Presenting our 5Kdonations and the end of IVIG #14

It has been a long week.  Thanksgiving parties, prep, activities, soccer tournaments...and recovering from a busy weekend celebrating Paige's 9th birthday (post to follow).  Hunter is back today- he vomited this morning and had a headache, but man, is he ever sweet, spunky, and compliant.  Yesterday, they asked to ride bikes while Paige was at religious education, and he went over to our neighbor's house to invite the little boy out to play.  They rode their bikes in a "road rally," and then Hunter decided they should all dress up in costume to fight the bad guys (what???). 

 
 

We had Grandma B in town to celebrate Paige's bday and assist with IVIG- such a tremendous help, as I could still work while she sat at the hospital with him.  Being that next week is a holiday week, I couldn't afford to take the days off completely this round. 

 

 We dropped her off at the airport yesterday afternoon and these two boys were NOT happy.

 

 

Today we finish IVIG round 14.  We have seen many signs to know this is the right path (including an "ARCH 1" license plate in Peter's rearview mirror yesterday morning) .  He told me this morning as he pushed his IV pole to the restroom (yep, tugged my heart a little to see that),

 

"Mommy!  I think the medicine is working!  I feel better!"

 

 

After being insulted by the stranger on Sunday (quick update- she might be the third person for us to get fired- oops- not a great track record), experiencing many emotions (ups, downs, highs, lows) over the last few months, I have to admit that this span of 13 weeks has been a little difficult. 

 

 

And as we near Thanksgiving 2015, we are at our 6 year anniversary of when it all began. 

 

Thanksgiving 2009- the holiday that would change our lives forever.

 

 

You know, that day that we are supposed to sit around, eat till our pants are busting, and be so incredibly thankful for all of our blessings.

 

As I have said in the past, holidays and milestone markers are hard and quite possibly will always be hard.  At church on Sunday, the boys all went with daddy to light a candle (and Hunter prayed for Nurse Jill, his IVIG nurse!), the music stopped and I waited for the next reflection song to come on after communion.  "I Will Rise" started playing and I couldn't stop the tears from falling.  Paige had walked over to me and said, "Mommy?  Why are you crying?"

 

 

I don't know.  So many reasons.  Fear.  Anxiety.  Sadness.  Thankfulness?  Gratitude? 

 

That song resounded many times following our friend Arch's passing.  We lost his mother this past week, and that song reminded me of not one, but the many guardian angels who had passed too soon. 

 

Today,  we need to be thankful.  For have been given this opportunity, we have learned and educated so many about Autoimmune Disease and Autism.  And as soon as this IV drip completes, we are headed to present $7,000 to a research organization dedicated to finding answers for Autoimmunity.  $7,000 that we raised from our 5K (another portion is going to CAP, the Children's Alopecia Project), putting a mark on our support of finding answers, finding cures, and giving hope.

 

So going into this Thanksgiving week, no matter what your trials, your tribulations, your fears, your insecurities-

 

be thankful for the journey. 

 

I can't really imagine what our life would look like any other way.