Update and news!!

It has been awhile since I have provided a proper update on what is going on in our lives. We have some pretty exciting, AMAZING news in fact that I want to share now that we can. Also, I wanted to share some pictures of our most recent trip.

We just returned from our Annual Family Cruise. This year we went to Grand Turk, San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten and St. Kitts. We had a wonderful time spending 10 days uninterrupted as a family. I really value this time as a family making as many memories as we possibly can. I always wish I could freeze time as these are some of the moments when we are the happiest. It is a moment in time that we are able to escape the day to day struggles we face and just live in the moment of happiness and being together. The reality is never far from our mind, but it allows a small escape.

We were able to bring Danielle along as well so that she could provide nursing support to Nathan. I always feel more comfortable traveling with her. Especially since Nathan started having seizures. I was very nervous to be in the middle of the ocean and not have anyone to help. Thankfully, it was an uneventful trip and everything went perfect. Nathan had great flights both ways, enjoyed himself on the ship and liked dinner time the most. Every time the bread would come he would say to the man who brought it “I love this guy!”. He would sing at dinner and most always had a smile on his face. There was one night he was being a little louder than I liked and I asked him to be quiet. After dinner when we were leaving the dining room, a gentleman stopped me and said that Nathan had been the biggest blessing to their family. Their son is autistic and said they just loved watching Nathan and reminded me I should never ask him to be quiet. His comments really made an impact on me because he was right; I should never try to stifle who Nathan is.

Madison and Danielle were able to get away and do things together too. They enjoyed a spa treatment, movies and thrill ride. It was nice to see Madison so happy. She loves to go on cruises and is always so sad to come back to reality. She had a great time on the islands and even got to hold monkeys!

Leaving 90° weather yesterday and coming home to 25° was a little shock to our system and definitely not anything we packed for☺

Back in June, I posted when Nathan was hallucinating that things were getting serious regarding needing something different for Nathan regarding a room on the main floor.

The stairs have been such a nerve-wracking thing for me. Every time he goes up or down the stairs someone has to be right behind or in front of him. It truly has become a saftey issue. I posted on his blog about the need for either a renovation or the need for us to move. I had no idea what we were going to do as neither option seemed feasible.

Two years ago for Nathan’s 12th birthday a local company Parker Yard Greetings contacted me and asked if they could put a yard sign up for his birthday. The woman who owned the company was so sweet and just wanted to do something nice to celebrate Nathan’s birthday. That is all the contact I had with her. Fast forward two years and I got a message on Facebook from her asking for my number because her husband wanted to talk to me about something important. Honestly, I was a little nervous so I gave her Jay’s number. Within a few minutes a gentleman called Jay. I could hear through the phone what he was saying. It was a quick conversation that literally changed our lives. He said “Hi. My name I Chris and I work with Lennar Homes and we heard about your story and we would like to donate a renovation to you.” Immediately, I broke down and so did Jay. We could not believe that there are people out there who do this. I have heard of it happening, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would happen to us. I honestly thought we were going to have to move. There is a foundation called Home Builders Foundation that partners with Lennar Homes to make this possible. They have provided us with a dumpster that has allowed us to clean out 10 years worth of clutter. They will be turning our formal living room into Nathan’s bedroom and our formal dining room will become his bathroom. Everything will be fully accessible with a roll in shower. They will build a loft above his bedroom. This truly is an answer to a lot of prayers. I am happy to say construction starts tomorrow. They estimate at max it will take about 4 weeks. We have been talking it up to Nathan since we are sure that there will be confusion on his part as to why he does not need to go upstairs anymore, but I know it will be perfect.

There really are not enough words that we can say to ever let them know how appreciative we are of the help they are giving us. This is the only house our kids have ever really known and if we would of had to move them out of here, it would have been so confusing for Nathan. This is the absolute best case scenario. Stay tuned for pictures of the progress along the way as we are excited to share this with everyone.

Stacey