because it was such an encouragement to me. You can imagine how touched Jeremy and I were this week to find out that, in lieu of flowers, the family has asked for people to honor Jerry by giving to the Josiah fund at Beacon Baptist Church. What an honor! What a tremendous gift! Jerry was a man who loved God and others. He will be missed greatly! This is the link to the interview I mentioned above.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=32817118381

Our current total is $57,399.30!!! The plan is for the framing to begin this week on the therapy room! And the cement decking around the pool will be going in very soon! We are so grateful to everyone who has given to make this happen for Josiah and our family! To God be the GLORY!!!!

Because of His grace, 
Christy

*Please continue to pray for Josiah. His insomnia is very bad this week. There is nothing like a season of very little sleep to make you VERY grateful for the times when he does sleep! God is sustaining us! 

Providence

Josiah has been struggling for many weeks with illness. Flu turned to ear infection. GERD flair up turned to repeat ear infection. One antibiotic for the ear infection wasn't working which led to another antibiotic. Allergies. Self-injury. And all of this came to a very heartbreaking climax when Josiah was inconsolably self injurious and aggressive for the entirety of last weekend. It became obvious to us that he was in pain. We took him to the doctor Sunday a week ago, and the on-call physician voiced concerns about possible lower GI infection. She had us collect stool samples, and the doctor called yesterday with the results. Clostridium Difficile Colitis. Also known as Cdiff! Josiah developed this often painful lower GI infection due to being on antibiotics for so long. He is now off antibiotics, and we are treating him with probiotics to hopefully replace the bad gut bacteria with healthy gut bacteria. Thankfully his body seems to be responding. Please pray with us for complete healing without having to put him on any other medications. This whole ordeal has messed his system up badly. His sleep is off. His agitation is high. We are living minute by minute trying our best to comfort him and keep him content.

And there is this glorious, wonderful, gracious, and exceedingly hope renewing construction going on right outside our back door. IT IS SUCH A BLESSING! But, as expected, it is sometimes loud. And loud and Josiah don't mix well. And the pool. He knows it is out there. I have covered our back windows so that Josiah can't see the pool. He is so excited, but it isn't in his best interest to let him use it yet. The ground has to settle before the cement decking can be added. Josiah loves running in and out of the pool. We want him to be able to engage and get input in the way that best suits his body. And we want this from day one for him. Even though the pool is done and ready for swimming, Josiah wouldn't understand that he has to stay in the pool because the decking isn't complete. We don't want his first experience to be tainted in any way. So we are waiting patiently. But waiting can be so hard. What a joy it will be to finally let him run and swim free!

*This video is short, but it shows Josiah squealing at 2am. :) 

Josiah's allergies are SO severe that we have had to not ride on the golf cart this past week. The pollen levels are bad right now. But we are praying that this rain helps to calm that down a bit. The rain is also a blessing in that it is helping the ground settle more around the pool. BUT oh the rain! Oh how the barometric pressure changes torment our boy. The only thing we can do to help calm him is to ride for hours and hours in our van. We have filled the van with gas three times since this past Saturday. And today, due to slamming back and forth in his seat every time we attempt to bring him home, Josiah broke the seat in our van. This is the third seat that has broken. He slams so hard that it snaps the seat in two. Thankfully his Uncle Jon is able to weld the seat back together.  

I'm telling you all of this by way of updating you about Josiah. But I'm also telling you this to testify of the providence of God in all aspects of our life. In the midst of this immense struggle for Josiah and our family, there are so many people loving us through this fundraiser. And God is using you to bring about life bettering and hope sustaining mercy in our lives. Our Heavenly Father has planned every intricate detail of our lives. The good and the seeming bad are designed by Him to bring about His will. And, when we trust Him, the blessings and trails all work to bring Him glory and to bring us eternal good. WHAT A PROMISE!!

Jeremy's Grandma Sara visited us from SC for a few hours today. She was brought to tears when we showed her the back yard and all the construction that has been done. She said, "I just can't believe all of this. Isn't God good!" YES HE IS! What a JOY to trust in Jesus! 

Thank you to everyone who is continuing to pray for our boy, and thank you to everyone who has given to help us improve Josiah's quality of life. How timely this all is! To God be the GLORY!

Because of His grace,

Christy

*My Uncle Torrey sent Josiah one of his old yearbooks! He is in his happy place when he looks at all the faces. If you would like to help us reach our goal of $60,000, please check out our Faces Fundraiser we have going right now. You can read all about it here:  http://www.supportjosiah.com/ 

This Video of Jason and Grandma Sara was just too cute not to share. We are so thankful for our family! <3

Friday Funding Update:
April 14, 2017

APRIL is Autism Awareness Month! We are so close to reaching our goal of $60,000, and we would LOVE to accomplish this before the end of this month of awareness! We are hoping that you will support Josiah on this final push towards the end. We are excited to announce our 
Faces Fundraiser! Josiah LOVES looking at faces. Real faces and pictures of faces and faces of certain cartoon characters like Blues Clues and Elmo. There is just something about people's and his own eyes that mesmerize him. This is why we keep year books and magazines out for him to look at, and it is also why we have hung a lot of safety mirrors around our living room so that he can look at his own beautiful face. For this fundraiser,
we are asking people to purchase one of 100 slots on our faces grid. You can choose a slot based on your financial ability to give. For each slot purchased, we would like you to email us a picture of someone's face. My email is christyverroi@gmail.com. The picture should be able to be printed in a 4x6 size and it needs to be in portrait presentation. It could be your face or someone's face that you want to remember or maybe even your favorite cartoon character's face. We are going try and get all 100 donations by April 30th! Once the fundraiser is over, we will order 4x6 prints of the pictures that have been sent. Then we will seal the photos side by

We will color in each square as donations are made!

side in safe poster frames that will be placed in Josiah's room for him to enjoy. If all 100 slots are purchased, we will raise over $5,000 for this fundraiser. And it will put us just slightly over
our $60,000 goal! Our current total is $55,137.26!!! We are SO CLOSE!!! I will be posting an updated picture of our Faces Grid once daily for the next two weeks on our Support Josiah Facebook page and on my personal page so that everyone can see the daily progress of donations for our Faces Fundraiser! 

One thing that God has reminded me throughout this fundraiser is that His timing and ways are not always our timing and ways. I know I keep saying this, but we NEVER imagined this happening so fast! The pool is complete! All that is left is the concrete decking that goes around the pool. Construction on that should begin in about two weeks weather permitting. Our AquaShield is being shipped to us this coming week! And construction on the therapy room has been started! ALL of this has happened through God graciously using those who have made donations and all the companies that have given us deep discounts! It has been a family, friends, community, and, in some cases, nationwide project for which we can't begin to say thank you enough! 

The timing of all of this isn't lost on us. Our boy is struggling so greatly right now. He hasn't even been able to tolerate homebound schooling. He is spending hours each day in the hammock swinging with his head covered. And, while his self injury and aggression are less than they were last Friday, he is still so very weepy and sad. We are praying that very soon this therapy room and therapy pool will give him the comfort and joy he is lacking right now.

We are trusting GOD's plan. We are trusting HIS timing. We can't thank you enough for being the hands and feet of Jesus in our lives!

Because of HIS grace,
Christy

*Visit here to find out how to make donations: http://www.supportjosiah.com/p/faqs.html 

Therapy Room plumbing for bathroom!

Our AquaShield!

The POOL is done! We are just waiting on the cement decking.

Pool Pump and Heater!

Holding On

This past Friday, it became clear Josiah was very off. His self injury and aggression increased to the point where it was happening every few minutes. And, by Saturday, Jeremy, myself, and one of our support staff were all three having to care for Josiah at the same time. Meltdown after meltdown. He was obviously in pain. Saturday night Josiah woke twice in the night pounding his head against the floor. In the early hours of Sunday morning, I emailed our pediatrician. Dr. Mertz emailed me back within an hour. He was on vacation, and he emailed me back with instructions on what we should do. How many doctors would do that? I cannot sing his praises enough. Even when he doesn't have answers, he is always there to help. And that makes us feel less alone in a very isolating situation. 

Sunday proved to be almost as hard as the others days. My mom stayed with me in the morning since Jeremy had to teach in Sunday School. But, by the time Jeremy got home with the kids, it became obvious that Josiah would have to be seen by a doctor that day. Mama drove, and Jeremy and I sat in the back with Josiah to keep him calm. Sitting in the doctor's office was excruciating. We are thankful that the nurses expedited things as fast as possible. Thankfully, Josiah's ears appear to have healed. We believe his allergies are terrible, and the pediatrician that cared for him thinks that the two months of antibiotic use have irritated his lower GI tract. We sent some lab work off to be tested to determine what may be going on. We stopped antibiotics on Sunday and started Josiah on some probiotics. By Monday, he was much improved. Not perfect, but markedly better. And today (Tuesday) he has only had two significant episodes of self injury thus far. We are almost to lunchtime so there is still a lot of day ahead of us, but we are praying that Josiah continues to improve.

Therapy Pool Progress! We are so excited!

The pediatrician that examined Josiah asked us if we really felt like we could handle his severity of behaviors, and asked whether we should consider admitting him to the behavioral unit of a psychiatric ward. I only tell you this by way of explaining how significant these "low points" can be for Josiah. It is scary. But we know that God gives grace for each and every moment. Trust me, it doesn't always feel this way. But, none the less, it is the truth. His grace has ALWAYS proved sufficient. Jeremy and I have one desire. We want to care for Josiah in our home for the rest of his life. That requires holding on. Holding on to our faith and the promises God has made us. Holding on to each other during times that have ripped other couples apart. Holding on to our family and doing our best to make sure we are all ok. And holding on to hope. 

Electrical installed for the therapy room!

This fundraiser has given us HOPE! Hope that Josiah will find comfort and calm in his therapy room and therapy pool. And Hope that, when the days turn dark, we will be able to keep him safe and at home with us. Thank you to those who have invested in Josiah and in our hope. 

We are Holding On.

Because of His grace,
Christy 

Friday Funding Update:
April 7, 2017

Our property has been a buzz of activity this week! It has been so exciting to see the evidence of God's provision in terms of the weekly increase in funding. But it has been even more thrilling to see the dreams this funding is now bringing to fruition! THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING! And it is all because so many of you graciously gave to support our boy! Thank you just doesn't seem like enough!!! Our current total is......  $54,485.09!!!! We are SO SO SO close to our goal of $60,000!!!

A HUGE shout out to everyone who supported us at Josiah's Pool Party this past weekend! We raised over $3,300!!! This was such an amazing experience and a HUGE boost to our funding! Thank you to the Maynard Aquatics Center for giving us this opportunity! We prayed that God would give Josiah one more good day at the MAC! He lasted about 45 minutes before indicating that he needed to leave. It was a blessing to see him enjoying swimming!

We need $5,514.91 to reach our funding goal of $60,000! We are on the home stretch, but we really need to bring in the remainder of the funding so that we can fully complete the project. Foust Pool Construction is doing such an amazing job on the therapy pool! The rain halted construction the past two days, but we are up and running today! I can't say enough about how wonderful it has been to work with this company! If you ever need a pool installed, they are awesome!

We officially sent off the first of two payments for the AquaShield Enclosure that will be placed over the pool to allow Josiah to use it year round. The first payment puts our enclosure into production! We cannot wait to get it delivered!!!! A huge thank you to AquaShield for the sizable discount they gave us! Their product is going to be the perfect solution to meet our needs. It will cut the pool maintenance down drastically while allowing Josiah access to the pool all year long. Rain or shine! Sleet or snow! Amazing!!!

My brother Jonathan's company LaTour Electric has been doing so much to help us out! Construction on the therapy room will be starting very soon, and the timing is perfect. Josiah has been struggling so much. He isn't well. And, on top of his ears still being sore and his GERD flaring up, we got a call this week that our insurance is no longer approving his GERD medication. They do not believe that this particular medication is medically necessary. We have been very busy appealing this decision. Please pray for us that they will listen and approve Josiah's medication no later than Monday. He needs this medication terribly! Please continue to pray for our boy. The meltdowns and self injury are a daily issue, and it is wearing on us all.

Thank you for praying! And thank you for giving to help Josiah! We are forever grateful for ALL God is doing!!!!

Because of His grace,

Christy

*If you would like to make a donation, please follow the directions here. 

Six Months

I'm writing this post on Monday night, April 3rd. Today marks exactly six months since we started this fundraiser. Six months since we reached out to our family, friends, community, and even strangers for help. And tonight, there is a backhoe sitting in my back yard, and Foust Pool Construction will begin work on Josiah's therapy pool in the morning. The sense of gratitude we feel is hard to put into words.

Six months ago, Jeremy and I were having a conversation about Josiah. We were sharing with each other our concerns for him. And we were coming to terms with the reality that, yet again, we needed support to help care for him. This is a reality we have had to face many times before, but we knew that this particular need was extraordinary. And so we swallowed our pride. We started to tell our story publicly. And we asked for the financial support needed to build Josiah a therapy room and therapy pool. I remember telling Jeremy that I was prepared for it to take a few years to raise the funding needed. WE COULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED THAT, IN JUST SIX MONTHS, CONSTRUCTION WOULD BEGIN! But we know that there were people praying specifically that God would do this in six months time. 

Jeremy and I often talk about how God has made us so emotionally complex. We have absolutely no doubt that God planned Autism and brain damage for Josiah. This isn't some tragic mistake. This is a trial and a blessing, and it was all planned by our loving Heavenly Father. It was planned predominately for His own glory, but, in His great grace, He also planned it for our eternal good. I often ponder about the fact that I have no doubt that Josiah will be heaven someday. What a gift that is! And then, when I contemplate what may lay ahead for him on this earth and before heaven, I am gripped with concern and fear. In these moments, I am thankful for the promises God has given His children in scripture, and I'm thankful for a husband who is so often an instrument of the Holy Spirit in my life as he reminds me of these promises.

The truth is that my faith is often weak. Just a few days ago, I had texted Jeremy after a very long day. The kids were finally all asleep and I was left with my thoughts. I texted him about feeling alone and scared that I won't be able to manage and protect Josiah if he has a meltdown at night. I told him that, in the dark of the night, my fears for the future feel bigger. I told Jeremy that I was trying to focus on the suffering that Christ endured on the cross. I was grasping for perspective that night. Jeremy patiently and lovingly reminded me of where our focus should be. He said, "To focus solely on the cross is to limit our Lord to that one moment in time. It is an exceedingly important moment for us, but it is not the comfort that the apostles recommended for hurting people. Paul didn't say he reckoned our present, light afflictions as not worthy to be compared to our Lord's sufferings. He said they're not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us in the age to come. And he didn't say to persecuted saints that they should comfort one another with a vision of the cross, but rather with the fact that we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be resurrected. And Paul and Silas in the 1st century jail cell with bleeding wounds on their back didn't keep a stiff upper lip so as to not make little of our Lord's suffering on the cross, rather they praised God for the hope that lay before them. Even Jesus, for the glory set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. If we are to focus on something, let's focus on the New Jerusalem. That's what He bought for us on Calvary - the hope of the resurrection into the eternal bliss of HIS presence."

The HOPE of Heaven! What a BLESSING!

Before Heaven, we have some living to still do on this earth. And that living may be hard. But God has proven time and again to us that He will provide the grace and strength and wisdom needed to see us through. He is using all the people who have given and supported Josiah through this fundraiser to encourage and sustain us. We are forever grateful to our Heavenly Father and to all of you. 

Our prayer is that we will Finish Well. 

Because of His AMAZING GRACE,
Christy

Jo's Santa Bubble Face