Working towards Positive

I keep trying to remain positive.  I keep looking for the brighter side of things, I tell myself that if I can keep the positives in focus and see what I want them to lead too; then they will come about someday.  But sometimes, I feel like this is a battle that isn't going to end well for us.

So I'm going to list the positives in October, the things that will make this a month we can crawl out of, because I can see right now that walking is not going to be likely.

October:

At some point this month, Molly the wonder dog with NorthStar Dogs will be ready to be inseminated again.  Why is this so big?  One of the puppies that she gives birth to at the end of the year (or January) will be trained to be Bradley's Service Dog.  So this one is pretty big!

I'm blogging daily, and yes this is a positive.  ;-)  It's important to take the time to reach out and help people to gain a better perspective about our little ones.  Bradley will not always be a little guy, it's my job to guide him down the path ahead to help him become an independent, contributing member of society...it's also my job to try to level the playing field to give him as fair a shot as I can.  Awareness leads to Acceptance...that's why I do this "31 for 21: Challenge!"  :-)

This is Buddy Walk month!  Buddy Walk let's us reunite with "Bradley's Buddy Brigade" each year.  We get some of our original members to ourselves for a few hours and every year we get Blessed with some new ones that make the time to be a part of the day.  Love wraps around us tight and bolsters for whatever the next year will bring.  We can't wait...this year has provided more challenges and our coffers are running a little low.

The girls started Chorus yesterday.  This is big too.  Should we have spent the forty bucks?  Yes, it's important.  It gives them something to look forward to each week, it gives them an anchor in an otherwise rough sea.  And I don't care how well you do or do not sing, singing makes you feel better.  As their mom, hearing them sing makes my own heart sing.  They feel better, I feel better - it's a win win!  At the end of practice I get to hug them both and tell them: "I love to hear you sing!"  It comes from my heart and it fills theirs right up to overflow - it feels good.  First time going and I have to say that being the super wimp that I am...yeah, I felt that burning behind my eyes.  So yeah, this will be a good thing!

The girls will continue in band because the school has found a Clarinet for Sydney and a Trumpet for Madison.  They are now learning to read music, play music, and somewhere in there the skills that music is a bridge too - those are all forming and building and guiding.   And I'm not going to lie, they aren't putting two good sounding notes together yet which just adds to my giggles as I think of our rude neighbors taking part in this wonderful opportunity for my children.  :-)  HaHa.... seriously though, their practice time happens so early I'm not sure that most are even home from work yet.  Sure is funny to see the girls put tissue in their ears to block each other out though!

Madison is teaching Bradley how to blow into the trumpet and make sound...and he is making sound.  We think that 3 is too young to take up the trumpet...but we are totally open for 4.  We think his dexterity will be ready by then, you should have seen his incredible pincer grasp work this afternoon in OT!

"The Walking Dead" starts up again this month!  Hurray!  It's not real, but they sure are having a worse life than we are so it's got a comfort level...course they have no more Congress...but that Governor was rough and I kind of think the snake will be slinking back in this season.  It's not much, but it's something to look forward to each week.

And finally, the Flu shots are available...they suck to get but they are the best and only chance to fight the flu with Bradley.  We need a winter where he isn't in the hospital, if we get so lucky at the end of the year, I will feel like we have won a huge battle.  So yeah, the flu shot makes the list...hey, I warned you that it I was hard pressed to find the positives right now.

That's about it.  There's a lot to focus on this month and for the most part not a lot of good things.  It takes a lot of effort to isolate out the good things to really see the positive in them to give me something to hold onto. I'm strongly grounded in reality, don't mistake my attempt to take the positive approach.  But I also have Faith and I have to believe that things will work out as they are meant to be; why, because I am also a mom and getting this family through the tough times now and the ones that are bearing down on us, that's my job.   And the seas ahead are rougher than I have ever seen, I'm tying the kids to me with strength of will so we can all get through it.