Surprise!

My Valentine’s Day was a day full of amazing surprises for me. These were not your typical Valentine’s Day surprises, but even better in my opinion.

Yesterday was my kids first day back after being tracked out for three weeks. My first surprise was when Drew told me he didn’t mind going back and was kind of looking forward to it. I immediately took his temperature. Drew does not like school (what 13 year old does)! That was shocking, but wonderful to hear. Later in the day, my second surprise came when Emma’s teacher emailed me saying that Emma had a great first day back and participated in all the Valentine's festivities and loved every minute of it. She had so much fun they didn’t even pull her out for her resource time. Always good to hear the positive comments from her teacher!

On Wednesday of this week, I have Emma’s annual IEP meeting. This is the dreaded day each year. Doom and gloom day. I hate it and there just isn’t a nice way to say that. I sit with a room full of people who think they know what is best for my daughter. I get to review all the things she “can’t” do instead of making them see all the things she “can” do. You would think after all these years I’d be used to it, but it never gets any easier. Having said that, I decided to email her special education teacher to ask for a heads up on what recommendation may be coming our way as far as classroom placement for next year. I knew the attempt at mainstreaming may be short lived and certainly came with a price-the price of fighting the fight of my life to get Emma the education I feel she deserves. My third surprise- I received an email response from her special education teacher saying her only recommendation for next year is to increase her resource time an additional 30 minutes. Say what? Wow. I was shocked. We’ll see if that turns out to be true (one missing piece of the puzzle is mandatory psychological testing she has to have this month to determine her area of eligibility –please pray about that!) but this was a wonderful, very unexpected surprise.

Remember this post? Waterman Family Blog: Bravery I have been waiting to hear about Emma’s lab results. Last night I heard from her endocrinologist. My fourth surprise- most of her labs were within normal limits, including the test for Celiac disease (which was positive just 7 months ago) and her thyroid levels. But wait, it gets even better! She was diagnosed 4 years ago with hypothyroidism. Since our move, we had not been giving her the thyroid meds (bad parents, I know but there were a lot of excuses, I mean reasons) so we all expected her thyroid labs to be terrible since she hasn't been on her meds in about 6 weeks, yet they were normal. She hasn't had normal labs in over 2 years ON the medication. The doctor has no explanation. She was baffled, as am I. She told us to stop the meds altogether for now and she will recheck her labs again in six weeks. Could God be providing us with yet another miracle (He closed a large hole in her heart diagnosed at birth when she was almost 3 years old, just months before she was going to have to have open heart surgery to repair it)? We will have to wait and see, but I ‘m trusting in Him. She does have low calcium, vitamin D and phosphorus, so we will address those things. Overall, a huge praise and wonderful surprise!!!

My fifth surprise was when Drew walked up to me and asked if Jon and I were going out for a Valentine’s dinner. I told him no and he said “Mom, you guys need to go out. It’s Valentine’s. I’ll keep Emma for you so you can go out.” My heart melted. At his ripe age of 13, he realizes how much Jon and I need a break every now and then and how rare we actually get one having a child with special needs. He didn’t want this Hallmark holiday to pass without us having time together. That was all the Valentine’s I needed right there. We did have to take a rain check on his offer since it was a school night. Raising teenagers is not all that fun (as I’m learning) but when beautiful things like this happen, you are reminded how it is all worth it. I love you Drew. You made my Valentine’s.

My sixth surprise was when Jon walked in the door last night with a Valentine’s Day gift for both Emma and me! He went the practical route (since he wasn’t supposed to get my anything to begin with) and bought some decorative shelves to help me take the plunge to start decorating our new house. He bought Emma a cute, pink life jacket for our new pool. Emma doesn’t like getting in, so he thought this will help her with her confidence and safety of course. It was obvious he put some thought into our gifts. What a good man he is. I love that guy so much!

I went to bed, once again, feeling so blessed for all the good things in my life. I am so undeserving. I hope your Valentine’s Day was filled with love, laughter and a few surprises too…