Finally Vacation Photos and little lessons

OBX, our destination. If you do not know OBX, then you do not live on the east coast. The outer banks of North Carolina was the place of our vacation this year. It was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

First lesson.
The Lord provides. How?
The friends that we vacationed with, we have known before children. We all live in NoVA but not very close. Over the years and having children, we have always loved their friendship. The Lord paved the way for us to be friends. Not only for friendship but support. They have four children, we have three. They have one with special needs and so do we. Our special needs children are extremely different in terms of their needs but so many of our feelings, emotions, change in life,...are much the same.

Provided great friends.

As I was preparing to pack for our vacation, I became concerned about accessing the beach. Anyone who has been to OBX knows the dunes divide your house and the beach. To get to the beach you must, at most places, climb a flight of stairs up and down to get to the beach. Hmmm, how was this going to work with Brayden and all of the beach gear. I called the realty company to ask about how best to get our son to the beach. They offered no insight. I was prepared to haul gear and children up and over the dunes, probably several trips back and forth, being hot and ready to jump in the ocean. When we arrived Jeremy rented a jogging stroller, which Brayden loved. And then we explored the community where we were staying...gorgeous homes, a community pool, quiet neighborhood...and wait what was that?! The community had all handicap ramps to the beach, no flights of stairs to climb!

Provided a ramp. Path much easier than I expected.

Second lesson.
We move even when we do not realize it.

I was sitting on the beach with Brayden watching all of our crew play in the ocean. Some were jumping the waves, others boogie boarding and they were slowly drifting down the beach. They did not realize it until they looked up to see where they had been, they had moved more than they realized.

We just completed Brayden's annual review for his early intervention (occupational and vision therapy). We go over the goals written about six months ago. I did not expect much. Brayden seems to be about the same to me, overall. As the therapist was reading through the goals, we realized Brayden met most of them...like tolerating sitting in a bigger chair for a period of time, looking at something for longer then 3 seconds and several others. I did not realize how mush Brayden had done until I looked at where we had been.

Reflect, you might be surprised at how far you have come.

All that to say, the beach was nice. The time with friends, the relaxation and everything was nice. For more photos (an awesome picture of Brayden smiling), check out the family blog.