The Journey We Are On.....

It's that time again to head back to school! Ethan loves school, which is great. We know that we are extremely blessed to have a great team of professionals who work with him daily. When we first received the PBD-ZSD diagnosis I couldn't even imagine that Ethan would live long enough to go to preschool, let alone make it to elementary school. Even as I write this I can't help but think of all of my friends who aren't able to share first day of school pictures. " Dear Kindergarten Teacher: My son will be absent on the first day of school " is a beautiful tribute to bereaved parents everywhere.  As school starts this year we are also thinking about and praying for our former foster daughters who are now back home with their biological parents. Driving by the bus stop, instead of walking down there with three children in tow, like I did the previous two school years, on the first day was a bit emotional. Since we don't live in the same town, that means t...

Jason Johnson is a writer of a blog and several books about fostering and adoption. One of his recent posts " Foster Care, Adoption, and Saying Yes to the Unknown " is a powerful and insightful look into the life of a foster parent. I'll be the first one to admit that when we said "YES" to two little girls who needed a family that we never thought that I'd be writing about the girls return to their biological parents. However, a little over a week ago our two foster daughters moved back in with their mom and dad. " Saying Goodbye To The Foster Care Child I Fell In Love With ," isn't exactly like our story, but there are a lot of similarities, and gives you a bit of a look into what we have experienced and are now experiencing. We are heartbroken and grieving. We miss them so very much, be we also know that they are loved and that they are happy. This summer as we prepared for this we spoke openly and often about the fact that you can be b...

When I started this blog I don't think that I could have imagined a time would come in which months would go by without me writing. However, that is what has happened. So much has changed over the last almost eight years since Ethan's birth and subsequent diagnosis with PBD-ZSD, yet at the same time so much hasn't. Unlike parents of typically developing children we find ourselves still parenting a child with complex medical needs who's developmental skills range anywhere from 9 to 18 months. Ethan still has PBD-ZSD, and right now his uncontrollable seizures are a major issue. We still fight PBD-ZSD the best we can each day with a basket full of medications and supplements and other medical interventions (feeding tube, cochlear implant, AFOs, etc), numerous therapies, school (which Ethan loves), and prayer. We advocate for him and all children and families impacted by PBD-ZSD and related peroxisomal disorders through our involvement in the Global Foundation for Perox...