Victoria is starting therapy

Hi Friends

Victoria started her ABA therapy last week, and she loves her therapist.  It's probably because they have only been hanging out so far, but I know she is going to be great for V.  I feel very grateful that this is happening and I know that it is going to be great for Victoria and our family.  She will actually be spending 9 hours a week with her.

This past weekend was definitely a roller coaster for her.  She didn't have swim lessons because they were canceled for everyone.   Which was perfect because she woke up with "sore throat." So at breakfast I said, "that's awesome that your lessons were canceled because you wouldn't have been able to go anyways."  She sat there for a couple of minutes, then looked at me and said, "I think God did that."  I was completely choked up, and that is my favorite statement to come out of her.  I said, "I think so too." She said, "Yeah, because He can predict the future."  I just smiled.  There is no denying that she has turned our household upside down in very positive and not so positive ways.  But if she only learns one thing while she is here,  I want it to be that she knows God loves her.

She has had three pretty serious meltdowns since Thursday, and we are pretty sure it's because she has a "sore throat."  She lost her computer privileges Saturday night, and she thought she was going crazy.  It was around 4:30 and I told her she wouldn't get to have the computer until 7:30, which she doesn't have it a lot during that time anyways, but of course it was the end of the world in her mind.  Until I told her that we didn't get home until 8:30 the night we went out for Dad's bday dinner.  And then she was completely calm, and then came the tears.  For some reason after a big meltdown it becomes confession time.  She says all the things that she has been holding in for who knows how long.  After that, she did just fine with her punishment.

Today she came home from school with a band-aid on her finger and when I asked what happened she started to get super anxious.  Long story short, she was tired at school which made her distracted from her work and she got in trouble so she scratched herself.   And she was VERY worried that if she told me she was tired I would change her bedtime, as if that was humanly possible.  (trust me it's not, at least not by me or Matt.)  I told her she is 12, she chooses to go to bed at midnight and is tired the next day, that is her natural consequence.  (Life is sure hard sometimes.  :)

I know that no one else has or will ever keep me on my toes like Victoria does.  My prayer is that I never take for granted the time I get or her brother gets to spend with her.  I also prayer that I deal with her with as much love and patience as I humanly can.  She can put a smile on my face quickly and make me laugh like no one else.