I think........

.....I am the world's worst blogger! I have two very amazing superstars that keep me one busy Momma!!!! Things have been pretty good! This week, the kids finished their third week of school. Both kids are doing really really well. They are learning a lot and I can see it every day! Each day they both come home telling me things they've learned or signs that they've learned or something! It's amazing to me! I don't remember making this much progress each and every day!!!! Both kids are very good about doing their homework each night and have been really good about the nighttime routine and getting ready in the morning! I am so blessed with 2 amazing children!

Wednesday was Jaryse's 5th birthday! First, I can't believe that he's 5 years old! Second, I can't believe we are finally celebrating his birthday in the states!!! WOW!!! So, we had a small celebration in his class with cupcakes, a crown and the singing of "Happy Birthday". Then we went and got the bike that Grandma and Grandpa Packer sent for him for his birthday. Then, we had friends over for presents and cake and ice cream. He was so SPOILED by my friends and family! What a great gift for this very special 5 year old!!!!!

The above picture is most of Jaryse's Kindergarten class at Marlton.

Jaryse and Ecrissa before school the morning of Jaryse's birthday!!!

Quick update on the medical issues! We have been working on doing the immunization catch-ups and making sure that the kids are as healthy as can be. The doctor wanted a whole panel of tests to make sure that there aren't any underlying issues that haven't been caught secondary to the kids not having the typical "well baby" check-ups. So far, OK. Jaryse has been referred to Urology to check on his hernia surgical sites and possible issue with the right testicle, Please pray for that! Ecrissa has been referred to Opthamology for her right eye as if often drifts off to the right. Hopefully that can be addressed simply. Ecrissa also undergo a sedated MRI as one of the final tests for the Cochlear Implant Evaluation. Hopefully a final decision as to whether or not she'll get the implant will be made by the end of October. So basically, within the next month between the two kids, I have at least 6 doctor visits scheduled as it stands now! I average 1-2 days a week in the doctors office with one or both kids!!!! It's worth it!!!!!

How is momma doing???? Well, the truly positive answer is.....depends on the minute! I am struggling with a few things. As you can see from this post, it is NOT the kids! They are amazing! Their behavior has been great, they are learning, they are growing, they are loving, they are just amazing! They bring only JOY to my life. I am just struggling with normal adult things. Trying to balance everything that is expected of me as a person, as a mother, as a therapist and as a child of God. I sometimes feel overwhelmed, much because of the pressure that I put on myself to be perfect. I am thankful for my friends and family, my children and grateful for each day that we make it through, and each morning that I wake up with a new chance to do it all over again! I do need to ask, if you feel led, to please pray for me as I deal with very limited finances, a schedule that gets overly full with doctors visits, work, running the kids to therapies, school and such, and just taking care of normal daily things like laundry, food, and cleaning the house. I find myself often anxious about our limited funds and an over full schedule. I know I need to trust that the Lord will take care of it, and I do, but for some reason my human brain keeps worrying anyway!!!! Nothing is bad, nothing is terrible, just sometimes everything, gets to be a bit much! Thank you in advance for your prayers!

6 Months!

One half of a year ago today these three people were loading a plane to leave Port au Prince Haiti for the first time as a family.

They had been a family for over 4.5 years with a bond of love and a determination to make the best of every minute. Jaryse and Ecrissa became US citizens and this was the beginning of some amazing new opportunities!

Jaryse is a new Kindergartner with UNLIMITED opportunities in front of him! He loved his first three days at school and I can already see how much he has learned and will be learning! He has also been given the opportunity to start gymnastics (through a wonderful donation by the gym) and HE LOVES IT! His coach told me last week that he is very talented and has good strength. His face lights up when it's his day and time for gymnastics class.

Ecrissa has had so many tests and there are still so many unanswered questions, but she is truly an AMAZING little girl. She has blossomed here in the States growing over 4 inches in these last 6 months and learning so much sign language! She loves her dance and gymnastics classes and is showing so much improvement! These classes truly bring her joy! And, from Momma's Physical Therapy brain, so much benefit!!!!! (ps, the picture taken above was taken by Jaryse, isn't he getting to be a good photographer?????)

They have both experienced so many new opportunities including meeting grandma's and grandpa's, aunts, uncles and cousins for the first time. Playing in snow, bowling, ballet, gymnastics, kayaking, the zoo, the aquarium, the Wild Animal Park, museums (I think 3 different ones), parks, taking walks as a family, escalators, elevators, Malls, so many new foods and I am sure so much more! How much fun it is to watch these little people love life with such enthusiasm and get to be a part of it!

Momma is finally feeling like she can keep up! She has 2 part time jobs and enjoys them both a lot! Friends and family here have been so amazing and it's because of them that this transition has gone so smoothly and so enjoyable!

Today, we are going to enjoy our day together as a family at an ASL story time at a bookstore and then with some friends at their house, probably swimming! What a great day!

Labor Day, First day of School and an ABR!

Whew!!! All that in 3 days!!!!! The kids and I celebrated our first Labor day in the U.S together at the beach! We had a blast! We played in the park near the beach and the kids played in the water and made sand castles. I love watching them and they are getting big enough that I actually got to just kinda sit in the sun and watch them! How FUN!!!!!

Jaryse spent most of the day running around, chasing waves and building sand castles, While Ecrissa hung out near Momma posing for pictures!!! :)

Then, Wed. Sept. 9th was the first day of school! Both kids are in kindergarten and they are both at the school for the deaf. Ecrissa is in the deaf classroom with a deaf teacher and deaf classmates. Jaryse is in the hearing classroom with a hearing teacher and hearing classmates. They incorporate sign language into that curriculum for those kids. Both classes play together at recess and have lunch together and do field trips and such together! I think it's wonderful for Jaryse and the others in his class to learn ASL along side their hearing impaired peers!

AS I drove them to school, I couldn't help realize how happy I am! How amazing life is. How wonderful our opportunities are. If you were to look at the statistics of children born in Haiti, how many of them get to eat three meals a day??? How many of them get new clothes??? How many of them even get the opportunity to go to school, let alone a good school in the US that teaches not only English but American Sign Language. It made me want to cry! I was so overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord for the blessings that were sitting in the back seat of my car! Jaryse and Ecrissa are truly my little angels and I am so overjoyed that they get this wonderful opportunity for education that in all reality, many of their Haitian peers do not get the chance to experience.

Along those same lines, I became sad. I became sad that education is so undervalued here in the US. That our American children have no idea what a privilege it is to go to school and how many Haitian (and many other children around the world) would give anything to have the opportunity to go to school.

Today was a whole new experience for me and my little princess. Today she underwent sedation for the first time and she had a sedated hearing test that is called an ABR. Please don't ask me to fully explain this test, because, well, it's a bit complicated. But, basically, it is part of the Cochlear Implant evaluation process and it was quite an experience!

She was treated like a princess in the pre-op room getting balloons and stickers and getting to put on all sorts of "Doctor Garb!". They game her a medicine that made her go to sleep and off she went!

She was all hooked up to all sorts of electrodes and wires and masked and everything else. I knew in my brain that this was a painless and simple procedure, but seeing my little girl like that was a bit distressing!!!!!

An hour and a half later the nurse came to get me to tell me that she was a super star!!! Ecrissa was already awake, doing well and they had completed the test with no complications!

Ecrissa did not seem so happy!!! She was super uncomfortable and even a bit combative! This did not surprise me with the little fighter that I have on my hands! She eventually calmed down after basically yelling at me multiple times and each and every one of the nurses, doctors, and assistants!! She let us all know that she was not to happy about the way she was feeling! She was not in any pain, just waking up from that medicine is no fun!

After I got her home and in some comfy PJ's and turned on a movie and gave her a small snack, she finally looked at me and smiled and gave me her notorious "thumbs up!"

We will wait for the Cochlear Implant team to review these results and then go from there in our decision making process to continue to try to determine if this surgery is the right thing for Ecrissa.

Well, that there is a small update on the last few days here in the life of the Sessions' clan! I'd say, we are pretty blessed!