Support Josiah

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.