A Week, Briefly (7/12/21)

For Nature Angel and Belle, this week was AWESOME!  They spent the week at FSY, and had the absolute best experiences of their lives.

This is Nature Angel's "company."  Basically her small group that had a few counselors watching over them.  They met for devotionals and were teams for games and other activities.

Nature Angel with her best buddy and roommate for the week!

She got to meet and chat with Sister Bonnie Cordon--The YW General President!

Belle's experience was just as joyful.

A bunch of friends

The girls in their "company"--it was a really boy-heavy group!

Waiting for a class or devotional to start

They came home with stars in their eyes and brought the light home with them.  It was so fun to listen to their stories of the week.

Life on the homefront was much, much harder . . . more about surviving than thriving.

Brother had a number of episodes that led to the complete and abrupt end of his ABA therapy.  He was given an assessment--the results of which show that Brother is in great need of trauma-based therapy and that in-home ABA services are not the right services for him. 

I knew this and was already working on restoring some of his previous therapies, but the abruptness with which our therapist friends have exited our lives has been a small trauma itself.  

One night resulted in a 3-car chase after Brother on a bike.  We caught him and got him safely home . . . witnesses thought we were trying to kidnap him.  Thank goodness Rose Red stopped and explained what was really happening.  

 

The reality of residential care looms over us.  

If we can't get him the help he needs from home, the choice may be taken from us.

We've had a lot of de-briefing sessions as a family.  The rest of the kids are having PTSD episodes of their own.

It's just plain hard.

But not all moments are awful.

Stories with Little Mister Frog before leaving for FSY

Brother with a baby and a piano--two activities that are therapeutic for him.

He finished his grammar book for the year!

Found treasure:  a robin's egg

And one evening the babies were picked up early enough that we were able to run to the spray park for a little while.

 

Ladybug likes doing math projects, and we had some good summer school days this week.

The babies are so good for us all!

I just liked this photo of Nature Angel reading at the kitchen table full folded-but-not-put-away laundry with an untidy  kitchen behind her.  It feels both peaceful and real to me.

We read a handful of stories from The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book at lunch each day this week.  It has little tales from around the world.  And The Kite Rider is gripping!!  Just what you would expect form Geraldine McCaughrean.

Books and supplies for homeschool 2021-22 are flowing into our home at an ever-accelerating rate.  I've got a spreadsheet filled with probably too many activities, and now I need to pare the list down to what will be manageable with out-of-home therapies, American Rhythm, and 4-6 babies added to our schedule each day.

I am debating cutting this summer short--we're having so much rain and so much mud that the kids are in more than they are out; the babies' schedules are keeping us from parks and lakes; Brother's behaviors are so tough; we're having so many medical and psych appointments--it just doesn't feel like summer, and if we start early, we can perhaps take some time off when the weather is beautiful in the autumn.

Think . . . Think . . . Think . . .