In Limbo

First let me share that God continues to bless us amidst a multitude of queries and uncertainties. We hired a nanny before we left for the christmas holiday break, and when we came back, we learned that she was not going to be able to take Braden. So we interviewed again, and found a great potential candidate, that decided before our last day of training, that it might be too much for her. So we were two days into what was supposed to be my "back to work" schedule, wondering what on earth we were going to do for 6 - 8 weeks until Braden will be going back to Susanna and her new baby Kailey full time.

In the fall, I joined a bible study group that is specifically for moms/grandmoms of special needs children. Immediately I felt a cameraderie with these women, and felt like I had found a place that would provide me with the "support" that I was needing, both emotionally and spiritually. After sharing with a few women in my study, that TWO nannies had essentially backed out on us, I made a few phone calls to a few women in my group. One of my friends in the group, Hillary, offered to take Braden back in December when we had to go searching again after Caralyn moved. The unfortunate thing, is that she lives 40 min. away, and the commute from her house to Baton Rouge in morning traffic is an additional hour & a half. Yikes. So we were hoping to find someone who could take him temporarily to fill the gap, who might not create a daily four-plus hours commute:-)

God answered our prayers through a friend from study, Stacie Coles. Stacie has her own special needs child, Brian - who is 21 and suffers from an unnamed bone and muscular disorder. Stacie works out of her home while Brian is away at school, and did not have any work set up for January... so she GRACIOUSLY accepted our request to watch Braden for a few weeks. Stacie has been an amazing friend already, and now she gets to love on Braden 3 days a week with her Boston Terrier, Lucy. Braden is doing really well at Stacie's. I can't even begin to describe the emotions I feel when Stacie agreed to take him. This is such a huge burden lifted from our shoulders - emotionally, spiritually, financially... and we will always be grateful to the Coles family for helping us in our time of need. I have attached a few pictures of Braden with his new sitter(s):-)

I am also attaching a link to see our PICTURES FROM CHRISTMAS on snapfish:
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=235171169087655910/l=239882987/g=24589807/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Thanks for continuing to keep us all in your prayers - they are helping!! Braden is still having the occasional "BLUE episodes", so we hope to get the heart monitor soon to get through the 30-day recording period so we can HOPEFULLY find some answers and solutions for this problem. Thanks for checking in with us, we will post another update next week!

Kodi, B&B