Christmas Letter 2014

In case you have not noticed we have not sent out Christmas cards yet and it's already December 27. I just could not decide on a picture. I thought about one taken in September but I prefer a recent one of the boys because they have grown so much. Since our schedules are so busy we just have not taken time to take the picture. We might send out New Year's card. Here is our year. The two major words that come to mind to describe our year are change and BUSY. Glenn retired after 20  years in the Navy in October. He started working at Boeing in July. Boeing is about an hour away but he is part of a car pool so this saves some time. He enjoys gardening and built more raised beds for our garden. He also got his Ham radio license. He is still learning about the Ham radio. I am busy managing all of Abe's appointments and advocating for him to receive the services he needs to maximize his potential.  I also attends a women's Bible study at church but rarely get the homework done. Abraham got a power wheelchair in June, had surgery in August, selective dorsal rhizotomy. The surgery requires a lot of physical therapy. The therapy schedule was five days a week and currently is three times a week. He has made progress however still requires Bacolofen for dystonia. He started kindergarten in September but misses a lot due to his outpatient therapy schedule. He might require surgery on his hips too because they are out of socket. Hip problems in children with CP is common. He is still recovering from the SDR surgery so we opted to have the x-rays repeated in 6 months then decide if the surgery would be beneficial or necessary. The SDR should have helped loosen his muscles to prevent the hip from pulling out of socket but unfortunately the damage has already been done. When he is a teenager and young adult he might have pain and osteoarthritis in his hips. He seems to enjoy school but on occasion does not want to go to school. He currently is not receiving ABA therapy or respite care. I am working on getting ABA therapy for him again. The respite care was only for active duty military families. However he did qualify for a personal care provider. We met the new care provider on Monday. It will be different than respite care but still someone to help care for him. This will allow both kids to get the attention they need. Luke has grown a lot and went from barely crawling to running, jumping and climbing. He talks and signs a lot. He likes to eat fruits and vegetables. He loves dogs and airplanes.