A Robot Birthday

When Lilly was born John and I were 20 years old. Okay, I was 20 years old. John would want me to point out that he was still two weeks away from turning 20. John and I were 21 when I became convinced that there was something wrong with Lilly. We were 22 and on the brink of having our second child when we were told that Lilly would never be like other children, 23 when she was officially diagnosed with autism. We were 24 and had just had our third child when we were told that Lilly was most likely severely impaired and we should understand that we would have to eventually put her in some kind of institution.

Lilly's birthdays have never been easy. A video of her first would show a child laying on the floor and screaming while I opened her presents and pretended this was how all first birthdays went. We spent her second birthday in the hospital having an EEG for suspected seizures. As Lilly's gotten older, her birthdays have become markers for milestones Lilly will never reach. Every year for a few days John and I lose the ability to pretend that Lilly is still a baby and it's okay that she's not potty trained and can't speak more than a few rote phrases.

Last night John and I were preparing for the small party we'll have for Lilly today. I wrapped her gifts and as I was filling out the card to go with them, I lost it. I was writing, Happy 15th Birthday, and I suddenly realized, I'm writing this card to myself. I should be writing a card to a teenage girl, telling her about how grown up she's become and how proud we are of her. I should be worried about her dating and preparing for college. Instead, I'm writing a card that only I will read, that she won't even listen to, or understand. I'm worrying about her waking up in the middle of the night and needing to be changed and whether or not we'll be able to manage her mental illness well enough to keep her home past her 18th birthday. This is not where I thought we'd be, late that night 15 years ago when my baby girl came screaming into this world.

So John and I took a minute to cry, as we need to do every year, to mourn the Lilly who never was and never will be. We are 35 years old (well, obviously John is still two weeks away from being 35), and I know we'll still be doing this when we're 65 years old. That knowledge is daunting, but today we'll dry our tears and go back to loving Lilly just the way she is, and I know we'll be doing that when we're 65, too. We'll treasure her giggles and hold her when she cries, she'll tell us she's a treasure and we'll repeat it back to her, knowing it's the truth.

So here we are, a family of robots, treasuring what we have.

Robots Make a House a Home

Hello again! Like the new layout? The picture was done by  Danielle Davis. She has a shop on etsy.com and she drew these robots to make into vinyl stickers for my car. I loved them so much I asked her if she'd send me the file to use on my blog and she happily did! So go check out Danielle's store!

We've been in Jersey for a few weeks now. We expected to close on our new house on September 12th, but as always in this robot's life, things did not go as expected. My parents were nice enough to let us stay in their empty rental property and put up with us coming over for internet access and countless dinners for so much longer than they expected. I really can't thank them enough. The new district wouldn't let the girls start until after we closed on the house, so they have been with us all day every day for this whole ridiculous process.

But, after many, many delays, we finally closed on our house last Wednesday! We immediately mailed the change of address cards I had made back in August in Washington, grabbed the kids from my Mom's and headed over to our new house!

With the help of my sister, Crystal, and her husband Bill, we dragged all the things we brought with us cross country into the house. Ria wasn't feeling very well and while we were unloading, my sister mentioned that she was in her room crying. When I found her, she explained that she was sad because we'd had to leave her friends in Washington and that our new house was empty and lonely and smelled like old ladies.  I calmed her down with tales of how wonderful our new life will be and promised we'd start making our house less empty and old lady smelly.  We had some lunch and then we headed to the hardware store. We started making this house into our home that very night.

We started with Ria's bathroom in an effort to make her feel like she'd put her own stamp on the house. She picked out the paint for her room and zebra stripped accessories for her bathroom. I hung up her new bathroom curtains and shower curtain and got everything else in it's place and it really seemed to make her feel better.

After getting all the girls to bed, John and I painted Lilly's room... and that's the sort of thing we've been doing ever since. We've made 8,000 trips to Lowes, Walmart and Target, we've painted three room and will be working on a a fourth and fifth tonight. We took down curtains, and hung up new ones, removed countless closet doors and hid them in the basement. We registered the girls for school, only to be told the district thinks Maria needs to be home schooled for medical reasons and they lost the IEP I sent in August for Lilly, so it's going to take them a week to figure out her placement. We've had the phone company here three times to try to get our internet service set up right.

We've also been to my parent's house for paella,

had Bill and Crystal come over to help us paint the dining room and went to a wedding shower today.
We've been busy little robots and with all the work we want to do the the house, we'll be this busy for a while.
We're tired and we're sore, but here we are, a family of robots, making this house a home.

Robots on the Road: Day Nine

Ok! This won't be long because I only have internet access while we sit in McDonald's eating breakfast.

Yesterday was our last day on the road! We slept in then packed up and headed out to have breakfast with Mom and Dad.  Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially Lilly, because they let her have chicken nuggets and french fries with applesauce.

Hana and Saffron decided they wanted to ride with PopPop and Babcia, and off we went.  It was a pleasantly uneventful drive with the exception of me getting pulled over (it's ok, I didn't get a ticket).

We got to Mom And Dad's, had REAL pizza AND water ice, then got settled and called it a  night. Now we have to wait  to go to closing on our house, and then we'll really be home.

So here we are, a family of robots, in Pitman, New Jersey!

Robots on the Road: Day Eight

We're almost home! Today we got on the road at 7am and we were so excited to get on our way! We drove through the rest of Tennessee today along with Virginia and a lot of West Virginia. We could not get here fast enough!

My Mom and Dad own some land down here and came down for the weekend to meet us. We were so thrilled! We met them and had a great lunch. John ordered a salad with seafood and was so disappointed when it arrived covered with cheese. Luckily, Dad was willing to trade with him and everyone ended up happy with their lunch.

We followed Mom and Dad up to their land and it was so great to finally see it! Saffron explored and got spoiled by PopPop and Babcia a little. Hana checked out all the flora and fauna and both the girls were chatting away about "when we come live here" when we were on our way to our hotel for the night. Ria says she's going to make homemade soap and candles to make some money here, because"everyone loves homemade soap and candles!".

We arrived at our hotel, took a swim, chatted with another parent of an autistic child who was in the pool and watched a boy get a crush on Hana. It was so cute watching him try to impress her.

That's all I've got for today, I'm just so delighted that we'll be home tomorrow!
Jersey here we come!

So here we are, a family of enthusiastic robots, in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Robots on the Road: Day Seven

We got a lovely, slow start today. We slept in until 6:30, took our time getting ready and headed out for breakfast.   We ate, did a little shopping and didn't get on the road until almost 10 am. We headed out of Memphis, on our way to Knoxville.

 But, today was a solemn day for us. We came to Knoxville to go to a cemetery.  

Many of you know that John has been estranged from his parents for about 8 years now. They made some life choices that we felt we needed to separate ourselves from.  We love them and we've missed them, but we feel it was the right decision to make. 

This spring one of John's cousins got in touch with us through facebook and said she needed to speak to us urgently. John's father had passed away.  John spoke to his grandmother and decided not to attend the funeral. It was not an easy decision, but he thought it was for the best. So since we were on our way cross country, we decided to come to Knoxville so we could go to the Veteran's Cemetery to see where John's father was laid to rest.

All day I was thinking about the girls Pappy. I remembered how he accepted me quickly when John and I quickly got married at age 19. Johnny loved me, and that was good enough for him. He was a quiet man but he was kind to me. I remembered how much he loved being a grandfather.  When Lilly was born, John and I were living with his parents. Lilly was a particularly fussy baby and when no one else could get her to sleep, Pappy would quietly say, "Give me my grandbaby.". He would sit in his recliner with her head in one hand and her bottom in the other and look at her with so much love it would bring tears to my eyes. Then he would hold her and rock her and talk to her softly, and slowly, she would fall asleep in his arms. 

When Lilly was in preschool, John called his mother, distraught because the social worker at the school had told us we should get Lilly on a waiting list for a group home. She told us someday we wouldn't be able to take care of Lilly on our own anymore. The next time John saw his father, his father was very angry with him. "When you and Leah decide you can't handle Lilly anymore, you bring her to me and your mother. We'll take care of her.", he said. I was so angry at the time. What made him think they could take care of her if I couldn't?  I realize now that it didn't have anything to do with who he thought could or couldn't take care of Lilly. He just loved her so much, he couldn't stand the idea of her being somewhere without people who love her.

No matter how much we love someone, we can't make them the person we want them to be. All we can do is love them for who they are. 

So here we are, a family of robots, remembering in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

Robots on the Road: Day Six

Quote of the day: "Peach soda is so good, it makes me do duck lips!"- Hana

When I woke up at 12:45 this morning to the sound of Lilly vomiting, I didn't think it was going to be a good day. When Lilly wouldn't go back to sleep at 1:30 this morning, I thought it was super cute that she kept giggling and saying "Hello!", but I was sure it wasn't going to be a good day. When we woke up late because Lilly kept us up until 2:30am, I was positive the day was going to be awful.

It was a great day. We got everyone out of the hotel in a hurry, grabbed breakfast and filled the gas tanks and were on the road by 7am.  We headed out of Wichita, KS and were on our way. We had nine hours of driving ahead of us.

Lilly was asleep before we were out of Kansas. I yelled back to Hana as usual, "We're in Oklahoma, Hana!".  From the back of the van I hear, " We're in Oklahoma? Saffron! I mean, Toto! I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!", and so we began our laughter filled day.

I don't have much to say about Oklahoma, I think Hana said it best, "At least it's not as flat as Kansas.".

 We stopped a few times for potty breaks and snacks and hit Arkansas before lunch. We stopped at a gas station in Razorback territory and unloaded everyone for one more potty break. As usual Lilly found a doll she wanted and some juice and a snack. The man behind the counter asked Lilly if the doll was her baby and Lilly said "Baby.  I'm a treasure. I'm pretty special." and he was so tickled with her he gave her the doll for free.

We got stuck in traffic as we got closer to the border of Tennessee and the girls were chatting about some book series they both love. Hana said that one character should give another character a rottweiler puppy. Ria said that a dachshund should be the pet given as a gift. They discussed the merits of both breeds and Hana insisted that because of something that happened in the book, a rottweiler was the better choice. I was only half listening to them when I heard Ria say, "Hana you shouldn't say that rottweilers are better in front of Saffron. You're going to give her low self esteem! You're hurting her self esteem right now!" We all laughed so hard! Ria has a really dry sense of humor, but she cracks us up!

We finally arrived at our hotel, got settled and headed out to dinner. We ate at a BBQ place called Marlowe's that we saw on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. It was fantastic! We ate corn fritters that were wonderful. John had some mouthwatering brisket with beans and coleslaw, Ria had a fried catfish sandwich. Hana and I ate BBQ spaghetti, something I would never have imagined eating. It was homemade pasta topped with BBQ pork and the house BBQ sauce and it was amazing! The rolls were deep fried and tasted like zeppoli, only less eggy. The mac and cheese that came as a side with Hana's was dinner was a beautiful thing. I highly recommend it to any one visiting.

We came back to our hotel to swim in the guitar shaped pool

and now we're all chilling out and listening to the pouring rain outside. Occasionally walking out on the balcony to see the flooding in the parking lot.
Tomorrow is a short day, so we are going to try to sleep in and find a good place for breakfast.

So here we are,a family of robots, in Memphis, Tennessee.

The lobby of our hotel, which is right next to Graceland.

Robots on the Road: Day Five

Ok, sorry about yesterday. The pity party is over and we're moving on.  Last night, everyone got a good nights sleep in a room that, for once, was larger than a breadbox.

We started at 6am again this morning because we knew we had 10 hours of driving ahead of us. We started the day in Taos, NM. We drove through the hills of northern New Mexico and crossed over into Colorado as the sun rose and it was, as every sunrise on this trip has been, glorious.

We drove more curvy back roads and saw tiny towns and gorgeous ranches. We saw lots of cattle and the girls were so funny, wondering where all the black and white cows were.  We moved into the flat southeast corner of Colorado and for the first time on this trip, Hana complained "I'm bored! Colorado is so boring!"
We stopped in Lamar, CO for gas and lunch at Sonic. When faced with a cherry limeade, suddenly, Colorado wasn't so boring.

We got back on the road and crossed the border into Kansas. I yelled back, "Hana! We're in Kansas!" as I have every time we cross over into a new state. I heard Hana in the back say, "We're in Kansas! Saffron, your name is no longer Saffron! Now your name is Toto and my name is Dorothy!". Everyday that girl makes me laugh!

If I were a kid, I would have waited till we got to Kansas to complain about being bored. Oh my goodness, this is the flattest state I've ever been in! We've been so lucky with all the great scenery we've been driving by for the last few days.  My girls had already gotten bored with being bored and moved on to giggling at each other and making their own fun. They were taking wacky pictures and making up stories about billboards we passed. We listened to Lilly's music and got her to sing. We laughed as we listened to her fake snore and we all joined in and got Lilly to laugh, too.

We spent 12 hours on the road and arrived at our hotel just in time to eat in the in house restaurant and do some laundry. Now Lilly has her mermaid and her puppy stuffy back and she is falling asleep happily. Ria and Hana are cuddling with Saffron and John is watching the news.

So here we are, a family of robots, in Wichita, Kansas.

Robots on the Road: Day Four

Today was a rough day. I don't have anything clever or funny to say. We got a late start and drove the rest of the way through Arizona and into New Mexico. It was beautiful. Desert, hills, canyons and amazing rocky outcroppings.

 Lilly had a rough day. She wet two of her stuffed animals last night and cried for them all day.  She's also overheated. We've been keeping the car air conditioned and giving her lots of water, but Lilly doesn't sweat. She's flushed everywhere and her feet and lower legs are all swollen. 

Ria had a really rough day and not all the places we stopped were really handicapped accessible. I think everyone is tired and needs a break, but we have to get up early tomorrow and press on. We can rest in Jersey.

So here we are, an exhausted family of robots, in Taos, New Mexico.

Robots on the Road: Day Three

School House Rock once told me, "Three! It's the magic number!" And if today is any indication, they were right! Day three was magical.

We started the day in Bishop, CA. We were in the car and on the road by 6am. We headed into the hills between California and Nevada and we got to see the sunrise again. Since we were winding around the hills on a road that was like a roller coaster, the sun kept hiding from us and peeking out again. As we came around one particular curve, the sun was right in front of us and Hana exclaimed, "It's so beautiful! The sunrise makes the squashed bugs on the windshield look like magical sparkles!".  Oh, my Hana, how I love you! Saffron loved the roller coaster hills so much she vomited. Luckily it was on her blanket and Hana cleaned it up like it was no big deal.
We crossed over into Nevada and headed into Death Valley, which John says was "a total ripoff, because all of us survived!".

They had this great little oasis gas station with all the toys and candy Lilly could ever want, and a bunch of roadrunners running all over the place!

As we were continuing on toward Las Vegas we passed a man pulled over by a police officer on the side of the road. As we passed, the officer shot a tazer gun at the man,  whose car hood was covered with blood. So, that was exciting.

We had to cancel our plans to go to the Grand Canyon because we needed to get John's oil changed. We didn't do it before we left because we'd planned on towing John's car. So we stopped at a Sears in Las Vegas to do that and had lunch and did some laundry. I know this isn't how most people would enjoy Vegas, but hey, we had a good time. My favorite part was watching Lilly eat an ice cream cone by taking the ice cream off the cone and eating it out of her hand. If you don't stress about the chocolate ice cream all over everything, it's a good time.

We headed out again, past Hoover Dam, into western Arizona, which if you don't know, is hotter than Satan's new Coach purse.  It was like getting out of the car and into an oven. Even the wind was hot enough to cook with!
It was however lovely.

On and on we drove,  past desert, plains, mountains, trees, and a whole lot of shrubbery. We drove into a crazy storm with pounding rain, strong winds, and lightning.  It was amazing for us. You almost never get thunder and lightning in the area of the Pacific Northwest where we've spent the last three years. So we all enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of a good summer rain.  We finally made it to our hotel around 6pm, jumped in the pool and had some dinner.

Now were getting ready to call it a night so we can do it all over again tomorrow!

So here we are, a family of robots, in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Robots on the Road: Day Two

"Now I understand why people draw landscapes."- Ria

So here we are at the end of day two of our cross country journey! We started the day in Medford, OR. We were able to get up early and have everyone washed, dressed and in the car by 6am.  We drove down I-5 and we had the privileged of watching the sun come up over the mountains just after we crossed the border in to California.

It was honestly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Hana and Ria loved it and shortly after, as she was taking pictures out of the car window, Ria told me that she now understands why people draw landscapes. Ria loves to draw, but she's never been interested in landscapes. The beauty of northern California gave her a  new perspective.

We spent 11 hours driving through the mountains, the forest and the desert, seeing barely a soul.  We saw more deer than I've ever seen in my life and thought I was going to have a heart attack when I almost hit a fawn. I'd seen the doe cross and was looking for the fawn, but it just blended in and then came out of nowhere. We saw Reno and Carson City, Nevada. We drove past Topaz and Mono lakes. It  was wonderful. The girls and I played games and sang songs and Lilly drank everyone's water. Since John was all by himself in the car he worked on his impressions. His Dr. Doofinschmirtz is coming along nicely.

We arrived at our hotel, ordered a Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza and did some laundry.  Just another day on the road for the Kerchners.

So here we are, a family of robots, in Bishop, California.

Robots on the Road: Day One

"Leah, what is the secret to traveling with a severely autistic teen, an artsy tween with medical difficulties, an 11 year old who thinks she's a robot, an anal retentive naval officer and a tiny dog?", asked no one ever...

Well, I'm going to tell you the answer even though you didn't ask... it's flexibility. We started our move cross country today and from the very start things have not been going according to plan.
 
John and I planned to tow his car so we could all be together this trip, but poor Bessie the Behemoth just couldn't handle the load of the tow dolly and John's car weighed down with all the things we need for this trip. No big deal! We drove two cars the last time we did this, we can do it again! 

Of course by the time we discovered this yesterday the Uhaul was closing. So we had to get a later start than intended this morning after returning the tow dolly at 9am.  This later start also meant canceling our planned trip to Crater Lake National Park.  This first day would be just a straight drive to our hotel in southern Oregon.

This straight drive involved the a rest stop where every single toilet didn't work, Ria feeling very unwell and not being able to do much more than sleep in the car, a terrified puppy, broken windshield wipers,  and Lilly taking every step twice in an effort to get some control over a situation she cannot understand.

But you know what, we had a good day.  Everyone is safe, everyone is reasonably happy.  Lilly got chicken nuggets,  Hana got to see a really awesome old truck, and Ria is resting happily in the hotel reading a Wheel of Time book.  At the end of the day, all that matters is that we are all together and we are on our way home.

So here we are, a family of robots, in Medford, Oregon.

Robots Move Forward

John and I have spent the last few days getting ready for our big cross country trip. We've been packing all the things we need to spend nine days on the road with our family of five and our little puppy. We've packed clothes and toiletries, bedding and books, swimsuits and dog treats. We've taken down all our pictures and curtains and unhooked all of our electronics.

Today I am sitting at my dining room table as two men pack everything we didn't squeeze into our two cars. This is the last time we'll move like this, strangers swooping in to wrap all our worldly goods while I sit twiddling my thumbs feeling like I should be doing something to help. Don't get me wrong, it's so nice to not have to spend weeks getting everything packed, while Lilly stands behind you unpacking everything. Even if she watches you pack a box, as soon as it's taped closed, she's certain it contains a present you are trying to keep from her.

I am so sad to be leaving this beautiful place and all our wonderful friends. This is the greenest and cleanest place I've ever lived. It's also the place John and I reconnected. Once we had respite care, we got to date again! We got to take Hana and Ria out to do things that normal families take for granted,but that had been impossible for us. We reconnected with old Navy friends and made new ones. It's been a great three years.

I am also enormously happy to be leaving. We have been so far away from our family and so many of our friends. Even though this place holds so many wonderful memories for us, it also holds some of the worst memories we have. This is where Ria shook for weeks on end, where her body betrayed her and put her in a wheelchair part time. This is where John almost lost his foot (though that is a fantastic story to tell). This is where Lilly went over the edge and spent six weeks in the psychiatric unit at Children's in Seattle. Six weeks of driving an hour and a half to see Lilly then having to walk out on her again and drive another hour and a half home. Six weeks of lying to John  so he wouldn't worry while he was at sea.  Leaving Lilly in that hospital was the hardest thing I've ever done.

This is a bittersweet move for us all. I know we're leaving some amazing people and places, but I can't help but be hopeful. I'm looking forward and I think I see blue skies ahead.

So here we are, robots, learning that parting really is such sweet sorrow.

Robots Get a Surprise Visit

My brother Bill, or as I call him, Bud (or as my children call him, Uncle Bull), is in the Navy and is currently stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He spent a month with us in April of 2011 but we had not seen him since. Bud called me a few months ago to see if we'd be around in August because he was headed this way to visit a friend in Portland and wanted to visit us, too.  We couldn't make any firm plans with him because we had no idea if we'd still be out here.

A few weeks ago, when we realized we would indeed still be here, I called to my Buddy to make some plans. I was too late, he'd shortened his stay here by a week and was all booked up. I asked him if we could meet him in Seattle just for the day the Saturday he was flying out and he said that he could work that out.

This past Wednesday I was sitting in our dining room with my friend Sheryl, working on a project and telling her about our weekend plans. Imagine my surprise when Hana comes in and says, "Mom, there's someone here to see you!", and out of the hall walks my Buddy, "What time are we meeting on Saturday?". Woohoo! We were all so happy! Even Lilly gave him a big hug. John was just as surprised as I was when he came in from work. "Who's car is in the driveway?" , he asked. "I don't know, John.", says Bud, and laughter and big  back slapping hugs ensue.

We spent a lovely few days with Bud and took him for the best cheese steak we've found on this coast. (Noah's Ark on 6th in Bremerton)  Ria watched scary movies with him and drew his picture. Hana horsed around with him and cuddled next to him on the sofa during Ria's scary movies. Lilly sat with him on the sofa and pet his head and held his hand. John and I just enjoyed having him around. We stayed up late, talking and laughing, basking in the glow of how grown up my baby brother is.

Saturday Brandy (our respite care provider, and sixth member of our little family) came over at 10am to watch over Lilly.  Then Buddy, John, the girls and I all headed into Seattle. We visited the Experience Music Project (EMP) to see their exhibits on horror and science fiction, which were fantastic.  We saw the Alien, Robby the Robot, Captain Kirk's chair and Neo's coat.

We checked out the Pacific Science Center to see dinosaurs and walk through the butterfly garden, a truly magical experience.

We even hit the Seattle Tattoo Expo. Sadly, we did not have time for anyone to get a tattoo, but Ria loved the art and collected all the business cards she could.

 Then we headed back to our cars, said goodbye to Uncle Bull because he was headed to the airport, and headed home.

So here we are, Robots, missing Uncle Bull already.

Robots Get Crafty

The moving prep continues! Monday John and I put a bid on a house. We also booked all our hotels for our cross-country trip and had a tow hitch put on the mini van.  Then we didn't think we'd accomplished enough for the day, so we decided to finally start a project we've been planning on for a few months.

In the new house, each of the girls will have their own room. In preparation for the looming teen years, we purchased new beds for each of them.  Hana got a loft bed with dressers underneath, so we decided that Ria would have both of the dressers that are in the room they currently share. Those dressers were green and yellow with gingham knobs. This would not due for our quirky Ria's Tim Burton themed room. With the help of Pintrest, I came up with a solution!

I had the girls empty their dressers and John and I brought them downstairs. We removed the drawers and took everything outside onto a tarp. Next we lightly sanded the dressers and drawer fronts. We wiped them down to make sure they were clean and free of dust and then we had some fun. We primed each dresser and the drawer edges with a grey spray primer.After letting that dry overnight, Tuesday we spray painted both dressers a satiny black.  The next step was a little more tricky. We cut adhesive shelf paper and applied it to the drawer fronts. Lots of measuring and remeasuring, and sticking and resticking (and some cursing!). The final step was to replace those cute little gingham knobs with some textured black knobs.

I'm sure that this is only the first of many projects we'll do over the next few months. So here we are,
Robots, getting things done!

Robots Start Over

The last time I tried my hand at blogging, I was doing it because we were getting ready to travel across the country. I kept it up for a few months, but eventually I became caught up in the every day and let this hobby slip away from me. We are about to begin a second trip across the United States, this time we will be on our way home to give civilian life a try.

This effort finds us in a very different starting place than the last. Lilly is 14 now and on more psychiatric medication than ever before. A severely autistic teen can be a handful, add in severe cognitive impairment, OCD, epilepsy, a mood disorder and possible hallucinations and you've got an explosive package! Oh, and for an extra added bonus, Lilly's left leg started turning purple a year ago and it's now spread over a significant portion of the rest of her body. None of the more than a dozen doctors who have seen it have any idea what is causing it. Lilly is an enigma, but she's our enigma. She is difficult to handle sometimes, but when Lilly's happy, everyone's happy. She's contagious.

Ria is 12, and while she is still her amazingly smart and artistic self, her body has continued to betray her.  Last year Ria was diagnosed with an autonomic disorder called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Basically it means her heart races when she's standing so she gets dizzy and faints or just gets so exhausted she needs to lay down. Ria uses a wheel chair to help avoid this fatigue and fainting, but she has many days when just getting up and getting dressed maxes her out for the day.  Ria is also having seizures now, but hopefully we'll soon have those figured out and under control.

Hana has had a wonderful few years of overcoming fears and growing up. She is about to turn 11 and continues to earn the Good Citizenship award at school every year. This past spring she went on a field trip to camp for three days and developed an interest in botany. Hana has been great about helping out both of her sisters.

We will miss our Navy family here in Washington. We will  miss our respite care provider, Brandy, who has become part of the family. But, John is ready to start a civilian career and I am ready to go home and live near our family. It's time to start another Robot Adventure.