About our Daughter

I am mother to four wonderful daughters, ages 17, 19, 21, and 23, and wife to the greatest husband on earth. God has given us a special child to raise one who was diagnosed with early-onset bipolar disorder at the age of seven, though she showed signs of it from the age of fifteen months. She also has ADHD, Sensory Integration Disorder (sensory seeking), Dyslexia, and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder-NOS, all typical comorbidities for a bipolar child. In spite of the trials, she enjoys lacrosse, running (finished her first marathon in October of 2014!), and reading and writing her own books. I will share with you the many joys and sorrows we have faced and will face in the future with the hope that you may find better understanding about this mental illness caused by both chemical and structural abnormalities in the brain. I desire that you will be encouraged by this blog if you are also dealing with a bipolar child. Thank you for reading and sharing in our journey.

How Did You Know She Was Bipolar So Young?

I wrote a long explanation of how we came to this bipolar diagnosis in a child so young under my post of March 19th of 2009. If your child or a child you know bears similarities, please seek out a good psychiatrist and don't wait for "things to get better." Often they will simply get worse, and the longer a child is unmedicated, the more damage their brain can accrue. Early diagnoses and treatment are key to providing these children with a chance at a successful life later as a teen and an adult.
Never change, start or stop a medication without the approval of your child's physician!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Moving Along with the Move, Trusting God

My sister has been coming over to help me with organizing and pitching things out and laundry . Very grateful for her help.  I couldn't sleep last night.  My anxiety came roaring back like it likes to do sometimes.  I should have gotten out of bed and taken something else to help me sleep but I didn't.  Sometimes I just wonder if all of this is really going to happen: getting our house in order to sell, selling it, actually raising enough support to begin working for MCYM, packing up the house, moving, living off of much less than we had been used to before he lost his Navy job.  So many mountains.  I don't know what I would do without the promises of God, without His grace and forgiveness and forbearance towards me, towards us.  I don't think I have faced bigger obstacles than what is ahead of me in a very, very long time.  A real Red Sea to be parted and to walk through, and then a desert to cross before we hit the promised land so to speak.  God never promises us a life without trial and hardship.  He promises to be with us through them and to use those trials to purify our hearts, and to glorify Himself in our lives, and to give us adventures of which we never dreamed, completely impossible apart from Him.  We can raise a fist and blame Him for our trials,  or humbly say yes to the adventure that sometimes looks like suffering and receive blessing in the midst of pain.  He is our great blessing, our shield, our very great reward.  Genesis 15:1.

No comments: