Mountain Monday And....

First off, your regularly scheduled Mountain picture. The clouds finally cleared up and left you with a very nice glimpse of the first real snow.

Very beautiful, don't ya think? I erased the power lines this time, I figure there is room for some artistic license in our relationship. As I sit here and type to you, I can look up and see this beautiful landscape. Some days I feel so lucky.

And now, the AND part....
It is Nov 13 and JJ is 17! I can't believe it. He is our youngest bio kid. He was born at home, like most of our kids.



Right away things were a bit funky with him. He was not a good nurser and just seemed, well, lethargic. By the time he was 24 hours old, he was inpatient at the NICU. They didn't know at the time what was wrong, but we would find out later he had had a stroke before he was born. We were unsure if he would even survive his first week, but he did and we rejoiced. Weeks passed and he was just not meeting his milestones like our other kids did. It soon became apparent that he was paralyzed on the right side of his body. We did alot of praying and we had a nurse coming out and giving us exercises to do with him. By the time he was 9 months old he was army crawling and mostly dragging his right arm and leg. Then the miracles began to happen. After a couple of weeks he began to have more movement on the right side of his body. Within a few months he was walking and you would NEVER known anything was ever wrong with him. He continued to struggle with other health issues for the next couple of years, but they eventually resolved too. Even his doctors called him a miracle. They said they had no idea why he got better, but he did! His neuro released him from care with a final eeg that showed NONE of the abnormalities of his other ones. The doctor said he must have rerouted around the damaged areas. We don't know how, we are just grateful it happened.

This kid was such a risk taker! By the time he was one, he was swimming under water. He was always such an eccentric child. We figure it is because he was just so dang smart. He was playing chess by the time he was five.

He has always had a fascination with money. When he was small he would ask us for our pennies. After he collected 25 pennies, he would trade us for a quarter. It took us months for us to realize we were buying and rebuying our own pennies!

Along with his passion for earning money, this child has been blessed with the most generous heart. He always wants to share, and to this day, it is the delight of his heart to be able to share anything of his with his friends or family. He would make a great rich man, he could do alot of good with it.
What an imgination! He once, for about a week, pretended to be a monkey. He had a belt for a tail and he wore gloves on his feet instead of shoes. What a hoot he is.
He went to kindergarten, and his K teacher said she had never heard another 5 year old sing opera!
He has always been the leader of the pack and our house is often the gathering point for stinky teenaged boys. He is such a free spirit, I guess his friends like that.
The last six months have improved his teenaged attitude a great deal, much to our relief. Instead of a hormonal grump, he is once again, our bright, smart aleck, a bit strange but funny kid. Happy Birthday JJ. We all survived!