Friday

Every Friday Noah has been going to "eating therapy" through Holland Hospital. It's been very interesting and exciting to see his progress. We have determined that he CAN chew and use his back teeth, he is swallowing just fine, basically medically everything is normal. He just has some delays with his oral development that are causing eating and speech issues. We're also seeing a therapist and a teacher through Early On, a free educational service through the state of Michigan. A speech teacher will be coming out to our house once or twice a week to work with him on developing his language. But it's so great to see how much he's learning and how far he's come in just 8 months! We praise God every day for the miracle that he gave us! Sometimes my mind is still full of doubt and fear and questions about Noah's health, but the doctors can find nothing wrong and I think God is teaching me to simply embrace the miracle and accept the fact that Noah is a healthy boy! It's just more than we could have asked or imagine. Thank you, Lord!

I wanted to share some fun things about Noah's sweet personality. First of all, he's such an easy-going little guy that he just goes along with whatever our busy family happens to have going on each day. He loves to play "vroom-vrooms" (cars) and "mall" (ball). He also loves to help clean up. If I leave a cupboard open, he's quick to come along and close it. He tries to imitate the girls and clean up the dishes after a meal, but he can't quite reach the sink. The other day, he took his cup and tried to THROW it into the sink, but it came back and landed on his head (this was a cup w/out a cover and it still had a little milk in it!). He gets so excited when Brent comes home from work each morning. He says "Nany" (we're working on those "d's") and runs to the door to greet him with a big smile.


Noah loves to have his picture taken, but he doesn't smile. He tries to say "cheese" but it sounds like "eeeees." Then he quickly wants to see the picture on the digital camera, and then of course he smiles. Yesterday he put on this sombrero for a picture:

We're so blessed to have such a precious son and so thankful for his health and progress!

Rylee and Anna are both in school right now. Anna has (mostly) overcome the school bus fears. We've given her much reassurance and I even met her at school a couple times to help her get on the right bus. She still gets worried that she might miss the bus, but I'm proud of her for doing it, usually with a smile.

When I dropped Rylee off today at school, she was full-out screaming, I'm talking ear-piercing, top-of-her-lungs screaming! I can't get to the bottom of what her fears are all about, but she screamed for Mardi on Tuesday, too. The teacher was very reassuring and picked up Rylee and shooed me out the door. I hope she's okay!!! Poor honey. I think the gist of it is she doesn't want structure or anyone to tell her what to do; she'd rather do her own thing. So in the long run, I know this will be good for her. She was reading me the Bible this morning (she loves to "read" and really does a great job telling the stories). It was the creation story and she said "God creationed the whole entire earth." How precious is that!? Another thing she tells me often lately is "You take good care of us, Mommy." (Gee thanks, I try. I think she's trying to make up for that earlier comment that 'Mom doesn't do too much around here anyway').
I love my children so much and even though they challenge my patience at times (okay, every day), they are such a precious gift and I am so thankful for each one. Sometimes it's hard not to feel guilty, though, when I think of the Busschers who are deeply missing their daughter, or those suffering from hurricanes or AIDS who have lost children, or those who long for children but can't or don't have them for whatever reason. There is so much about God's plan that I don't understand. But I think the best I can do is be thankful for what I have, live each day to the best of my ability for His glory, and continue to remember and pray for those that are suffering.

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits---who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's

Psalm 103:2-5