Bikes, Bluebonnets & Bloody noses

Don't worry, despite the title, there are no graphic pictures involved.

Here are several pictures of Tanner's new bikes. The red one is his new bike that we bought a couple of weeks ago. Jon added training wheels to it, but, Tanner is still having a hard time riding it (he can't balance it well and his reaction time is too slow to catch himself before falling). Jon's working on some ideas for bigger training wheels. Then, last weekend we were at Jon's parents celebrating family birthdays, where Tanner had fun riding cousin Tyler's bike. So now, Tyler is letting Tanner borrow his bike for a while. He loves riding it every day and enjoys loading sticks, rocks, flowers (aka weeds), and more into the trailer.
We made it out while the bluebonnets were still blooming this year! Tanner liked it for a few minutes until he realized there were stickers (aka prickers) in the grass! Hattie didn't like them either & needed to be carried (yes, she's a little spoiled!)


On to the bloody noses (don't worry - no pictures here!) Tanner has started up with chronic nose bleeds again, so, he's scheduled for a surgical procedure this Friday (April 10th) to cauterize some blood vessels that are too close to the surface. Hopefully he'll recover quickly and can be distracted by the circus on Friday night!

We've recently decided to take a break from occupational and physical therapy. Though we miss our therapists and friends there, it's so great to be able to be home every day after school for the first time in 4 years!! I think this will be a good break for Tanner to be able to come home and play, do homework, go to the library, etc. We'll have him re-evaluated again in a couple of months and see if there's been any change and decide where to go from there.

It's been a little over a year since Tanner's leukodystrophy diagnosis. Throughout the year we've seen some regression, including the chronic & worsening headaches & migraines (which seem to be better controlled right now with an added medication! He's had no migraines for 3 weeks, yeah!!), and, some progression in other areas. We're so thankful that he doesn't seem to be having too much cognitive decline!

Spring and Easter time are such a beautiful time of the year to remind us about new life. We were recently working on our yard and I realized we didn't do much yard work last year because of our focus on Tanner's situation. This spring, we're cleaning up old leaves and things from the last 2 years, it's a lot more work, but the end result is a beautiful yard where we can enjoy beautiful creation. It kind of feels like our lives too, things are dark and dreary, but, underneath there's new growth that's green and turning into something new! Despite the dark times, there are also bright times as well, that show new growth that come only because of what has been there covering it for the past year. I think that God has been using Tanner's situation to help us appreciate life so much more. This spring, it's nice to be able to be a little less focused on the disease, and more focused on spending time together, enjoying each other, laughing more, playing more and learning to love each other better!

This is, of course, not the year we had planned nor expected, but, it's truly been a good year. A lot of good memories, new experiences, and more lessons in learning how to depend daily on the only truly dependable One!

Happy Easter! He is risen!