Just keep swimming

Dory: Hey there, Mr. Grumpy Gills. When life gets you down do you wanna know what you’ve gotta do?
Marlin: No I don’t wanna know.
Dory: [singing] Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.
Dory: [continuing] Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho. I love to swim. When you want to swim you want to swim.
Marlin: Now I’m stuck with that song… Now it’s in my head.
Dory: Sorry.

Some days I believe this is our mantra…

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

Remember how I tried explaining our journey to Princess JL using “Finding Nemo” as an analogy? Well, I guess we are at the part of the movie where Nemo and all those other fish are stuck in the net and Dory and Marlin are telling them all to just keep swimming.

The great thing about that part of the movie is that as they all work together and swim down they all get loose in the end! We are all swimming together as a family and know (without doubt) that we, too, will soon be busting out of this net at the bottom of the ocean.

princess jf smiling at home May 2011

We have seen HUGE improvements over the past 3 weeks with Princess JF. Her Play Therapist (whom we see every week) notes at each visit how much JF is reverting back to the sweet Princess she first met back in January.

The office staff at her school tells me that JF does not come to the office much anymore and that she is starting to look more like herself. Her Sunday School teachers have noticed her smiling.

I even received a random email from a mother of another student in her class (a FB friend and fellow MOPS mom) who had lunch with her son this week and saw enough change in JF to let me know. She told me how Princess JF was smiling, laughing, and telling jokes at the lunch table! This just made my day!

princess jf modeling hartstrings dress

We are truly enjoying hearing such encouraging news from everyone! After this week’s appointment with the Play Therapist we (the therapist and I) talked about beginning to step JF down from every week to every other week starting in May!

We also were able to stop our regular visits with the GI doctor last week and (prayerfully) only have one more appointment with the urologist.

Also, since we are weaning off both Lexapro and Risperdal, we should only have one appointment left with the psychiatrist. That means we are down to half our doctors! Yay!

At least one appointment here and there is better than the three a week we have had the past few weeks. Poor Princess JF has not had a regular full school week in months!

Plus, the cost of gas and the fact that I drive a Suburban (which I absolutely LOVE by the way) means that these appointments are wearing on our bank account. So, Princess JF and I are both pretty excited about only one appointment for the next few weeks (thus far at least)!

WooHoo!!

princesses jf and jl at frisco roughriders game
Princesses JF and JL at our local Minor League Baseball game this week

Finally, I almost forgot that I still haven’t updated with the DMSA results! All was great! Her kidneys were both pulling their own weight, there was no visible damage, and everything was exactly as it could be.

Her doctor said it was perfect “textbook” results. WooHoo (again)!

And, our most encouraging news this week, came in the form of watching Princes JF and JL play together!

This honestly has not happened in several months because JF would not allow it! It meant everything to my 5 year old princess and I could not have been happier for her! We are definitely making strides here!

Crush: Okay, now everybody grab an exit buddy.
[Marlin and Dory grab each other quickly]
Crush: Do you have your exit buddy?

I am now holding on tight to my exiting buddy (Princess JF) as we ride this (prayerfully) last current. It has been one wild ride and it has opened my eyes to some things I never knew existed.

I am grateful for that part of our journey, although I so wish that my Princess (and my entire family) would not have had to suffer in order to see their existence.

But, again, I firmly believe in God’s plan for me and know that this journey will allow us to minister to others. But, for now, we will “just keep swimming, just keep swimming…

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