WTOW- Easy to Love but Hard to Raise Giveaway Results

We had several wonderful entries for this giveaway. I entered the number into a random results generator at Random.org and came up with comment number 1 as our winner. Here’s what she said

Kristina Osgood said...

Trying to explain the issues with family or friends and their comment "but she looks normal to me" has got to be one of the most discouraging things ever. It's frustrating to try making people understand what is going on when they can't see it themselves. And when they see a behavior or are with her during a seizure they pretend it a)didn't happen or b)"All kids do that".

Congratulations! I will be contacting you to get your book to you.

 

WTOW- Easy to Love but Hard to Raise (Giveaway)

Invisible disabilities. HMMMMM……… My family has our fair share of them. “Invisible? Huh?” An invisible disability is disability that majorly affects a persons life, yet may not be immediately apparent to an onlooker. You may not know this, but about 80% of all disabilities could fit under this category. For parents this can be so difficult. If I had a penny for all the times I have heard someone say something about my children “looking normal” I would be rich. (yes I said penny) For my family I faced my first challenges with professionals. ie; therapists, Pediatricians, etc. After we jumped over those hurtles, we still have to jump through hurtles of friends, church members, random stranger . This can make a parent feel lonely. So, we look for other mom’s with kids like ours, web sites, forums, support groups, books etc. When we find them it’s like a breath of fresh air. we realize we are not alone.

Easy to Love but Hard to Raise is like a breath of fresh air. it contains real stories from real parents. Parents in the trenches. this book contains tips, statistics, advice, hope, laughter, tears, and much more. The over all message of the book is to let you know that, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

I am excited to announce that the wonderful people at Easy to Love Hard to Raise have offered to give one of you lovely readers a copy of this book. You have three days to enter this give away.

To enter the giveaway simply leave a comment telling me how your life is affected by an invisible disability.

*please make sure to include your e-mail address in your comment.

Attachment success

When you adopt an older child from an orphanage, or foster care, there is always the chance that that child will have attachment issues. It takes work to help that child form appropriate attachments, and can be very disheartening to the adoptive mother. Hailey has Reactive Attachment Disorder. We have been working on her healing for many years now, and are finally at a place where I believe we are seeing her heal.

Yesterday she gave me two songs she wrote that tell me she is healing.

“I love my family no matter what, because I love Christopher, Sammy, Liam, Mom, Dad, so much,”

“As long as we are together as a family and loving each other, life will be in good shape.”

I’ve cried all morning. Tears of joy. My heart is full.

Hailey’s Medical Story

 

Hailey is 8 years old. She became a part of our family through the miracle of Adoption January 16, 2009. She had a very difficult life filled with more obstacles than most adults could handle, before God brought her to us. I have seen Hailey overcome and fight through major issues. I have seen her change and grow. She is a very optimistic child and takes life as it comes. She truly takes the lemons life hands her and makes Lemonade. Life has handed her more than one medical issue, but she has never let that get her down.

 
Eyesight
Hailey was born with an Astigmatism, Amblyopia, Hyperopia (Farsightedness), and poor eyesight in both eyes. Unfortunately, nothing was done to help with these issues until Hailey turned 4 years old. Hailey wore an eye patch full time for one year. She is no longer patching, but still struggles with her eyesight.

ADHD
Hailey was diagnosed with ADHD spring of 2008. There were several things that lead to this diagnoses including; Inability to sit still, Lack of impulse control, overly friendly, Lack of social skills, and Extreme frustration. At the time she was attending day care and she had a lot of problems there. She began seeing a therapist for some other things and then she was diagnosed.

 
Reactive Attachment Disorder
Hailey has recently been diagnosed with RAD. We have not done any formal treatment of this as of yet. I think just providing a stable environment has helped the most.

Chiari Malformation & Syringomyelia
On 9/22/09 Hailey passed out and it appeared that she was having a seizure. I took her to her pediatricians who referred her to a neurologist. We had an EEG done and then had an MRI done. The MRI showed Chiari 1 Malformation with Tonsils protruding 10mm. She then had a full spine MRI done that showed a Syrinx from T5-T7. Hailey's headaches became a real battle for her, and after seeing a Neurosurgeon at Vanderbilt, we decided to proceed with Decompression surgery. Her surgery was performed on June 1, 2010. About 6 days after the surgery Hailey began running a fever, Mother's intuition had me take her to the local children's Hospital ER. We found out there that she had Meningitis. After 5 more brain surgeries, and a month stay at the hospital, we were finally able to bring her home. She is doing really well. As of now we will have her scanned every 6 months, and treat symptoms as they come.