This week was full of more house showings and lots of adventures. Malachi has had a decent week with fewer seizures than normal. He has also been doing so great with his vomiting, and has thrown up only once in the last two weeks. We are overjoyed! Sleep is still our number one struggle.

Here is a picture from our weekly Kindermusik class; Malachi’s cousin was Frankenstein!

Malachi has been eating table food like a champ. His favorite concoction right now is mashed up bananas with peanut butter mixed in. He is managing to eat an entire banana in one sitting, which is great progress. We have started cooking with him in mind and even made him his very own sweet potato. He loved it but couldn’t handle the thick consistency after it had cooled down. So naturally we used the leftovers to work on his fine motor skills by feeding Boomer. He was doing so great so I thought we would share a video with you. And no worries, we thoroughly sanitize and clean his utensils after sessions like these!

We have been getting a lot of great feedback on the house! As we are getting nearer and nearer to the reality of moving somewhere else, we have had to take deep breaths and form a game plan. This week we rode back out to the property we will be building on right at sunset. As we looked at all of the beautiful trees and listened the quietness of the area we couldn’t help but be reminded about how blessed we are to have an opportunity to build a home for Malachi.

After talking with some special needs families we changed our list of requirements for a house plan and had to start back at square one. For some reason I was allowing myself to stress out over not having chosen a plan, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I would look at plans until I was sick of them and then get frustrated. I was laying in bed this week, focusing on our lack of the perfect plan, and I just felt so convicted. I had to remind myself that this process is going to be done in God’s timing, not my own. I apologized to God and asked that He show us the plan for our home when He was ready to do so.

In true God fashion, when I took my stress to Him, He overwhelmed me with His peace. It just to happened that Malachi woke up two hours later stayed up literally all night. I grabbed my laptop to help pass the time and looked through some plans, and wouldn’t you know that I found one that somehow we had not yet seen. It is nearly perfect and includes all of our requirements with minimal changes. Take a look at this plan:

We will still need to reinforce some ceilings for future lifts, widen some doorways, eliminate unnecessary expenses like giants decks and fireplaces, and really plan out some specifics but the open floor plan and giant bathrooms already equipped with showers make it so much more handicap accessible! The sunroom will be finished off and expanded a bit into the Master Bedroom to allow Malachi to have a therapy space. We are also considering moving the laundry area to the basement to allow for a changing area for Malachi in his bathroom. We have to think way into the future and consider things like where we will change his diapers.

After I found this plan, I simply left it up on the laptop so Jake could see it when he got up the next morning. He studied it intently and looked at me and said “I think this is it!” We have finally felt such a peace about a plan! Not to mention the fact that it happens to be exactly 1600 square feet…which is the exact minimum required to build on our lot.

Tonight in our Bible study we studied the story of Hagar found in Genesis 16. We talked about her encounter with God and as was common in those times, she gave Him the name “El Roi” which means the God who sees. She had felt invisible to everyone around her, yet God saw her and called out to her.

I started thinking about the concept of giving names to God, and I asked the class to think of their current situation and fill in the blank: the God who ______________.

As I thought through the many words I personally could put in that blank, I kept falling back to “provides”. God has wrapped Jake and I in his hedge of protection, both physically and financially. He has provided us with opportunities that don’t make sense for a single income family…like a brand new accessible van and the opportunity to build an accessible home at cost. God has opened those doors and our gratitude to Him is indescribable. There is no greater feeling than knowing that God is holding you in the palm of His hand.

I want to encourage you to find names for God this week as you go through your day. It brings so much glory to God when we take time to focus on Him and acknowledge the ways in which He is working in our lives.

So one more final Malachi note, we are seeing so much improvement with his eyesight! Each time we watch him use his vision in a new way we are just amazed. This week he has started to “watch” the TV. He has always loved to listen to his cartoons, but to see him try to watch makes my heart leap. Here is a video so you can see the improvement! And note the low light…it makes such a difference for Malachi.

We love you all and hope that your week is full of God moments.

Love,

Jake, Leah, and Malachi