Home visits

Akila had an appt on Wednesday morning that I brought her to, and then I brought her home for her first visit since she left to stay at the crisis home on Sept. 1st. She did really good, and it went super well and was so nice to have her home.

At first, she just walked around the house, kind of taking it all in and saying that she remembered different things. Then she played for awhile with Zeke and Imani, and spend a ton of time going through all the toy catalogs we have gotten in the Sunday papers. She also spent some time drawing.

When it was time to go, she did not put up a fuss at all. I had told her the day before the two rules were that if she got out of control, she would have to go back to the crisis home right away, and that if when it was time to go, whether she was being good or not, if she threw a fit and did not cooperate, she would not be able to come again for a home visit and that we might have to call the staff to come and get her.

Then this morning, I picked her up at 10:00 and brought her home. We were planning on leaving for my brother Tom's in Andover around 2:00, so she would have some more time to spend at home. Once again, she did great. She played a long time with Zeke and Imani, played catch with Hezekiah, and did some more drawing.

At Uncle Tom's, she was awesome. She asked Aunt Paula to show her how to knit. Paula knows how to crochet, and knit a little bit. But for a couple of hours, literally, Akila knit. She needed a good deal of guidance, but Aunt Paula was patient with her. The biggest challenge was that at the end of the night, Akila wanted to take the knitting stuff with her to the crisis home. Knowing that they are not going to allow knitting needles, I said no. She thinks it would be fine to have them there, I explained why they couldn't have them. She disagreed, and put up a fuss for awhile.

Normally, this would have been explosion time. It was not. Amazing. We normally can't stay as long as we did today. I had told the home we would have her back at 7:00, we got her back at 8:30 and could have stayed longer. I am definitely feeling ready to have her come home next week, and am looking forward to it. This medication change has been amazing. There have been other times when she has started on a med, and we noticed a good difference. But I have never noticed a difference this big. She was knitting for at least 2 hours. In the past two weeks, she has put together two 500 piece puzzles.

I am thankful for so many things on this Thanksgiving day. I am thankful for crisis homes and the staff that work there 24/7 and on holidays. I am thankful for medications that are able to help people function and become or stay healthy. I am thankful that after 3 months of unemployment, Michael will be starting a job on Monday. I am thankful for all 4 of my children, and that one is working so hard to behave, and the other 3 are working hard to support and love her. I am thankful that my neighbor/mom Kathy, has finished her last treatment of chemo and can now try to recuperate and get back to the active life she loves to live. I am thankful for some newly deepened relationships with some faithful women who are parenting tough kids. I am thankful for the blogging and the opportunities that we have to share and support each other through this virtual world. Mostly, I am thankful that Jesus laid His life down for me, and shows endless mercies on me daily.