Life Is Good -OR- Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me?

Dave sez,

"A journey of a THOUSAND miles begins with a SINGLE step." ~ Lao-tzu

Hi there! We're Cathy and Dave. Thanks for letting us SHARE our journey TO and WITH Justin with you!

I am so amazed at how FAR we have come so QUICKLY and EASILY. Through tears and frustration we have reached joy. Over the last few weeks we have seen our boy more content than ever! I can understand when he's been angry. I had the same anger and frustration over the years of our journey to him. But, I keep reminding him of what I told him every day while we were bringing him home last fall: "Never gonna let you go. Never gonna let you go."

It's starting to click that this IS his home. I'm his dad - or, Popi. Cathy is his Mommy. We're are a family.

He has his GOOD days, and he has some BAD days. But, when we stop and talk about his day, we find that his bad days aren't so bad after all, he's just magnifying one "unforgiving minute", and making a mountain out of a mole hill, as my dad always said.

He didn't want to be part of the reading group one day at school because the teacher that was part of the group was going to be going away, and he was really bummed. Mama explained that this is normal. That in school he is going to have a LOT of teachers. Not that he SHOULDN'T be sad. But he DOES need to show his teachers respect - like he does us - and follow instructions in school - like he does at home.

He's had his moments where he's been so angry and frustrated that he's ended up having to stand in the corner. Maybe two or three times. We've all come to tears over it. But, we've all been better for it.
After church this morning, we were having lunch and out of the blue he asked us if we would ever be so angry with him that we would send him away. Mama told him no. We came home. We fed the dogs. We went over to the soccer field to play "goalie". When we were done, I told him that there was nothing he could ever do that would make me want him to go away. I told him that one day will come when he will want to go to college, or he will find someone as special as when I found Mama, and he will want to go and be on his own. He will always be my son. I will always be his Popi. When we got home we went downstairs and played Avatar: The Last Airbender  - The Burning Earth on Wii. He's been trying to get past The Governor level since he got the game for Christmas. Today, I discovered a walk through on YouTube; and along with a little persistence and patience he made it past the fire lord governor and then farther along two or three more levels. He got stopped at the tree monster level. He was thankful to Mommy for the game and thankful to both God and me for the help through it.

We're taking the time to celebrate and remember the good times, and see that there are MORE GOOD times than there are BAD times.