ah, but you gotta love the fits

we do have progress, but she sure can throw a great fit. this one was simply not wanting to write lines. i'm sure you get these too. i told her she did great and really put her all into it! she's not really thrown many lately, so she's kinda rusty. she finally did laugh that i wanted a video and i told her we'd all look back and laugh about it one day. and we will.

another great pic of em's heart!

I may win her heart yet. This is from Em's sand tray in therapy today. Bad news is her heart is HEAVILY guarded and I’m the queen way at the end not able to get near it. There's a stop sign, a fence, a police car, closed gate, row of trees, skulls, and a wall guarding it! Good news is she thought in a year I’d be as close as the first fence around her heart (that's pretty close!) and shows that she wants me to get closer. And that 3 years ago I was all the to China away!! So I've come pretty far and gotten a lot closer. So, progress, in the sand. :)
Em doesn't like to talk about "love stuff" but when she gets to set up a sand tray she really comes to life and says things I can't believe and with such depth. It's wild!

so proud of em! she "graduated" to less therapy!

I try not to drone on about em and her therapy needs, but I have to share this. She’s officially graduated from weekly to bi-weekly! Now she still has a cold little heart, but she’s slowly working on it, and her therapist thinks she doesn’t need weekly now so she’s made a lot of progress. I sometimes forget to look back and really appreciate how far she’s come. I tend to just look forward and see how far she needs to go, but I’m very happy to look back today and feel good!! And also happy that I’ll no longer lose an entire day a week, but rather an afternoon every other week! (and I know it’s not “lost” but it’s a lot of time). So good news!
Dad took some pics of us the other day, em doing her usual "yuck don't kiss me" routine. I still give them... and she still likes it, no matter how hard she tries not to. :)

what a difference in this boy!

had to share this video. while watching it live at church, i was thinking what an amazing change there's been in this boy in 3 years. from a mean, angry bare-handed kitten killer - to a sweet compassionate little boy who gladly sings about Jesus. it's been a long (well a RADical) road, but wow has it been worth it. so good to know there's hope!