When you come face to face with difficult decisions, it’s best to weigh them all out. We have been through so many of these situations, that we are getting better at doing it.  Let’s back up a little.
Back in 2008, we owned a little slice of Pearl River County MS. We were happy, settled and enjoyed the quiet life, we actually had to drive over 30 minutes in any direction to get to a WalMart!  We had chickens, a mobile home we added on to and a very large amazing “Home School Room!” Life changed, my husband was laid off from his long-time established job and we panicked. We decided that the job was the most important factor. We left MS, went to LA where the only job was open at the time and in the middle of the economic collapse we sold our little piece of paradise for at least half it’s worth and put a down payment on some property in LA. I knew it was a mistake then but didn’t feel we had any other choice and I have kicked myself many times since. It’s like we started a new journey inside a whirlwind, nothing has really been the same or even close since. Brynn was diagnosed, we had to file bankruptcy, we were expecting completely unexpectedly our 6th child, we learned that Brynn is intellectually disabled and we found few answers to his complex brain. Somehow we made it through and just when we started to settle again, we faced the reality that we just were not comfortable there in Cajunland. There was once person there, a neighbor, whom we loved and would have wanted to stay for but it just wasn’t a place we felt we could call home. So, we sold that property and got enough back to relocate again to MS. Brynn had his VNS implant surgery and Brett was diagnosed not too long after we crossed the state line. Brett also had the VNS implanted about a year later. I wish I could say that we lived happily ever after, but no we were faced with the reality that the much lower income wouldn’t be enough to pay rent and buy groceries!  My Husband was contacted by a newspaper site in Montgomery in 2013 and we jumped at the chance. We were financially stable for the first time since Jan., 2009. We got settled, fixed out credit and got approved for a home loan! We received our Service Dog, Service Dog Failed and Brett seemed to be having more problems than ever before. No matter what we did, his seizures were severely out of control. He was heartbroken over having to surrender his service dog.  We learned in AL as well, that Brett too is intellectually disabled. In the last year there, I kept getting the referrals the boys needed for their conditions, but no matter who referred them we couldn’t seem to get any appointments. *Record scratching noise inserted here*

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As if a greater sign that we were in the wrong place needed to be seen, the newspaper laid off 13 people and cut everyone’s hours. We talked it over and decided that because of the past layoff, it didn’t seem worth staying. We knew that if the newspaper laid off more people, or shut down we would be faced with the same problem in MS… No work! We updated his resume, applied for a few positions and waited for the big decision-making process to begin. It was simple for me, feeling as though the boys were being neglected in AL medically.  It was a very difficult decision because we owe the same as the house is worth, so selling it is out of the question. So, we took the job in the best state for the boys medically, with options close, further away and even out of state. The insurance offered by the company is better than any plan we have ever had. The price takes close to 1/4 the months income, but it will open doors that we couldn’t open before due to a poor coverage, high deductible 80/20 plan that was about $250 cheaper. So, here we are… We packed up the house, and went for it! It took 12 brutal hours driven overnight for the best seizure outcome for Brett and have spent the past two weeks unpacking. I will say that when you transplant people over and over again, you do learn to better make the decisions necessary with a focus on the entire picture instead of the immediate needs. We carefully considered each place that gave offers and made the best available decision over a few weeks. We did make it back to the country, except this time you can get to Walmart, hospitals, physicians, and anything else within 15 minutes. Now, if we can only recover from the expense of it all and get the AL home rented…. Yeah, that would be great! The last appointment before we moved Brett saw a physician in Mobile, and he increased his Topamax and added Aptiom. I will say that he has been more stable since this change. Less status and clustering, the main problems that have greatly limited his mobility over the past year. Perhaps all along he needed that Topamax increased. That Dr. went by the blood level and increased it accordingly. Most physicians would gasp at the dosage, but his blood levels show it to be just right. Soon, I will be able to take them to a new physician, and not fret if I don’t like them! We should be able to have a much wider variety of choices here and beyond. I hope to get them into the Genetics clinic as well. Wouldn’t it be amazing if this is where we were meant to be all along? I suppose if we hadn’t been through so much over the last several years, we wouldn’t have learned to trust God and wait things out. We have learned a lot, and through it all developed a greater strength, to persevere no matter how bad it looks. I am grateful for all the bad times, because without them I wouldn’t be who I am today.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” ~Romans 5:1-11