Just what the doctor ordered.

To say that it hasn't been stressful in our house over the last four weeks would be a lie.

This parenting four kids thing can be tough, and tough is an understatement at times.  Yesterday evening, like many previous evenings was filled with kids in time-out, a whole lot of "ah-ni-dah" ("no" in Korean), plenty of tears to go around between the little ones, and generally not too much fun.  That being true, by the time the kids hit the sack I was about at my wits end, simply trying to find my way through my foggy thoughts for ideas on how to make things easier around the house.  Ideas on how to give the the children the time and attention that they each need.  Ideas on things we can do after work and on the weekends to make those times enjoyable.  That's about the time that Sara called down the steps telling me I had to look at something.

Little did  I know that something was going to make my day, my month, and my year.  It was only eight or nine months ago that Sara and I, and the rest of the family for that matter, where in what seemed like a fight for our family versus Reactive Attachment Disorder.

Such was the diagnosis given to Parker as he fought (literally) his way through some excruciatingly tough times.  Not a day would go by for a long period of time back then when I wasn't fearful of what he might do next.

He was lost.

We were lost.

We didn't know how it was going to end.  Our attempts to resolve the issues he was having seemed futile and the lack of explanation he could give us for his actions was torture.

Very long story short, I couldn't be happier to be able to type that those days are behind us now.  Yet, I never have been completely sure how far behind us, but the paper that Sara shared with me last night went a long way towards illustrating just that...

What is that you might ask.  That is a paper that Parker had to complete for school.  One that listed his favorite book, his favorite food, his favorite movie, etc. and then the pièce de résistance, his proudest accomplishment...

 

 

All it took was a 3rd grader's homework to help me put everything in perspective.

Thanks Parker!