Don't let the scene above fool you.
Yes, the three Casten kids are engaged in their own separate activity.
Yes, the room is quiet.
Yes, this only lasted for about 10 minutes.
Raising 3 kids under the age of 5 is something we knew would be challenging. We knew they would fight, we knew they would bother one another, we knew they would make bad choices right alongside their good ones.
Don't let the scene above fool you. They are just about driving us crazy.
While SMA first and foremost affects Ella, it digs its claws in the whole family.
Ava and Henry are unable to express, in a way that is productive, the feelings they encounter internally and externally in regards to SMA. But they do have those feelings. It's very hard for them. Our task is to identify when they are overwhelmed by life...and help them through it.
Ella is a smart girl. She is beginning to understand that her disability forces her into a different way of dealing with the world. She has no model. The older she gets, the more she'll understand...a blessing and a curse.
For right now, though, we are doing our best to sort through what life has handed us. We feel numb. We feel defeated at times. We feel that the enormity of caring for our children will consume us.
The scene above is one that we must hang on to...it reminds us that there are three individuals; separate and distinct from one another; whose life, health, and well-being depends upon those who love them.
Don't let the scene above fool you...it really is a calling for us.
