Encouraged

I'm feeling encouraged today. I'm continuing to "let go and let God" direct my spiritual life. Seeking small moments with Him and changing up how I spend my free time in order to stay more focused on Him. Some of the things He has laid on my heart is opening my prayer time with repetitions of the Lord's Prayer and the quote from St. Patricks Breastplate. 

and

 I have found these center my thoughts on The Lord and all He is and does. I must start here before I make my confessions. Then I move to my requests. Sometimes in the day the "arrow" prayers go up but I am working hard to not let that be the only way I come to the Lord in prayer. I am working on that meditative quiet time it takes to hear His still small voice. 

Another way I am encouraged is that almost a year after his diagnoses of ASD Isaac will finally be evaluated for ABA therapy on Wednesday! After his diagnoses in May of last year I just wanted to finish the school year out and enjoy the summer with the kids. I knew early intervention was important but I didn't feel a couple of months would make or break him. Then began our battle with our insurance who doesn't cover ABA therapies. Washington does no have mandated ABA coverage but it does have a mental parity law that can sometimes work to get it paid for. So after many phone-calls I join an advocacy group to get help in putting an appeal together and I speak with an AMAZING woman Keri D'Hondt who runs the clinic that Isaac will be working with. She tells me her clients use Group Health and I should get an individual plan. By this time it's September and I have to wait until Nov. 11th for open enrollment. Then it's the holidays so I say "forget it until January". January comes and I get the plan up and running but it doesn't begin until February. All this time I am trying to get my insurance to send me a proper letter of denial. February comes and I send in a referral for Leaps Forward, Keri's office. It's denied claiming Isaac does not have a proper diagnoses. I must appeal and send in the diagnoses paperwork and the letter of support from his diagnosing doctor, Dr. Reilly. 

FINALLY the appeal comes back LAST WEEK that we are approved! and then. . . .I call my insurance once again to demand the letter and they totally change their story. It is covered now. I am waiting for their autism team to call me to confirm and learn about benefits. It's been over a week. I'm not holding my breath. And so as amazing as it would be to drop the $170 dollar individual plan I am moving forward with his therapy under that policy and will work on clearing up my original insurance next week. I am thrilled to have this missing piece to the puzzle of Isaac solved. It may well affect what his next year looks like pre-school and speech therapy wise. I am just so thankful that God seems to know just how much I can handle. Still planning to get Trin to a specialist for some recommendations for her ADHD but reading a great book on it that is very helpful. Having three children with behavior issues is challenging and some days I feel like I'm just treading water but I know that God has a plan for each one and I try to rest in that. We have enrolled her in Classical Conversations for next year. That's a program I can do at home with her that has one "class" day a week. I pick the math and the language arts. I'm excited to have a "spine" to work off of for the year and I hope the constant repetition benefits her. Blake continues to struggle with his temper. Focus is becoming an issue for him at school as well. He is getting very similar reports to Trin at that age. I know I mentioned that in a previous post but no miraculous fixing of the issue yet, lol. Not sure what this means for the future. I have definitely slacked in praying for them lately. I really need to remedy that a.s.a.p. 

oh and in other news (just keeping it first world here) I finally purchased my first expensive handbag. I feel like a grownup now. Of course the seven years I had three babies and nine years I carried a daiper bag are really what made me a grown-up but I told Jer when we potty trained the last one that I was going to buy myself a NICE handbag. After months of searching for just the right one I found it. It's a cross body mini punk bag in black by Fredd and Basha and it smells so nice I just want to hug it. (uummmmm leather. . . .) Also noteworthy, Jeremy's lease was up on his Volt so he purchased a 2008 Dodge Charger after weeks of obsessing over cars on craigslist. Yay! Because to say he was obsessing over it really is an understatement.