Good News & Bad News

I always start with the bad news so I can end on a positive note. I received a call back from someone at the Lancaster CAO - not from the supervisor but someone beneath her - who told me that the Medical Review Board DID have all of Joshua's Early Intervention paperwork when they made their decision to deny him benefits. I asked if children on Early Intervention automatically qualify for benefits, and he said that that was all he could tell me (he wasn't extraordinarily helpful). So, I appealed the decision as was suggested to me, and we'll see how it goes. Thankfully, until they make a "permanent" decision, we continue to have the insurance. I'm hoping that we continue to qualify for it while Joshua's on Early Intervention, which only evaluates children once a year. But, we'll see. It's all in God's hands now.Now onto the good news! Today we had the Housing Project Coordinator examine our house to see what we would like to have done. If we qualify for this program (which he assured me that we qualified or he wouldn't be here; however, they have not appraised our house yet which is the only missing piece to the puzzle), we also would qualify for a $1,500 grant to make our house more energy efficient, including replacing windows and doors and adding insulation. We gave him the long laundry list, and he walked through every nook and cranny and around the outside with us. I really liked the guy who came who also made wonderful suggestions and seemed to think that we could do some of the things that I thought would be considered more "cosmetic" rather than "safety-related" or "bringing our house up to code" like repaving our driveway and refinishing our hardwood floors. BUT, it will depend on how the numbers work out and what his boss approves. This guy also said he was looking for a new church, and I invited him to ours. He already knew the location and building, which is rare. So, who knows what good could come from this? I'm hoping that we can get our house remodeling projects finished up! We won't hear anything for a few weeks at least, so we'll pray that this goes through as well as Joshua's medical benefits.

More good news...Jamie is being transported this evening to Lancaster Regional to stay in its in-patient physical therapy unit (he had to move so insurance would cover it - Mom chose there over Ephrata because Jamie's mom lives about a block away and she likes to come see him). While he would rather go home, this is much better alternative for now for both him and my mom. They will work with him three hours or more a day on occupational, physical and speech therapy. When I was in there yesterday, the nurse in the hospital asked him if he knew where he was and he replied, "Mars" so I think he's doing a little better. Mom went to her doctor for them to check her arm, too, which I think is good since she said it really hurts and she can't lift anything.

Last night we had mom over for a 'birthday cheesecake.' I offered to make her dinner, but she didn't leave the hospital until after 7 p.m. so we had a birthday snack, and I made her a soothing cup of hot tea. Joshua was still a little cranky - I'm not sure he's feeling 100% himself yet. Although, tonight Shawn said DUCK and pointed to a duck and Joshua repeated saying "Duh." He is so adorable! And smart! Yesterday he was playing with my water bottle and sometimes when he chews on the cap part, it hurts his teeth. So, everytime he went to bite the cap, I took it from him and placed it out where he couldn't reach it easily (working on his physical therapy) and he would get into the crawling position and reach for it. I explained that I didn't want him chewing on the white cap and pointed to it. We did this several times, giving him a good work out, until he went to bite on the cap and turned the bottle upside down instead to chew on the bottom. He didn't try biting the cap again. I was amazed. I haven't tried it again today to see if he would remember, though. I was reading in the baby book for 10-month-olds and in some things I think he's advanced, but in others he's still behind even cognitively (he's not clapping his hands, etc.) That just means we have more work to accomplish together!