Eight Years of Adventures

Next week will be the eight year anniversary of Adventures in Raising a Disabled Child.  A year and a half after my daughter's birth and about a year after her diagnosis I decided to write about our family's experiences.  You can find my first, short, introductory post here.  When I set things up I decided to label the experiences I share "adventures" to give emphasis on the positive things we'd be experiencing.  I think it's important to focus on the happy moments, although I've not held back from sharing some of the challenges as well.

And now Whitney's coming up on her 10th birthday!  It's hard to believe.  As time has gone by, I've posted less than I did in the early years.  I think some of the reason for that, is that raising Whitney has just become life for Melanie and I.  It's gotten much harder to distinguish the distinctive "raising a disabled child" experiences from everyday parenting.  It's just what we do now.  Without even a second thought.  But I still find so much inspiration that it's hard not to share.

As I look back on those first posts, I can see how at how earth-shattering Whitney's 1p36 Deletion diagnosis was for our family even a year after it happened.  It makes me glad that I've been writing all these years.  Because the central theme of my family's adventures is that there's hope.  When a child is diagnosed with a disability, or special needs, as we say now, it dumps life upside down.  But life doesn't end when a diagnosis comes.  In fact, it's probably just getting started.  Need proof that it's going to be okay?  Here's a record of eight years of tears, joys and laughter for you to enjoy. And we're just getting started here too...