Thankful Thursday

Good morning and Happy Thankful Thursday YUMMs!!  If you're like me and millions of others, who woke up in a winter wonderland this morning, I hope that you are safe and warm.  I'm thankful that we woke up to still having power this morning.  I had a restless night with JJ and decided to browse some media until he drifted back to sleep.  I was sad to hear that I few of my fellow bloggers and they families had been without power for upwards of over 6 hours.

They had no backup heat or anything.  They snuggled under stacks of blankets and slept in snow suits to keep warm.  My heart goes out to them.  It's no fun being stuck in a cold house, especially when you have children and/or pets as well.  Thankfully, we invested in a kerosene heater and some kerosene just in case because don't have a fireplace that could have served as our backup heat.

The heater can also serve as our backup for a stovetop as well to heat up food, but we do have bread and meat so that we wouldn't necessarily need to cook.  We also have a cooler and that way we could just stick out meats in it, cover it with snow and leave it outside to stay frozen.  Yes, growing up poor and being a former Girl Scout has taught me how to be prepared in situations like this. And I'm passing these survival tips on down to Moo and Bud.

I'm thankful that so many wonderful opportunities have been coming my way.  I've been being bold in my faith and daring to ask God to pour out His favor on me and my family.  I feel like the doors He's opened are His confirmation that He has done just that.  My Bible 365 Challenge maybe over, but I'm still learning and I'm still growing daily in my spiritual walk.  I by no means pretend to be holier than the next person, but I am working on making sure my actions are falling more into line of where they need to be.

Monday started off with an emotional meeting with JJ's speech therapy caseworker and a rep from the school district to discuss what direction we want to take after his third birthday since he'll be over the age limit for the state's sponsored infant-toddler program that he's in now.  It was a little overwhelming just knowing all the options and the choices I have to soon make for him before this month is over.  It's scary because I want to make sure that I make the right ones.

Having a child with special needs is more emotionally exhausting than anything else.  I don't think anything could have ever prepared me for this emotional roller coaster that I've been on since last year. But I'm grateful to have the caseworker that we have and to have had the rep that we had come out with her on Monday.  Of course, I cried because I've been doing so good this last 3 weeks at not having a meltdown and it all just crashing down on me like 2 ton weight.

But they let them me get out and listened as I voiced my frustrations and pains in dealing with this.  Then, they comforted me and reassured me that I was doing the best for him and making the best choices.  I also, got a few resources that we are going to look into that could also help.  Once this snow goes away, we'll be getting out of the house more because they agreed that the more stimulation JJ gets with other 2-3 years the more improvement we'll see.

So, I've decided that we're going to invite some playgroup friends for weekly visits to the ImaginOn Library and just have a blast exploring Uptown.  Also, I've found a library branch here that does a storytime that is specifically designed and targeted for children with special needs like sensory overload disorder and other disabilities/special needs as well.

We're going to try to fit it in so our schedule, but it's on the same day as his speech therapy and we might be cutting it close with time.  We'll see though.  Either way, this will not defeat us.  I won't let my son fall into the cracks and just accept his diagnosis and disabilities without being proactive.  I will make sure and do everything within my power to help him overcome and live as close to a regular life as his sister and future sibling will have.  I won't allow him to feel defeated or neglected or less than.

Whelp, we're giving potty training another go.  So, keep us in prayer.  I haven't the first clue about potty training boys.  We'll figure it out as we go along though.  Continue to be safe and stay inside if you're trapped in this snow storm!

What are you giving thanks for today?