At the end of every month I do what I call the “great calendar switch”. It is so incredibly refreshing to wipe our whiteboard calendar clean and erase all of the chaos and stress that the previous month held. For several minutes I just sit and stare at the clean calendar (weird, I know) before I start filling in the appointments for the current month.

As I began to fill out the calendar for August I started to realize how much our life is about to change. Malachi has seven standing appointments for therapies each week and starting this week he will now get those therapies (all but horse therapy) in school! No more 30 minute drives to town four days a week. No more back to back appointments that I have to pack coolers for. It is such an odd yet exciting feeling!

Tomorrow will be Malachi’s first day of school! I have officially completed the Malachi handbook and made enough copies for his teachers, aides, and therapists. I will be attending school with Malachi until the staff feels comfortable and confident and then we will try a solo run.

On Thursday evening we went to Malachi’s school for their open house. Mainly I wanted Jake to be able to see the classroom that he would be in and walk through the school to help put his mind at ease. One of the things I love about Jake is his very tender heart, and be loves his boy so much! As we got in the car to leave the open house he said “It’s a good thing you are taking him the first day because I don’t think I could do it without crying.” But the open house did put his mind at ease as he realized how many teachers we know at the school!

Malachi has had a great week! He worked hard in all of his therapies and had a wonderful session on the horse. His teacher took a video for me during his trotting, and unfortunately it isn’t the best quality, but listen to that giggle:

We also had a fun play date with some new friends we met through Facebook after the Chick-Fil-A post. Malachi seemed happy to be back into his life here in Tennessee and was ecstatic to go back to church this morning. He had a lot of big adventures this week like going to the river with the youth group and spending Saturday at the soccer field with the girl’s team.

Jake went back to work this work and Malachi and I struggled to find our routine again. Tuesday was rough but by Wednesday Malachi seemed to understand a bit more that daddy was gone for the day and mommy and baby Levi need to sleep longer that 5 hours a day. He is still sleeping poorly, but after three wake ups I turn on Elmo and he lays in the bed with mommy while I catch another quick hour of sleep. Granted, Malachi spends that hour hitting my face and licking my neck in an attempt to wake me up but I am usually too tired to care haha!

Before we left Ohio on Monday we snapped a few pictures of the kids. Malachi’s interactions with Kaliber (my half brother) just warmed my heart so much this week and these pictures captured their special bond.

Such sweet children! We kept Malachi forward facing in his car seat for the ride home and he enjoyed the change more than we ever imagined. He spent the first part of the drive looking out the window and the first time we passed a semi-truck we heard him yell “Daddddy, daddddyyyy, ahhhhhh” in a frantic tone. It was so wild to hear him call for his daddy in a scared voice, as we didn’t understand what had frightened him and he had never done that before. When we pieced together that it was the semi-truck we made sure to warn him before we passed another and make it an exciting thing instead of scary. Within the first hour it became a game and he spent the entire 6 hour drive staring out the window looking for trucks. When he would spot one he would squeal with joy, especially when we passed the large bright yellow Penske moving truck!

Baby Levi is continuing to grow and is very opinionated about how I lay in the bed at night. Right now as I type this he is kicking me so hard that it startles me every time, even though I know it is coming! I truly feel that God has given me a wild child to help calm my fears…there are so many times in a day that I worry about whether the baby is still alright, but when those fears creep in little Levi will always reassure me with a good kick to the abdomen.

Unfortunately I got a call this week from my regular obstetrician explaining that some of my blood work came back with slightly elevated protein levels so we will be double checking some things at this week’s appointment. But doc seems to think that if it were a big issue we would have spotted the signs/issues prior to now from other ultrasounds and tests so we are praying for a clean report. Yet another opportunity for me to focus on faith over fear.

Jake’s father could also use your prayers this week as he is going through a rather difficult time with this round of chemo.

I am going to be honest with you all…I have been neglecting my quiet time with God lately. I am so tempted to give you excuses like “Life has just been too busy”, or “There just isn’t enough time in my day”. But the truth of the matter is that I have not made the conscious effort to spend time in the Word. It is amazing how even a short break away from time with God can change your mood, thoughts, and behaviors.

So this week I am going to focus on making the conscious effort to make time for God. Make Him a priority above other things. Are any of you in the same boat as me and want to join in? Let’s stop making excuses and decide to focus on Him.

God bless you this week,

Jake, Leah, Malachi, and Levi Carroll