I want to talk for a bit about our blessings.  I’ve written about her before, but I wanted to share more…..

One of the biggest blessings I have ever received was right here through this blog.  When Teagan got sick, it was a blog reader that contacted me and said she thought she could help.  I was surprised she contacted me, because to be honest, the first few times we interacted months before, I am ashamed to say I wasn’t all that nice to her.  After reading my blog for some time, she’d picked up on a few things and emailed me to offer help with Taryn a few sensory issues, but I denied Taryn had any sensory issues.  (((For the record, I was wrong, she did.  And you know what, they were fairly easy fixes that Marti helped her through in just a few OT sessions.  Marti eventually worked her magic with Taryn and my sweet girl can now handle the world around her with so much more confidence and she is much more calm and happy.)))  Anyway, even though I was defensive and not very nice the last time we’d exchanged emails, Marti still put a foot forward and offered to help Teagan.  Her heart is big, and true, and when she felt lead to contact me, she followed that.  She gave me some key words to research, we chatted through email.  She listened, really listened.  As Teagan regressed, Jason and I became more and more afraid with each new day.  Marti offered to see him….so we loaded him up and carted him across town.  That day was the beginning of his healing journey.  Her trained OT eye spotted things we hadn’t.  She supported us, asked the tough questions, helped us research, helped us find the right doctors, she treated him over the course of several months, for hours on end, in her home, out of the goodness of her heart.  She instituted the listening program, she addressed his left sided weakness, his core strength issues, every sensory issue that came up, she helped with, and it seemed like we were hit with something new every day or close to it.  She went to (very long) doctors appointments, she showed up, no questions asked and she prayed.  Another key thing she did, she encouraged us to follow our guts and listen to our instincts, she never let up on that, and it made us believe in ourselves and that we had the ability to heal Teagan.

There are not enough thank you’s in the world to someone who helps to pull your baby back from a regressive state and a very dark place.  She took him out of his fog, out of the drugged, brain damaged looking, weak state and made him strong.  She’s Teagan’s buddy, he asks for her all the time.  I value her opinion, her drive, her heart.  I’m so thankful she shared her gifts and what I call “Teagan’s professional advocate”.  I practically had to twist her arm to let me share my gift with her and take these photos of her family before Christmas.  I adore this family, they remind me so much of my own, a spirited and lively 5 year old, a chill, momma loving, blankie boy.  She loves her family with her whole heart.  Yes, the dynamic is so similar and easy to connect to.  I love how our children play and get along.  I am so thankful to Rob, Suzy and Andy for all of their sacrifices when Teagan was so sick and being treated by Marti.  They gave us so much of her time and attention, I know they are very proud of her and all that she does with her big old heart to help other people.  We’re standing on the other side of that and I don’t even have the words to say how thankful I am that when everyone else was giving up on Teagan, she didn’t.  She stood firm with us and she showed up.

Thank you, my friend, I can’t image where we would be without you.