New Therapists

I.Am. Exhausted. Which can be a good thing because that means I was doing some emotional work or it can be a bad thing because we have church tonight and I really want to go. Yesterday I met with Joseph's new therapist at Pressley Ridge to do his intake. Guess what? They will begin seeing him immediately, as in this Friday! We went over his history, what causes him to tantrum, how we handle the tantrums, what is his bio family's mental health history, does he have asthma, threaten to harm himself or others and for every answer I gave I had to explain why I felt he did this or the other thing. Going over his history was exhausting but it was good to refresh my mind and remember why my little guy struggles so much. I really liked his therapist, she is a mom which gives her a higher rating in my opinion. Her office had lots of cute drawings, pictures and gobs of fun looking toys. I almost wanted to play myself! Our next step is to get Joseph evaluated for OT, get him tested for learning disabilities and have a neuro/psych done. Feels good to be getting a plan in place.
   This morning I met with my new therapist to do my intake at Crossroads. I was very impressed with the lady who did my intake. She said she will write up a summary of our talk then in the morning they will make it a matter of prayer as to which therapist would be best for my situation. She asked me all kinds of questions I didn't have answers for such as, what are your strengths, How do you view yourself, how do you think God views you? She encouraged me to write down how I view myself then go through the Bible and find verses that tell how God views me.
   My mom came and stayed with the children this morning while I was at Crossroads. Joseph was having a good morning then suddenly everything went down hill. I sat him down for a talk and it turns out that he saw me put my shoes on and panicked because he didn't know where I was going. I hadn't told the children of my plans because they would  have had a hard time containing their excitement and would be bouncing off the walls! Slowly but surely God is revealing Joseph's triggers and we are learning how to defuse a situation before it turns into an all out war. I am feeling a bit over whelmed at the thought of adding 2-3 or more therapy appointments to each week. This too shall pass and if this is what we need to do to obtain emotional health, we will just be thankful there is help for us!

We have four of these guys scheduled to go to the butcher in a few weeks. We bought a second freezer so we will have room for our pork. No, we aren't keeping all four for ourselves! I am looking forward to fresh sausage, bacon and ham steaks. I currently have a few packs of ground beef and pork chops in my freezer. It will be nice to have some variety again.