As many of you know, it's been a long hard road for my family these past two years. A quick update for anyone interested (and thank you for those of you that have shown concern, we appreciate all of the positive prayers / vibes / well wishes that we get from all corners of our lives, including you guys):
Wife threw out her back three weeks ago. Pain medicine, steroids, and physical therapy is not helping. MRI will be scheduled soon, but surgery would be detrimental to our family needs with all the other doctor and court stuff happening with the other kids.
Kid 1 has a court date coming up in a couple of weeks for us to finally get full custody from her father (she is my step daughter). He has been very bad to her for years but we could never prove anything; we still can't 'prove' any abuse but she has felt safe enough to bring it up (and of course we believe her and know it's true, the burden of proof for criminal prosecution is what we are lacking). He seems more interested in being absolved of the blame than he is in getting her back, but also wants her back to stick it to my wife (his ex). He won't win, but the process has gone on far longer than it should because of his antics.
Kid 2 is stuggling in sixth grade, not with the course work but with the social and environmental expectations of being a sixth grader. Not much different than many sixth graders, but he's also deeply impacted by the illness of his younger sister and that is also bringing him down.
Kid 3 (the sick one) has had setbacks in the past month or two. This week we will be replacing her port (a major surgery, but one they are expecting to have no complications), an all day infusion, and rest and recovery from those. She is still in good spirits, and continues to teach us and others around our family things about life and perspective with her contagiously positive attitude towards life.
Kid 4 is plugging along, but needed stitches in his forehead three weeks ago. He plans on being Harry Potter for halloween this year.
Kid 5 had one best friend from preschool move several states away, but was able to find a new best friend in kindergarten that lives on the same street as us. She is very whiny, but at 5 years old with all the drama above her, I suppose that's not surprising, but it is still annoying.
Again, thanks for all the positive thoughts. If anything major changes I'll continue to let you guys know. Take care of yourself and those around you. :)
