Trusting God Together

Olivia and I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of some dear friends of ours two weekends ago. As I sat and listened to this young couple say their vows, I couldn't help but reminisce about the day that Jeremy and I made our covenant before God. My Daddy often says that he loves my Mama more today than the day he married her. I can say the same after seventeen years of marriage to Jeremy. The mountaintop moments have been amazing. The births and adoption of our children stand out as the most impactful of these. But, after all of these years, it's the valleys that have intertwined us together so tightly that I have no doubt we will be together until death. 

Those valleys have been excruciating, but God has graced us by His never failing presence and by giving us each other. At my lowest of lows when fear and guilt and sorrow have taken my very breath away, Jeremy has always been there. His loving honesty has been an instrument of grace God has used to snap me out of deepest despair time and again. And when he has felt lost in the sufficating darkness God has called Him to face, I have been his compass to help guide him back to the path. 

Our love is something that I never want to take for granted. Statistics vary, but many cite the divorce rate for parents of special needs children to be as high as 80%. And the risk of divorce is even greater when a couple has more than one special needs child. Statistics like this don't surprise me. It's the relentlessness of the disorder that I believe is most taxing. It hijacks all normalcy. Jeremy and I would both tell you that the endurance of our marriage has been totally due to the grace of God. We do things wrong more often than right. I'm sharing all of this primarily as an opportunity to praise the Lord for His mercy in our lives, but I also want to give hope to other couples facing the trials of this life.

When we TRUST Jesus, HE will never leave us or forsake us. He is in control of every aspect of our lives. His sovereign plan is something that we need to grasp hold of. Jeremy often paraphrases his friend Thad saying that "we have tied the knot in the end of our faith rope and we are holding on." You may have moments in this life where you feel forsaken and alone, BUT GOD! He is with you, and you can rest in the fact that He is in complete control of the storm. And the trials that HE has called us to face bring Him glory and are for our eternal good. 

Seventeen years ago, we had no clue where the years would take us. Today, we have no clue what the future holds for us. But we are confident of two things: God is worthy of our trust, and, if God wills, we will face the future together.

Because of His Grace,
Christy

-The wall padding for the therapy room is supposed to be delivered sometime in the next week. We are so excited to see the final pieces of this project falling into place. Thank you to all who have given to bring us so far! Below is a video of Josiah enjoying his therapy room. What a blessing!

The Verroi House is Hoppin!

Today marks three weeks sense my last post. Due to several factors, we decided to re-adjust our support staffing schedule, and I have found it hard to carve out the same block of time that I used to for blogging. But I'm determined to figure out a new rhythm. It's important to me to continue updating all those who have supported us. And I have found sharing parts of our life very cathartic. I pray that these posts are more than just Verroi family updates. I pray they serve to educate, encourage, and glorify our Heavenly Father.

So much has happened in the past few weeks.

Jack's lowest weight was 2 lbs. 9 oz.

Our oldest son Jack turned 14. That means we have two 14 year olds for the next two and a half months. Olivia and Jack were supposed to be a year and two weeks apart, but Jack was born ten weeks early. And so we have Irish Twins. When I think back to Jack's birth, I can't help but marvel at the grace of God in our lives. And I can see clearly how God used that time in our lives to teach us lessons that provide comfort and stability still today. Of all of our children, Jack went through the most at birth. He spent six weeks at Duke and had heart surgery, a brain bleed, collapsed lungs, chest tubes, and a myriad of other smaller complications common to being born premature. We are still amazed that God graciously allowed Jack to grow and develop with no lasting effects. The only remaining signs that this ever happened are the few scars on his body. To God be the glory! 

Right on the heels of Jack's birthday, our ACS kids returned to school. What a joy it has been for Olivia, Jack, and Judah to attend my alma mater and the school where my parents worked and invested so much of their lives. It is hard for us to believe that our little girl is now in high school! It seems like just yesterday she was born. We are praying that this year goes great for our 9th, 8th, and 3rd graders! 

Olivia, Jack, and Judah first day of school at ACS 2017!

Judah first day of school 2017!

Jalen moved to homeschooling with my Mom last year. It was a decision that we thought and prayed about a lot, and we consulted several of his doctors, therapists, and teachers before making the move. I am SO thankful that we did this! My Mama has done some amazing work with that boy! She strikes a perfect balance between teaching him "book knowledge" and practical daily living skills, socialization, and appropriate behaviors. I CANNOT SING MEEMAW'S PRAISES ENOUGH!  

Jalen first day of school 2017!

This brings me to Josiah. I can not begin to tell you how tremendously God has guided our steps in terms of Josiah's schooling. When he was four, he attended ACS for one year with his siblings. That year was such a gift to me from Jesus. I had always dreamed of all of my children together at Alamance. It was a challenging year. One that fulfilled my dream, but also one that showed us that our boy's needs were too severe to continue keeping him there. You know the whole "square peg round hole" analogy. It wasn't fair to the peg or the hole. So we left ACS grateful that they had allowed us to try. 

I won't take the time to tell you all the ends and outs of what happened after ACS, but, suffice it to say, God went before us, and, in HIS grace, we were introduced to Miss Beth Courtney. She has been Josiah's teacher for the past three years. She not only shares our faith in Jesus, but she is one the absolute most selfless and devoted teachers I have ever met. Miss Beth and Josiah have had a special bond from the beginning. She has been Josiah's teacher, but she has also been a friend, councilor, and prayer warrior. As I told her, she has been a salve to my often aching soul and a compass leading my gaze back to my Savior. She has helped me see the beauty in our boy where others could only see the different. Josiah had one more year that he could stay in Miss Beth's class before being moved to a middle school environment. Even though we very much wanted him to spend that last year with Miss Beth, we have made the very difficult decision to move him to homeschooling this year. Josiah is doing so well overall in his new environment. He has struggled with a lot of illness while attending school, and, for this and several other personal reasons, we have made the decision to keep our boy home. I am thankful that our friendship with Miss Beth will go on. I could not imagine not having her in our corner and in our lives. BUT we will so miss seeing her every day! She is doing great things, and we are thrilled for all of the children and families she has impacted during her many years of service to the special needs community of Alamance County.  


I have shared a little update on all the kids in this post except for our youngest Jason. This "baby" has had a HUGE week! When the pool was put into our back yard, our biggest concern was that we had a three year old who didn't know how to swim. Our lives revolve around maintaining a high level of vigilance while caring for our children, but we were very concerned about the possibility of someone making a mistake that could lead to Jason drowning. Our number one priority has been having Jason in the pool almost every day since we started swimming at the beginning of June. Three months of swimming and working with him has paid off! Our boy is swimming!!! We are so proud of him! And, if swimming wasn't enough, HE ALSO POTTY TRAINED OVER NIGHT THIS PAST WEEK! Three may seem a little late for potty training, but we learned early on that waiting for our kids to turn three made potty training so much easier on our family! It's been an exciting and amazing week to say the least! 

Josiah has had the typical ups and downs over the past three weeks, but he is doing much better than when I wrote last. Thank you all for your continued prayers! 

As far as the construction project, we are proud to report that the drains are working perfectly! There has been NO water build up or flooding!! Our padding has been ordered and we are just waiting for its arrival. I am trying not to stretch my busy brother too thin so we are waiting to install the Aquashield until the padding arrives. This way we can tackle both jobs on the same day hopefully. We will of course keep you all posted!

We are grateful for your continued love and support! We serve a GREAT GOD who deserves all of our honor and praise!

Because of His grace,
Christy 

Riding the golf cart and having fun with Instagram! :)