The end of the school year is approaching, and it seems like we’re busier than ever!  Here’s a little update:

Evan is growing like a weed, and learning new things all the time.  He is following closely in his brother’s footsteps by teaching himself how to add and subtract, and loves to practice writing his ABC’s.  His already stubborn nature has become… well, even more stubborn, but he loves to help out around the house… especially with feeding the dog and folding his “wahn-dwee” (laundry).   He is really looking forward to his first summer camp experience and his first soccer season.We discontinued our visits with the physical therapist we were seeing, and started taking Ryder to see our personal trainer.  He’s working on lots of techniques that probably appear strange to most people… rolling, rocking, head nods, army crawling, and even playing catch with a football… but when we combine all that with his recently gained ability to ride his bike with both hands for an extended period of time, we’ve seen a great deal of improvement (relatively speaking).  In the last three days, we’ve seen twitches of wrist action where there was no movement before, and some incredible bicep movement (at least, we think it’s pretty incredible).Aside from seeing what he can do with his body, what’s happening in his heart is pretty inspiring too.  His faith is growing just as fast as his feet (I keep joking about needing a GoFundMe account to pay for their shoes and food, but it’s almost not a joke anymore!).  He recently explained to us that God told him He would heal Ryder’s arm on his 7th birthday (in September), but that even if He didn’t, Ryder would still worship Him “just as hard.”  This kid is a prayer warrior… man, can he pray!  In fact, most of the time he prays so long, we have to <ahem!> encourage him to wrap it up.  Tonight’s precious nuggets included, “Thank you for everyone who’s praying for my arm.  And please heal all the other paralyzed kids.  And for the firetruck and ambulance we watched race by our house a while ago… please make that accident be not such a big deal.”  He’s beginning to learn to look outside of himself despite his own struggles, and he makes me so proud!

In an effort to declutter our minds (and our budget), we finally decided to cut cable.  And in an ongoing effort to declutter our home, I’m semi-systematically attacking cabinets, shelves, closets and rooms to purge anything and everything we don’t need/use/love.  It’s kinda becoming a game.  I secretly love the process, and definitely love the outcome.

We’re looking forward to a summer full of memory-making adventures, playtime with friends, and lots and lots of swimming  🙂