June

What a month! We're all saying all the things, right?

"Can you believe it's JULY already?!"

"The summer is flying by!"

"We've got a lot going on!"

"Wasn't it just January?"

In light of the fullness of life, I'd like to invite you to take a moment and breathe deep with me. I mean this in all seriousness. If you relate to any of the above, take a breath. What has 2024 been like for you? What richness have you experienced? How do you know God better? What has fallen apart? How are you different? What is your life full of? In the midst of bustle, don't forget the beauty in life, the needs you have that are beyond met, and the presence of Jesus.

Now. June for our household :) We had an exciting June.

The first full week of June, Brad and I got away for 3 nights. We are, again, reminded of the beauty of community. And we are so deeply grateful for our community around us. We do and have done nothing to deserve it. So, our friend, Jes, my sister and Mom (they tag teamed multiple of the grandkids), and our friend, Sarah, cared for Leo while we were away. We also had our night nurse for 2 of the 3 nights we were away.

One of my favorite things was that Phoebe said, "I can tell he's a toddler and not a baby. He's doing better away from you than he did last year." This comment hit me in the "normal" spot. He's a normal kid. He's got his complications, issues, things, whatever you want to call it. And they are wonderful parts of him. But he's also just a normal kid and we haven't gotten to feel that a ton. It's also so incredibly encouraging to see that Leo is ok away from us. It's no small thing to care for him, but it's learnable and he's got plenty of people who love him dearly. He can adapt. He can communicate a bit. He's a pretty cool kid.

On the other side of our trip, Brad and I had a great time. We talk through family goals, go on dates (movie and escape room!), sleep in, and enjoy the overall lack of responsibilities. What prompted the time and place of this trip was a concert we wanted to attend at the end of it. And, may I just say, it was the best concert we have ever been to.

Then, we got back and had a week before we were going away with my extended family for an extended weekend at the cabin. After some necessary changes of plans, we didn't end up going away to the cabin. Instead, family spent the day together here. As I get older, I grow in appreciation of how God designed the family unit, and again, of the necessity of community in life.

Then, the Friday after that, Leo and I left on a plane for Maine! Brad is from Maine and his family has a strong community up there still. We went back to visit with family and friends (throw a high school reunion in there, too!). Back to the plane thing, Leo and I flew while Brad and his sister and parents drove. We didn't do a 10hr road trip with Leo.

Flying was rather interesting and also uneventful! I volunteered to go by myself with Leo. That should also be clear. This wasn't thrust upon me. The sense of adventure and also desire to feel self sufficient was strong. Also I figured it would be a character building opportunity. One reason is that I anticipated people being mad at me and Leo for being in the way or slow etc. You know, you see those people on the internet. Some of you cannot understand this at all because our personalities are very different, but relational conflict is very much a fear of mine. The other reason it would build my character is that travel forces you to recognize things that you can't control. Good to practice in my book.

This was our set up for the airport: car seat in the wonderfold

I prepped fairly heavily contacting other moms, looking at websites, and calling the airline to figure out what I needed in order to travel with Leo. What complicated it is that--and I don't even know how to explain this here--Leo doesn't have a wheelchair yet. He has an adaptive stroller which is different. He also needs to sit by himself for take off and landing, which means car seat. So, because he doesn't have an obvious wheelchair I wanted to be sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that the method of transportation I was using for him--mobility device--qualified and wouldn't have to be checked in at the ticket counter. So, we don't have a wheelchair. In my mind (and I could be wrong) wheelchair is a clear mobility device and he wouldn't be asked to get out of that. But if I have the wagon or something, will people just say that I have to take him out of it? And the adaptive stroller is not very functional for him to sit in for long periods of time. Also, it's not very portable--like foldable.

That leads in to another train of thought for me as we prepped, "Is Leo not good at sitting because I don't push him enough? Am I trying to accommodate his mobility needs too much? Is there a behavioral thing that I'm treating as 'just his body'?" I think there's a grain of truth in those questions, but the overall train of thought should be abandoned. The underlying motivation of those questions is, "What do people think of my parenting?" That's not helpful or beneficial. However, "What does my child need?" very helpful. Also, taking input from trusted loved ones is a great life skill. So I don't think outside input should be thrust away completely, but it's just a very different approach.

Anyways! These are things going through my head as we prep for the trip. Luckily, I didn't have to consider any luggage because my in-laws were driving up and we put anything we needed in their van. It was nice to not have to concern myself with any of that. So, plane ride was fine! People were nice to us and helped. Leo was fussy some but not the whole time. He actually fell asleep during our take off on the way to Maine. He handled the big travel days by snuggling with Mommy and then sleeping when we got there. Good experience in my book!

Now, actually being away from home for Leo? Overstimulating, for sure. New and beautiful experiences. Love seeing a bunch of people. And then he'd crash hard at night. I'm thankful that his digestion seemed to do well even with a change in...what we have of routine. But he was pooping pretty regularly, slept through the nights (shout out to Brad who woke up with him half of the mornings), puked about the same as home. Honestly, all of those were good signs to me. We did have some very big days were Leo was a bit of a zombie at the end of them. Just plain wiped out. Those are not what you want for your kid. I don't want him to be so pushed that he can't enjoy anything. But he'd sleep through the night and be happy and raring to go in the morning. And, again, his digestion and all of that was that same as at home. I didn't realize that that would be such a good sign to me that he's doing well.

To everyone in Maine, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for reading this, for praying for us, and for welcoming us with open arms. I was approached on multiple occasions, "You don't know me, but I pray for you guys every day." I will say it again: community is absolutely insane. And the body of Christ is far from a perfect example of community and unity, AND it is the deepest, unifying community I have ever experienced.

A couple of really cool connections from Maine:

1) A friend of mine from high school, meaning Mexico, lives a bit nomadically right now with his wife and they are currently set up in the south of Maine. So they drove up to us and we got to hang out with them for two days! It was insane that a high school friend was hanging out with my in laws. Mind blown a little bit. Crazy colliding of worlds! Who gets me on that?

2) I got to meet a sweet friend that I've only connected with via Marco Polo. Someone that Brad graduated with has a special little girl with some needs similar to Leo's. She and I have connected since Leo was around 6 months old probably. It finally worked out to go see them and for me to meet them in person. We had such a sweet time connecting and it was cool to hear more of Brad's high school experience. You know, you just learn about your spouse in a different way when you get to be with people who knew them in high school. I mean that in a sincere way, not sarcastic or facetious.

Signing off of this update (there may be more today there may not. I've got a lot of thoughts in my head) here are a lot of snapshots from Maine. I overloaded this post with pictures, 100%.

Thank you dearly.