Valor Can Talk

(Note: It's been 4.5 years since we posted. Thank you for you prayers, which have born fruit. Brandi wrote an encouraging update after Valor's most recent visit to Duke Children's Hospital for a bone marrow biopsy. )

     Valor is 6!! What a delightful little boy he has become. In his toddler and preschool years we dealt with a lot of emotion, melt downs, need for control, and high energy. I believed most of this was from all the trauma he dealt with from his medical condition (many hospital stays and so many needles for blood draws and iv’s). Part of me thought this might be a life long battle, but it seems we have turned a corner. He still has a lot of energy and can let his emotions get the best of him, but it is rare. I believe a combination of less hospital stays (praise God!!), an increasing ability to communicate and talk through his feelings, steadfast patience and love from his family, and God’s mercy being poured out has contributed to his growing maturity.
     As far as his medical condition, he continues to thrive even though he still is often neutropenic and has pancreas insufficiency. Lately these things either have no effect on his day to day life or are simply a mild inconvenience we have adapted to. He recently had his routine bone marrow biopsy to be sure nothing like leukemia was developing and everything came back normal. And his liver enzymes are mildly elevated instead of off the charts elevated while his liver continues to function normally. So much to be thankful for. He’s managed to stay out of the hospital for almost 2 years and even managed to deal with 3 ear infections last winter without developing a high grade fever.
     Finally Valor is now in kindergarten. It’s hitting me that he’s my last one I get to homeschool. As I do letter sounds and math with him, I feel the tug at my heart that this is the beginning of many “lasts.” I also think homeschooling him is going to be such a different experience because he functions at such high speed in both body and mind. He just grasps and processes things very quickly. Even though I’ve never formally taught him to identify numbers (I’m pretty low-key in what I teach in the preschool years), he already can identify his single digit numbers, shocking me every time he does it. I rarely have to re-explain instructions to him.
     When I look back over the 6 years of his life, he has come so far, and we have so much to be thankful for. Since he was born, he has reminded us that God is our valor (our strength and courage) and we thank God for giving us our little Valor.