Seasons of life certainly can set an out of control spin to even the already out of balance life. The scrambler, the tilt-a-whirl, or the tower of terror...I am not sure which describes the ride we are on! We are holding strong though and feeling such a sense of peace in our midst.
A few other issues of concern to share. Tyler is scheduled to come home August 9th. Initially, the timing of his two week visit seemed to be good. But, the reality of that hit me hard yesterday? He lives in Nairobi. He had malaria in the last 6 months and Elijah will be 10 days out of a bone marrow transplant. Of course, he can not go to the hospital to visit Elijah.. And now I am even wondering if he should stay with us if we will be going in and out of the room. We will have to discuss this with the team tomorrow.
And, Tyler has been feeling sick the last month. I talked to him last night and he shared that he has had a headache and stomach ache for about a month. The doctors have given him some pills but he doesn't think it is working. He says he is eating but is still very small. Now, there is even more reason for him to come home so we can get him checked out (of course, he has no insurance here in the United States) but this is all the more reason why we may not be able to be around him. My heart aches for him. My heart aches because I miss my son who has been so far away...and even when he comes home, there will be little time to be with him. Please pray for him.
He also has a financial need for the children's home and school (See info on the right sidebar of the blog.) Their is a German man who is ready to build a new education building but the land needs to be cleared off. It will cost around $75 to complete the job. Tyler needs the money so that the work can begin. If you have a desire to help with this, you can do so on the blog or go to TIPS international. The money goes directly to Tyler and then he pays the workers.
Some things that are so obvious have eluded us in these times of so much going on around us. We have discovered that both Maisy and Isaac have significant vision loss. Maisy is very far sighted and has a strong correction in her new glasses. She is doing well with her glasses and we are thankful that her vision is correctable for the most part.
Isaac's vision is primarily a cortical vision impairment--meaning that his eye structure and function is good but that his brain can not effectively process the information that comes in. His vision was assessed at 20/540. We have always made the assumption that he could see pretty well. We knew that he responded to high contrast items better and that he saw faces the best, but we had no idea how severely limited his vision really was. We learned alot about our behavior as well...realizing that whenever we approach him, we talk at the same time we came into his visual field. Now, it has been clear how limited his vision actually is when we take away the auditory input from the equation. He is has a non correctable vision impairment that is severe.
So all of our girls have significant vision impairment. Aaron and Issac are legally blind and most likely Isaac will be diagnosed deafblind as well (Aaron already is.)
So even though nothing has changed regarding any one's vision, we are adjusting to the new diagnoses in the midst of everything else. I have some plans swimming through my head regarding how we can better make the environment around here fit the visual needs of the kids. Isaac and Aaron share a room which is fortunate...there vision is very similar.
McKenna is being tested for seizures. Her new neurologist thinks that perhaps her migraines are triggered by seizures. She had an MRI last week and we are trying a medication trial to see if this could be the case. I think it makes alot of sense since her her eyes are involved in a seizure like way. She looks up and to the right and her eyes lock in place there before the vomiting. This just might be a better explanation for what is happening. So far the meds seem to be helping..and if they do, then we could safely say that their is some seizure involvement after 11 years of frequent migraines that lead to vomiting at least twice a week. If we could stop her from vomiting so frequently, that would be an answer to years of prayer.
So, sorry to list all of our recent issues...I am sure you have enough of your own :) This blog is a way for me to keep a record of our life and sometimes I just need to record snippets so that I have a time frame of our life. Thanks for bearing with me and thanks for your prayers!
