The end of a long week....

September 14, 2007

The end of a long week....

Here is a photo of our sweet little girl next to a bear dressed up as a beefeater at the Tower of London. Right before I got this shot she was hugging and kissing the bear, and wondering why he wasn't holding her hand back.

This week was rough. I have been struggling with feelings of hopelessness for my little girl. We are still working with a team of doctors to figure out what we are dealing with in terms of Waverly's development. I just want her to be able to share all of her thoughts & dreams...I want everyone else to see her as the beautiful, sweet, incredible little girl that I know her to be. She is almost 4, she looks like she is 6 and she is developmentally at 2. It is stressful and exhausting....especially being away from the support network of home.

After dinner tonight, she was a bundle of happiness. She laughed and played and snuggled - it was exactly what I needed to be reminded just how blessed I am to have her as my daughter.

Comments

Mike and Sarah said…

So sorry to hear about your rough week. I'm praying for you guys tonight. Waverly is so blessed to have you guys as parents!

September 14, 2007 at 11:49 PM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.