I LOVE NORMAL

We were all so blessed today to go to Holy Nativity School's Second Grade class. Their teacher goes to the same church as us...we see her a lot because she's on Frontlines but we never got to meet her until a couple Sundays ago when we bumped into her. She told us that her class had chosen Caleb to do a fundraiser for... to bless him in any which way they could. So anyways, after talking to her and emailing we set up today as a time for her students to meet Caleb!
They prepared so much for his arrival. They sang the most perfect songs for him which they chose themselves ("Be" by Tiffany Thurston and "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield), read a great story and Caleb helped them paint the poster that they were making for the fundraiser and he got gifts too! The students were so great with him...it was so cute. They truly treated him like a "regular kid." Before we left they all gathered around him to take pictures. Caleb was blowing some bubbles during the "funny" picture and I noticed the boy who was right by his side blowing bubbles too. It was cute. From the first song they sang until we said goodbye was just so wonderful. I had a hard time holding back the tears. I was overjoyed. We passed out "pray for Caleb" bracelets to them too! They were such a great group of kids...with an amazing teacher!
Here's a part of the email I received from their teacher later on this afternoon (which of course brought me tears of joy):
"I was so blessed today....Gosh, we were trying to bless your family in some small way, but you ended up blessing US instead! Caleb's visit really helped me see yet again, how faithful God is. I heard one of my students went up to Caleb and said..."Wow, you're a handsome guy!" How blessed are all of you, to have so many riches?....Caleb really blessed my life...The third grade class were curious about Caleb, so I invited them into my classroom at lunch to watch his videos. When it was over, I couldn't even talk. I just sobbed over my laptop and managed to choke out the words, "Do you realize how blessed all of you are?"...My assistant and I talked about the need for them to think outside of themselves. That is why we created this project. (Project Kahiau) To give without expecting anything in return. Wow...we didn't expect anything, and we received so much. Thank you so much, for bringing a refreshing spirit to our classroom...for touching the hearts of our students...for making us realize once again, that God is the Almighty..."

God continues to show me how great this journey with Caleb is. I saw today for the first time...Caleb's impact on kids. These kids are learning from Caleb's journey and they definitely have that "childlike" spirit that Jesus talks about...they believe that he will be better and will come back to their school to play with them. (They wrote cute cards indicating so) They are so right! Caleb will be back there one day to play with them...to talk to them...to thank them himself for all that they have done and continue to do for him. There are many purposes for Caleb's amazing journey and I am so blessed once again to be a part of it all. God in trusted me with HIS mighty little warrior and I am so honored everyday! We will be going back to the school next week for their May Day program. They will be doing a Jamba Juice fundraiser for him there at the school that day. Mmmm...how did they know that was our favorite?
This morning in the second grade class of Holy Nativity, I was beyond blessed. Words can't explain how much I appreciated that. It was all for Caleb...but boy did I get so much out of it! Micaiah is blessed to have him as his big brother too. I love that he gets to witness all of this even though he's still so young. I was so bummed that I didn't get to take pictures because my battery died. But I did film much of the day. Hopefully I'll get the pictures from their teacher and then I can post it for all of you. I was so excited that I had to post a blog already.
Later on this afternoon Caleb had speech therapy again. He is really making up for lost time! Yesterday I didn't stay at the hospital for his therapy appointments as he was there for a long time. I didn't want Micaiah to have to sit through his therapy for that long. But Patrick told me that he did so well in speech therapy and was doing it all so fast that the therapist could hardly keep up with him! Today I was excited to see what he had done the day before. He chose to play computer games once again! He plays this using a joystick and the point of the game is to move a picture (which changes every try) to a picture of a computer across the screen. So he has to drag it over and then it has a little show. WOW...he did so well! He was tugging on that joystick and going through that game like a pro! I am so proud of him! So proud...I think daddy needs to buy him a computer so he can play some games at home too! :) When he had first started to play the games today he had been positioned a bit differently and you could see him trying to move the joystick but his hand kept getting stuck. He was getting frustrated and you could see it on his face. But then at one point he made a sound like he was mad already! It made me laugh...that's Caleb, I said! But I of course encouraged him to keep going and never give up as always! And he sure didn't! (But it was so sweet to see that personality of his again.) Which maybe I should mention that I often took for granted. How precious it is to even see him frustrated and getting upset. I know this sounds weird but when you don't always see it...it surely is a gem to be cherished. That's something I often remind myself with Micaiah too now.
Brandon has been working long hours again. It's not so great for us as I hardly get to "really" see him and feel like I haven't "really" talked to him in quite awhile. We miss each other. Which is good in a way because it helps us to realize a lot of things. For Brandon, it's been good too because he hasn't had much time to spend with Caleb. (That of course isn't a "good" thing...especially for Caleb) but I think God is really playing a role in it. See, Brandon has been able to see much more of Caleb's progress since he has been working so much. When you see him EVERYDAY, it's hard to notice the little steps he is making...but Brandon has been seeing every little thing and that for him is so great! It's something that I often miss but sometimes others will point it out.
I will be going back to school in the summer! (It's good that Brandon is making this extra money working overtime...school is so expensive!) Please pray that I will be able to successfully go through my schooling. Caleb is now down to 4ml of Phenobarbital (seizure med). Please continue to pray that he is successfully weaned from his med and that no seizures would EVER occur!
Micaiah was so cute today when he walked into his brother's room...Caleb was sitting in his tumble form chair when Micaiah walked in. Micaiah walked right up to his brother and said, "hi." Then he kissed his brother on the cheek a few times and stroked his arm. It was so sweet...mostly because no one asked him to do it...he just did it on his own. It was...NORMAL. I LOVE NORMAL. All of today was completely NORMAL.

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:8-9

I am going to try to post the video I took if I can and promise (for real) to post the pictures that I have when I charge my battery.