Prayer Requests

We are often asked how people can pray for us, so I thought it would make sense to answer it here :)

1. Endurance. When faced with a child who suffers with a disorder or a disability of any sort it takes it's tole on the entire family.  Some days it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, simply put because some days there is no light. 

2. Patience. Three children isn't easy street. I have many friends who understand that first hand. Having one child with a disorder, one child with some significant health concerns, and one poor healthy little boy with no squeak in his wheel presents it's own delicate dynamic on how life works.

3.Understanding. I think it goes without saying that our life isn't quite the norm. so what? Ben and I have had to make some very hard choices in the past two years. have they all been right?..... absolutely not! don't tell anyone, but we are human too!! that being said we have had the blessing to have a very qualified, caring and educated team of professionals working with us since last November on how to help our family work. I can not say enough about them! They work with our values and faith and every week through several meetings come up with a plan. Some tactics are to help Julia, some are to help Ella and Caleb, some are to help the family and some are to help Ben and myself.  One of the biggest obstacles Ben and I run into are people who think they know how to better handle a situation. It is hard sometimes to have the guts to just stick to our guns because we know what we are doing is what needs to be done for our family.  It is going to sound silly, but I have a very hard time standing up for myself.  So the prayer request there is understanding for those looking in, that they see Ben and I have given it go God and he is guiding us along. Not for understanding as to why we do what we do, just to understand that what we are doing and how we do it is what is best for our family. Roberts, family of 5.

4.Space. Everyone needs their own right? As most of your know, all three children live in one room. we have 850 sq ft of room in our home. Let me say that I am thankful for the 850sq ft. For those of you who have been following Ben and I from 1999, you know what we started with and where we have gotten. Coming from credit card deb, totaled cars, and student loans, to marriage in 2002, a pregnancy in 2003 which tested our faith in March of 2004, Ella in 2005, Caleb in 2006 we have come a long way in our short lives together. Our home gives us shelter, safety, love, friendships, fellowship and opportunity. If need be, we will live in that space forever. That being said, I have been staring at some rough drafts of an expansion on our house thanks to a very sweet couple who I can not say enough about, so I will just leave it as they are more inspirational than they know, and also are a welcome smile when faced with the reality of sitting in children's hospital with the unknown ahead of them ;). We are ready for what God has in store for us, if he has more "store"age for us that would be nice too :)

Using resources

As many of you know Julia spent the past few weeks at in inpatient campus for children. The goal was to observe her and try to help her manage some of her more pressing issues.

Julia was officially discharged today. The past few weeks have been long, between meetings and decisions and keeping everything as normal as possible. So what was the point of her stay? Julia struggles greatly everyday with a few disorders. Ben and I are parents, we love, we care, we protect, but also we know when we need help too. Part of being a parent is knowing your limits and using your resources. Through the guidance of our team and a lot of prayer we followed the suggestion to have Julia stay at a place for children who need a little extra.

What was the result? Julia got some much needed help with her sleep so fingers crossed that continues at home. There were no real surprises, more of validating what we knew. In some ways it is nice to know we are doing the right thing, in other ways it would have been nice if we were wrong... we will just say we have our work cut out for us. Beyond the information we also have a few new resources in place to help us along our journey, which should bring some reprieve to everyone in the family in the long term and short term.

So on we push, family of 5 doing what we need to to best provide for each other. It isn't an easy road, but we will do it together and come out on the other end.