Psalm 100:3 - Know ye that the Lord, he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
It's been such a long time since I've posted an update here. My husband and I have posted a few updates on our Instagram and Facebook accounts, but since this will be a more detailed update, we thought a post would be better.
Over the last year, we have been working hard at Wesley's therapy, watching his diet, and engaging him in activities that will stimulate the right hemisphere of his brain. (In case you aren't aware of what is going on, the right hemisphere of Wesley's brain is weak. It is not and has not been developing as quickly as the left side. This causes significant communication issues between the two hemispheres of the brain and thereby, significant developmental delays.) The brain cannot function as it ought to unless the two hemispheres are growing in sync. Rather than concentrate and cater to his strengths, we are working at strengthening his weaknesses. We are using a program called Brain Balance, and we absolutely love everything about this program!! It has been helpful to us in so many ways, and taught us lots of interesting information about childhood development. All of our children have benefited from what we have learned over the past 15 months. Brain Balance has taught us and given us the tools that we need to help stimulate the right side of Wesley's brain so that it can catch up with the left side, and the two sides can begin communicating the way they need to for Wesley to progress.
Nothing about the process has been easy, and very few things about it have been fun, but all the hard work and sacrifices that have had to be made have yielded the increase in progression. We knew when we began this therapy program with Wesley that it would be a long time before we would see significant progress. Wesley needs to be able to do his therapy exercises on his own in order to get the maximum benefit from them and progress quicker. Some of these exercises are very hard for him to do. In fact, one particular exercise took him over a year to learn to do on his own, and there are still a few more he cannot do on his own yet. He is working hard though and has really blown us away at what he can do! We continue to work at his therapy. We do a little bit every day, as much as he can handle, and continue to pray that God gives him great progress.
At the beginning of the summer, Wesley began to be able to handle a push in his exercises, so we pushed him and started doing more exercises with him. He also began using a trampoline, which I really believe was a major key in getting him potty trained. He then had another ALCAT food sensitivities test done to check up on his diet restrictions. Wesley had tested for 40 Food sensitivities back in May of 2015 and went on a pretty rough elimination diet for a year to help him overcome those. His last test revealed he now has sensitivities to only 13 foods, and most of those are due to the fact that he was on an extremely limited diet for such a long time. Most of these sensitivities are mild, so we know we will be able to overcome these as well. The exciting thing in overcoming these sensitivities is that it means that his brain is progressing, and that his gut is maturing. He can get more nutrition from the foods he is eating now, and food as you know, is fuel for the brain!
I had reached a point in this summer that I think I had given up. I was overwhelmed, exhausted, discouraged, lonely (my husband works all. the. time!), and I just didn't feel like Wesley was making the progress he should be making. I was struggling. I didn't feel like I was doing a good job with him, and maybe I wasn't, but all along the Lord was working, and in that struggle, I committed it all to the Lord. I knew that I couldn't, but that He could. Every night in our family devotions we pray that the Lord would give Wesley progress and the Lord has answered prayers!! A specific prayer of mine was that Wesley would be potty trained by the time he was 5. We did our best to work at it and stay consistent with him, but I was praying that he would actually, verbally tell me when he needed to go. Tomorrow is his 5th birthday, and you know what, the Lord answered my prayer! :)
Other progress that has been made is:
- Wesley can eat with a fork. He's not be able to do that in over three years.
- He can jump and get his feet off the ground. He's never consciously been able to do that.
- He's learned to do an exercise on his own that will help him to sit still better. (AMEN!)
- He can clap his hands. He hasn't been able to do that since he was one.
- He can walk to and from places without giving in to the urge to run off. That's huge!
- He is experiencing more frustration and displaying more emotion.
> This has been a great step toward encouraging speech and communication.
- He can sense pain, and hot and cold. He's never been able to sense hot and cold correctly and his pain tolerance has always been abnormally high.
- He's trying to initiate interaction and trying to communicate with us more verbally.
- He asks me for help when he needs something. (He's never done that.)
- He has been able to put some of his clothing on by himself.
- He is able to sit through book reading.
- He's able to use more reasoning and thinking skills.
All of these things take lots of brain power, and they all take equal brain communication. Small steps lead to great victories. Everything has to follow order, even development. Right now speech isn't a huge focal point because he has to learn non verbal communication first. This is why his expressing emotions appropriately is so encouraging.
We are excited at all the Lord is doing. The verse I mentioned at the top of this post has been a great help to me personally in all of this. "It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves"; "It is he...not we". It's not about all that we are doing. It's about all the Lord is doing. "We are his..." What a precious thought to know we are His and we can go to Him for all we need! He has been so good, and we are thankful. We deeply appreciate all of those who have come alongside us and helped and encouraged us. You have a part in all of this, and God is using you!
"it is he...not we...we are his..."
Many Blessings,
Kara
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