Bright Spot

The girls were testing out one of Anna's birthday gifts while they waited for Jonah's MRI results.  Julia was a bit bummed that Anna would only let her watch, but is sure that she knows exactly what to do for next time.

My kids are obsessed with "hiding" in the cubbies at school.  All 4 of them have done this through the years.  In this picture, you can also so that the effects of Jonah's facial reanimation surgery in October are starting to kick in.

2017 is starting off as a bit of a rough year.  Perhaps it is just the long shadow of 2016 and the years before, as the things of 2017 are not a surprise, even if they are hard.  First of course, there was the sudden death of my dad.  The death certificate arrived today, confirming that metastasized lung cancer was the cause of death.  Immediately after that, we have started the process of moving mom into a nursing home, as her Alzheimer's has advanced to a point where she is no longer safe at home.  With that move, comes selling my mom's house and moving grandma into assisted living.

Lots of hard and heavy, and it's only the middle of January.  In the midst of all of this, there has been a bright spot, and that has been Jonah.  First, Jonah's recent MRI is stable!!!  This is news that I will never tire of reporting, it fills me with joy and gratitude every time.  Additionally, we have started to notice that Jonah is getting movement back in the right side of his face.  We went to visit the plastic surgeon this week, and he said he's never seen anyone recover so well so fast.  It usually takes 4-6 months after surgery for movement to return, but in Jonah's case, it's barely 3 months and he's got good movement back.  In the next few weeks he'll be adding facial reanimation therapy to his weekly repertoire as a result.

I don't think this make me weird, but I would tolerate and mange all of this hard to keep my bight spot bright.  I don't think that it works that way - that's the not the choice that needs to be made - but it is the choice I would make.

And so for now, I gear up to go to Colorado - to clean out my mom's house and get it ready for sale, while visiting her and grandma in their new residences.  But I also celebrate another stable scan and the success of Jonah's surgery.  I take the joy and pain like sunshine and rain (thanks Rob Base) and just take the next step into the story as it unfolds.