Hi
All! Well,
I guess it's about time I give you all an update
on our new life... :)
I
sent out a brief email a few days ago with
information about a
bunch of free construction magazines because it was too great a deal to not pass on to
you all. Many
of you responded asking how we're doing in our new
home. This may be "sappy" but, I
love you guys, the fact that you care so much just makes
me feel so good. :)
I
apologize for taking so long to update you, it's
been a bit of a rough ride even though we absolutely
love
it here and couldn't be happier to be here.
If
you ever have a chance to visit Whidbey Island
Washington I can't recommend strongly enough that
you do it. But
beware, once you've been here you'll want to
come
back again and again. :)
And
now for that update...
Our
drive up was full of adventure. Four days on the
road with two kids, two big dogs, a packed-to-the-gills
truck with mechanical problems that put us in a Ford
repair shop for several hours on Thursday morning,
and hotel rooms that didn't turn out to be as promised,
but
we made
it! :)
Unfortunately Cameron
ended up in a psychiatric ward for 11 days in
January. It was tough
but he's home with us now
and
doing a bit
better than he was. The
emotional support we're receiving out here is phenomenal.
We have a parent
support group,
a father's
support
group, a sibling's support group, a state
provided counselor
that comes to our house once per week and
now a state funded respite provider that takes
Cameron out for
two hours each week.
It's
still a day-to-day, or even 15 minutes-to-15 minutes,
struggle but there's
hope on the
horizon where there
wasn't just 3 months ago.
We're
hoping to be able to get Cameron enrolled in a long-term
in-patient
program
out here
but it'll
be several
months as the waiting list is quite long.
Turns out there are many, many children
in Washington
with
various mental
disabilities that need help, and nowhere
near enough beds for all of them. :(
Shelby
is doing wonderfully, making new friends, turning
the boys' heads, improving
daily
on her artistic abilities,
earning terrific grades, etc. She's
in 10th grade and already colleges are courting
her.
:)
I'm
keeping the business going (some days it's my only
connection to sanity)
although
I've
had to give
up
telephone support and just communicate
via email. I've explained
more about that here: A note to my customers and readers...
In
addition, we've
started what we hope to be a family project (although
Cameron's
participation
is pretty
minimal and Curtis
is the one doing the majority of
the
work on it, but Shelby designed
the header or logo), it's brand new and just barely "off
the ground" but
you can see it here: Explore-Whidbey-Island.com We're
very excited about it, if there's
anything specific you'd like us
to include please
do feel free to let
us know. :) We've managed to squeeze
in a couple adventures since we've
been here,
now we just
need to find the
time
to write about them and get them
posted. :)
Thank
you for hanging with us and for your incredible support.
Remember
that
I still
have all of my
contacts so any time you have
a question be sure to let
me know and I'll get an answer
for you. :)
Thank
you again and have a terrific day!
Diane |
