It was all worth it!

Caleb, excited for his Dolphin Encounter

Micaiah's happiness after "playing" with the dolphins

Micaiah's turn...

All of us up close...

Caleb and Uncle Patrick with the dolphins

Caleb and Micaiah got an unexpected treat this past weekend! Kapiolani Hospital and Sea Life Park started a special program, "dolphin therapy!" It is sponsored by both the hospital and SLP which allows special needs kids and their siblings and families to play with the dolphins. The boys were so excited about that day, especially Caleb. He was excited everytime we talked about it and was told all week prior that he had to do his school work if he wanted to see the dolphins. When they got up to the water, Micaiah got scared and didn't want to go in next to his brother. But the trainers were so kind and took Micaiah for a special show after it was all done. He got to touch the dolphins and see them jumping so close, we thought they were going to jump out of the tank! It was a great day! There is also a small picture in the The Honolulu Advertiser today which Caleb, Micaiah, and Patrick are in.

We've noticed recently that Caleb has been moving a lot more. So much more that we're worried he may fall out of his bed one day! This past week I had him on the floor mat and was doing some physical therapy with him. I was working on his legs when he started to move his arms a lot. He lifted his arm up with his hand stretching considerably over his head. Something I haven't seen him do before. His arm movements and flexibility has improved in the last couple of weeks. Caleb's physical therapist from the DOE has been doing a weight bearing therapy technique she recently learned. I don't actually know much about it yet, but I can definitely see the difference in him! Praise God!

We are now reaching the point of settling with our insurance for the loss of our van. Our insurance company is refusing to pay for our wheelchair accessible van. They are instead, quoting us for a regular sienna van which is a major price difference and a total rip off for us. Its so frustrating I really rather not deal with it...but I must. Wheelchair accessible vans are so expensive. Brand new they can cost up to 60 to $70,000. Of course, we are not looking to buy a brand new one but imagine what a used one can cost based on that! The amount they quoted for our van is not even half the amount of what a used one costs! We are blessed that the Vara Family are loaning us Abby's carseat so we can take Caleb around still and that works fine. But Caleb has to be in his jogging stroller everywhere we go and he can't see much in there so he gets frustrated. His wheelchair also has damage and needs to be sent to the mainland for repairs. Another cost that will be out of our empty pockets. To me the wheelchair looks fine, but we had it checked out by the experts, who of course know much more then me when it comes to that, and he said there are a lot of dents. There's not much that we can physically do about this situation but we can pray and believe that God will help us in the matter. Caleb walking is what I'm believing...heck, we won't have a problem at all there now, would we! "Is anything to hard for the Lord...?" Genesis 18:14

This is just another mountain of adversity for us. When things involve big amounts of money it's hard to not get caught up in it and stressed out. But it all works out. It is harder but it works. And PRAISE GOD that our boys were untouched!

I finally met with our new case manager. I was very upset with the whole meeting but realized after that I hadn't given her a chance. It wasn't her fault after all. Our previous case manager never updated Caleb's files. First off, she went to the wrong house (file not updated...we moved 7 months ago). Left me a message and gave me an indirect phone number to call her back in which I got through to no one but a recording. But she called me back again later when my dad saw them and told them we moved. Secondly, they thought Micaiah was Caleb?! huh? seriously? yes, I'm serious. Third, Caleb is four? Yes, 2 and a half years ago!!! That's just what his files said. Again, not at all her fault. But that goes to show how much "work" our previous case manager did!

Well...Caleb is STILL waiting on authorization for PT, ST, and soon OT. Oh, and not to mention a bath chair and stander! Too bad we didn't get it before the economy started to go down. I really tried to push our case manager (at the time) before the switchover in medical. But we all know how well that goes. Again, all things that I do not have to worry about. (REMINDER TO SELF) Because... standing in faith in God, Caleb does not need it!!!

I'm often amazed by Micaiah's actions towards Caleb and the things he says. (Often when they are "alone" or at least expected moments). When we pray together before bedtime, I often just want to cry hearing Micaiah's prayer! The things he says in his prayer amaze me, especially because he is only 3! He's a little prayer warrior when it comes to our family! And then he adds in other family and random people sometimes! Like he gets a prompting that they need prayer or something. I never interrupt his prayer or add or take away from it. I just let him pray whatever comes to mind.

Micaiah knows how to silence Caleb's pulse oximeter alarm now. Which is not really a good thing. Although, I constantly tell him that he needs to ask first before doing it and explained to him why. He has thus far and he seems to understand the reasoning behind it.

During a conversation, my mom had told Micaiah that Caleb used to say, "oh great, just great!" Micaiah's response was, "he used to talk?, did he used to walk too? He hit his head really hard, yeah?"

I don't know where he got that last statement but we did suspect that Caleb hit his head and fell into the pool. (He had a scab on the back of his head which we did not notice when he was in the hospital until we cut his hair which was probably about 3 or 4 weeks after his drowning.) I thought that he might have picked up on it hearing it from us. But we haven't mentioned that since he was probably a baby.

In the Bible, "Micaiah" is a great prophet who does not waiver in what God speaks to him when all the other "great prophets" do just to please the king. Micaiah's Hawaiian name means, "the strong righteous waters of this great era"...I'm beginning to think we named him Perfectly.

A couple weeks ago, Patrick held Caleb up next to Micaiah in a standing position to show him how much bigger Caleb is next to him. (It looked like Caleb was standing.) Micaiah lit up when he saw his big brother standing and said, "yay! you can walk! we can go play soccer now!" (I had to hold back the tears that built up)

In less than two weeks we will be CELEBRATING Caleb's 3rd "re-birthday." Three years since he died...and was given back to us by the gracious hands of God. I think I can honestly say, I am looking forward to it.

I'm moving forward and continuing to fight this fight as best as I can WITH GOD. That is all I can do and is all that I must do. Many of our circumstances push me to want to give it all up. But, for what? It's worth it in the end... And in the end, I know I will say, "It was all worth it!"