August 4, 2011~

Hello from toasty Tennessee!

This is your friend, Faye B. Emerson, writing. I hope this finds you well.  As for us, we have our good days and bad days.  When you have a child like Nicholas, who has significant special needs, one can't be choosy.  We take each day as it comes: we cry during the bad days and rejoice on the good ones.

Nicholas is now seven years old.  He turned seven on July 4th of this year.  It's a miracle he is still here: doctors didn't think he would live to see four.  Nicholas has Canavan disease and is severely disabled.   He requires special care 24 hours a day; somebody has to be with him at all times in case something shold happen to where he would have to go to the hospital again.  His health is that precarious: he can get sick when one least expects it.

Despite his problems, Nicholas remains a very happy, outgoing child who has a killer smile and a sweet, engaging personality that seems to bring out the best in people.  He is a cute kid and we feel blessed that he is still with us.  It's been a huge answer to all our prayers.

Our other two children, Ellen Michelle and Renate Grace (who are 12 and 9), spend their days trying to cool off by swimming in our pool and running in and out of the sprinklers.  They also spend time with their friends and are having a busy, exciting, happy summer.  They know school will be starting up again in a few weeks, so they are getting in as much play time as possible.

We have a good life.  God continues to give us strength to help our children and to raise them as He would see fit.  With Nicholas, this couldn't be more appreciated (and needed).  We also have "respite care" workers who come and spend time with Nicholas while my husband and I take the girls to a movie, to the mall, or to the zoo, or spend time by ourselves.  (When we are by ourselves, then our parents watch the kids.  Someone is always with them.)

The girls enjoy their time with us, and we do too.  It is rather nice putting the worries aside and acting like a normal set of parents.  The girls have grown into beautiful young preteens and have such a love for God and life in their young faces.  Both also accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior at church camp last month and on Sunday, both will be baptized at our church as a profession of their Christian faith.  It is a very exciting time for all of us!

Next week we are going to Colorado for a week; we are going to visit my sister Amelia and her family.  She hasn't seen Nicholas since he was a baby and the girls were just little then: both were not more than 3 or 4 at the most.  We are looking forward to it; one thing, it will probably be cooler than it is here in Tennessee.  Tennessee has been  hot, and yesterday we hit 100 degrees.  It was brutal!  Continued hot conditions are in the offing; I pray this heat ends soon; it's so hard on all of us, but Nicholas, it seems, suffers the most.  When he's hot all he does is cry; he's so miserable it isn't funny!

This is why when it's hot he stays indoors, in his nice, air-conditioned room, where my husband can play with him or tend to him if he needs something.  Meanwhile, I splash in the pool with Ellen and Renate.

Well, Nicholas is cooing again; best see what he needs.  Since he cannot talk, cooing is his way of communicating, as is using his eyes or facial expessions.  We can read him better than a book! :)  I will write in here again, probably after we get back from Colorado.  Until then, this is Faye Emerson saying so long; may God bless you always!

~Faye.  :)