I am thankful for Corey!

Today I am going to write about our son Corey and how Thankful I am for him.  Corey had a rough start to his life as he was born with seizures and was later diagnosed at 3 yrs old with periventricular leukomalacia which is damage to the scar tissue in the brain that was caused by the seizures he had for the first few months of his life.  Because of this, Corey has had may obstacles to overcome, the two biggest ones being a major speech delay and learning delays.  Corey has overcome so much in his 10 years!  I am so very proud of him.  We came from not being able to say even two words to now being able to say his own name "Corey" (this was an accomplishment within just this last year!), being able to express his thoughts and needs and actions in words has been a huge step for Corey.  It is quite awesome to hear him say that he is "cool" and to hear him talk about his friends and what he did at school, etc.  Corey can talk about his own world now and just as recently as a year ago he could not express all of this.  I see Corey excited and happy to be able to share his thoughts, his feelings, his world with us in ways he couldn't before.  He has always been very social and he has always had a an easy time making friends, but to see him be able to express so much more with words has been an awesome transformation to be a witness to and to be a part of.

Thankful for Corey!  Check out his Turkey!

Corey with school!  That is another amazing thing that totally took me by storm!  I really do love the way God works in everything, even when we can't see it.  Corey has always been in a special education classroom until this year.  We moved in the summer and he started at his current school in a regular classroom.  It was really quite a crazy beginning, as it actually started out with them not knowing what they needed to provide Corey.  I had his IEP turned in to the school plenty of time in advance, but they still didn't have a plan.  Corey surprised all of us and I was surprised by a the director of the special education, Jean!  She is a gem for sure!  She had been watching Corey from the beginning and noticed some pretty special things about him.  We went and visited another school that had a special education classroom and then discussed what should be the plan for Corey.  He had already spent a 1 1/2 months in his current school.  I was concerned about switching to a different school all the way across the city.  He would have to re-adjust to everything after having just moved this summer.  Jean was right on target.  She saw Corey's social abilities and the importance that it played in his life.  She saw how he had already built his own little world of friends and those he trusts.  She also had noticed that Corey scored very high on some IQ testing that was performed a few years ago.  He scored extremely high in visual learning and visual memory and she felt he could really thrive in the regular classroom with the help of a teacher's aide that would be assigned to him.  I was a nervous wreck trying this option, but he had already been managing this way for a while.  Corey has proven that he is quite capable of handling this new school arrangement.  He is brining homework home for the first time ever.  Wow!  Homework.  But I am very thankful that Corey is moving forward and it is a pleasure to help him move forward even in homework!  He is happy, thriving, and learning in his new environment.  Special Education in Leavenworth and Fort Leavenworth gave Corey what he needed and his educators taught him a lot, but Corey is showing he is ready for more!  It really did grab my heart to be at that place where my child was entering a regular classroom for the first time.  They are treated normally for once, I feel like I am looked at more normally for once.  Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of love and devotion that goes in to the special education departments and I love and respect everyone who as worked with Corey, but it feels so good to be on this side of the fence now!  We still have challenges and we will continue to have them, but I am ready to take them on.  The challenges come with lessons and also come with growth.  Without Corey, I wouldn't have experienced the things I have or learned as much as I have.  My heart would certainly not be as full as it is with Corey in my life!

Making Lemonade and Being Thankful!

lemonade stand!, a photo by amy.gizienski on Flickr.

What better way to finish out November and head in to December.  I am on a new way of thinking, not something that is uncommon to me, in fact, it is rather how I hope and pray to live every day and I really strive to already do in my life.  It is time to think of the blessings that I already have and how truly green the grass is that I already live on and that I can make lemonade when I am handed lemons, because not every day will start out that way.  It is a choice.  I choose lemonade and green grass!  I choose to be thankful for the blessings God has given us and live life to the fullest.

In starting out this blog, I wanted to recap on what I feel my family and I really have to be Thankful for this year.  We have so much to be thankful for that I can't possibly put it all in a blog.  This summer we finished out our 2 yrs in Fort Leavenworth, KS with the military.  Pat really enjoyed his job and we had a lot of family time.  It was a blessed time for our family and much needed rest for Pat.  This summer we moved to the D.C. Metro area.  Wow, what a change and an adjustment it has been!  Kansas is pretty quiet and peaceful and it takes quite a bit to get lost in the wide open area where we lived.  The D.C. Metro area on the other hand requires a GPS & lots of patience.  Pat is now riding the metro to work, something that is a foreign concept in KS.  We are blessed in our new location as well.  Pat was promoted in April of this year and although it is quite expensive to rent a home in this area, we were able to find a house in our budget.  I am thankful to be in a house and not a town home.  We appreciate having a house with a fenced in yard for our dog Mitch, a nice, small, friendly neighborhood.  Corey has made friends quite easily in our neighborhood.  There are 6 other kids and 3 of them are Corey's age.  He has had a blast playing with them and he is so happy here.  God definitely had his hands in our location for living out these several years in this area.  Corey is in Cub Scouts and we have found a church home.

Other things to be thankful for this year, we had a great time going on a Disney Cruise with our friends, The Hohing Family from Pennsylvania.  It was a wonderful time, we all had a blast.  I know that is something we will always remember as a very special vacation.  I am also thankful for Corey's new school situation (something I will blog about soon).  I am thankful that God took wonderful care of my sister, she went through emergency surgery while she was on vacation.  God had all the details planned out.  She is recovering and doing well now.

I feel I have so much more to be thankful for, so much more.  As this being my first blog post, I am going to end right now with this, but you will see snips of my thankfulness and also making lemonade out of lemons and enjoying the green grass we live on.  I am sure to post some of our weekly happenings, granted, it might not be an every day post, but hopefully weekly.  I plan to share the blessings, challenges and how God has grown me through our loving son with his special need challenges.  He brings a new perspective on just about everything and reminds me of the simple things.  You will also see me post about making healthy eating/lifestyle choices and recipes/pictures from time to time.  So get ready to come along and join me.  I am ready to let the sun shine on me no matter what comes my way!