He Who Dwells Rests (aka My Mother's Day Tattoo)

 “Jesus saved my soul, but His word saved my mind.” - Christine Caine

 “The mind feasts on what it focuses on.” - Lysa TerKeurst

If I’m being honest, my greatest struggle is controlling my thoughts, my mind constantly on overdrive from anything and everything. Obsessions, replaying events and conversations, whether it be things I can control or those things I cannot. My mind never stops.  

At the end of last year God was so gracious to reveal Psalm 91:1 in new light. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” And it hit me. He who dwells rests. My ability to control my mind directly effects the level of mental rest I experience. I’m in control. I get to choose! This is so important to note... My ability rest is my own choice.

Am I dwelling on God’s word and His promises and His past faithfulness? Or am I dwelling on my circumstances, other people and their lives and their choices, or anything else that ultimately is draining my energy and my joy? The former brings rest. The later just a never ending road to exhaustion. 

Twenty years from now will I regret inking up my wrist? Who knows. I also realize that getting a tattoo will not magically make all of my issues disappear. I am not a robot after all. I am a human with real emotions and real flaws. However, I can say with full certainty that I have never once regretted purposefully engaging the promises of scripture. And it’s pretty hard not to engage with permanent ink on your dominant hand. 

He who dwells rests.

Rest, both physical and mental is a choice, regardless of circumstances and regardless of what’s going on around me. Going all in. Who’s with me?

Also, a tattoo artist who loves Jesus (and comes to your house!!) and prays over you before she begins her work? Pretty awesome. Thank you Kiren, @Thecaptivatedcanvas! Your work was the icing on my cake this Mother's Day. 

Clara's latest EEG Results and Update

Cutest girl in the world! 

Clara had her second EEG done in early April of this year. Her first was done at just over one year old.  The reason's for ordering this test is too much to get into here, but basically we have been working toward securing state services for Clara and have been going through the beast of a process of getting denied because she is not deemed "severe enough" - requesting an appeal for a fair hearing - completing two fair hearings - gathering letters of support from all of Clara's medical professionals to speak to our need for services - etc. It's been a blast!

Or the exact opposite of a blast. 

Anyways, I asked our neurologist (who we had not seen in several years) for a letter of support for our case and in order to get said letter we had to make an appointment (since he had not seen Clara in such a long time). After updating him on Clara's latest milestones and ongoing goals, I mentioned Clara spaces out from time to time, he wanted to rule out any seizure activity, so he ordered an EEG. 

He also ordered a sleep study as she wakes nightly for one to two hours. 

We received the results last week. Her EEG came back "sufficiently abnormal." This type of seizure activity is suspected and she will have a 24 hour EEG sometime in the near future to get a better idea of what is going on. If needed, she will be treated with medication to help control the episodes. 

Her sleep study results came back normal. Apparently she just likes to party at night! Disrupted sleep is common in kids with neurological differences/special needs, which we knew, so thankfully there is not more going on there. 

The neurologist explained that sleep deprivation lowers your threshold for seizures plus effects developmental abilities, so a non-habit forming sleep medicine for bedtime was prescribed.  

Clara on her 6th birthday! Took her to the mall to ride the carousel, her favorite! 

I had a hard few days after learning of these results. For some reason the word seizure just made me feel sad. I was honestly probably more in shock that anything, since I was not expecting these results, but I am doing much better now!

The good news: The neurologist, along with Clara's pediatrician and eye doctor, all agreed that they have seen many kids who were having these a-typical absent seizures get on medicine and then experience a boost in development. All three professionals said this is good news. Now that we know what is (most likely) happening we can take steps necessary to help Clara progress in all areas of development. This is a huge blessing!

God works in mysterious ways, friends. If we had been approved for the state services initially we would have never pursued letters of support from Clara's doctors. Thus, we would have never made an appointment with her neurologist and he never would have ordered the EEG.

Please pray for Clara (and us) as we get ready for this test. 24 hours is no joke. She put up a fight for the 1.5 hour test, so ya know (smile). Thankfully we have a prescription medicine that should help calm her (for a time) but 24 hours is a whole new ballgame.

Thank you for the prayers and support!

CLARA IS SIX!

 This girl is S-I-X years old today!

She is growing up and maturing and blowing our minds daily.

Love her to the moon and back and goodness, I am so thankful she is mine.

Clara is the hardest working kid I know. Literally. Potty training and learning how to navigate her speech device has been the focus for the last six+ months, and I'll let the next picture speak for itself for how all her hard work is paying off.

Do you ever stare at a picture of your kid in total disbelief that 1. they are so beautiful and 2. they are yours? I can stare at these next three pictures below for hours at a time. They almost make me cry (shocker). Those eyes!

We love you, Clara girl. You bring us so much stinking joy. You are learning, as you should, how to exert your will and make your preferences known, which can be challenging (ahem), but also rewarding to see appropriate developmental progress.

Keep shining your light and sharing your wisdom with the world. You show up, just as you are, and love people, just as they are. The world has so much to learn from you. Good times are up ahead this year. I can feel it!

Happy birthday, Clara! You're SIX! Tonight we celebrate!