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!

Monday, September 3, 2012

The Easiest Kid

How strange and unexpected that I would call Caroline my easiest kid.  You would think that with all her disorder has put her and everyone else through, that I would be saying the opposite.  But this is God's hand at work in our lives.  He turns ashes into beauty.  Having been separated from us so many times, once for five months, due to both short and long term hospitalizations, she developed a faith in God that is greater than her sisters' and a respect for us that shines.  In spite of her irritability, which is a daily struggle, she is quick to say sorry and please forgive me and to tell her dad and I what great parents we are.   I know she honors us.  Her sisters, whom we love deeply, do not often show the depth of kindness toward us that she exhibits.  Pain and sorrow have done their work in her heart, and the fruit is love.  Would I wish for other kids to go through what she has to get to this place?  No, but the blessings of God have come to us through hardship.  I am thankful for His sovereign grace.  He has done a marvelous thing.
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3 comments:

Zena said...

beautiful, Praise God!

September 3, 2012 at 4:34 PM
GB's Mom said...

God is good!

September 3, 2012 at 7:05 PM
another mom said...

Best post ever.

September 4, 2012 at 7:03 PM

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