The long and winding road

I’ve been hesitant to post lately for many reasons.

My original intention for our blog was as an outlet for my thoughts, a record of all the challenges our children have survived, a letter of love (of sorts) so that, one day, they can be as proud of themselves as we are. Now, amazingly enough, having many readers from our hip community, wanting to be encouraging and supportive with Jackjack’s story is hard … his challenges are at the extreme end of hip dysplasia and, honestly, feel incredibly long and not always positive. I spent many, many hours during our two-week restful (and much needed) holiday searching my soul about this. How do I be supportive to others on the same journey, while being honest to our reality and how I feel, how Jackjack feels, how we, as a family, feel. The answer I kept returning to …. you need to keep writing, to be honest, to be yourself.

Reflecting on the start of our hip journey, I clearly remember wanting, needing to know how other families “do” this, how they are able to handle so many up and downs, what is this journey honestly like. Yet, now that we have been on this road so long, I realize that every child has a different story, a different outcome, but the one constant is the comfort knowing that there is a sisterhood, a family, who understands, who has walked down the same long, windy road and ended at a beautiful view with, grace, strength, and unwavering faith.

Starting (again) today, our journey will be shared, hopefully with ongoing strength, love and faith, for not only our family and friends but as an encouragement to our hip family as well.

XO,

Steph