When Riley first met my grandmother, my mom introduced him to her as ‘my Riley’. Grandma immediately chimed in and said, ‘Well,  he’s my Riley.’ We loved his little giggle on the way to grandma’s house from the Houston airport as we all three took turns saying ‘My Riley’. When we went to Disney World together, we laughed at the seagulls from Nemo that kept saying ‘mine’. It reminded us of that very sweet car ride. Now, whenever grandma sees Riley, she greets him with the most perfect, southern ‘Well, hello my Riley!’.

I feel like I’ve been really quiet about things lately.

I start to write and I’m just not exactly sure how to put into words everything that’s happened in the last few months. All is well. And in the big scheme of things, we are absolutely blessed.

I feel like Riley has been given an unbelievable amount of hurdles to jump over. In the last few months we’ve learned that he has an attachment disorder, dyslexia, and his vision has gotten extremely worse. We found an amazing counselor to help us with the attachment, the school district has been extremely helpful with diagnosing and testing for the dyslexia, and glasses are covered by insurance.

Why is it hard and why have I been quiet? It means he’ll be going to a different school next year and won’t be good with going to our beloved Ville De Marie with Julia and Nate. I think that’s what hit me hardest. I loved him going with Julie and Nate and feeling like such a part of their lives. I think I was holding onto tightly to him having the same experience as them. I know he’s going to do great at our local elementary school but this change is very hard for this girl who dislikes change more than almost anything.

My heart breaks at the attachment disorder. It’s mostly with me, and I go over and over and over in my mind if there’s anything I could’ve done differently to avoid that. The counselor says there’s not, and everything I’ve read says there’s not, but it still rolls around in my head making me wonder.

Good news is we are all healthy and happy and Brian has a wonderful job.

It seems silly to feel like these things are so big, but they just are.

God gave us Sebastian at just the right time to remind us that changes lovely and beautiful and wonderful. Change is necessary and will always happen, no matter how much I like to nest and keep things just the same.

I think I’m finally to a place where all start sharing more with you about this journey, thanks for bearing with me while I was so quiet as I processed all of the information we have been given. I hope you’ve had a wonderful, beautiful summer. If you think of it, would you put Riley on your prayer list? He is so loved by us and we are praying for complete healing for all of his hurdles.