I thought about putting some pictures from Halloween up for you all to see, but I think you get the gist of our trick-or-treating from the picture in the post below with Ivey and the boys. Oh my how wasteful it is to have predetermined expectations.

These four pictures are priceless.

One, they show Ivey’s estranged mickey button only hours before she pulled it out. Ivey did not get the memo that we were planning for thisHalloween to be her first real Halloween. So, Ivey spent her second Halloween again in Scottish Rite. She can’t get enough of the place. Don’t be surprised if we are all out marching around the neighborhood one day trick-or-treating in the middle of December. We are going to have a first Halloween at home for Ivey if it kills us all.

Two, the pictures show how much Knox loves Ivey. Just look at his face. Ivey loves her brother, but looks to be a little peeved, that may be because she just got up from napping. When I look at the pictures, I can hear Knox’s sweet voice asking to hold her. Ivey is his very own doll baby.

Three, you get to see how the boys’ friends treat Ivey. It is great. To them she is just a little sister with attachments. Their friends are reflections of good parents with big hearts. The boys’ classmates are not afraid to ask questions. Normally there are a lot of ‘what’s that?’, and sometimes they will stand in front of Ivey and just look. I love to see the boys’ friends talk to Ivey. They are taking her in, processing. Both Knox and Walker answer most questions that are asked. It is so strange to hear them tell their peers about mickey buttons, trachs and prosthetic eyes in their three and four year old versions.

That brings me to a place I had not thought of until recently. Hopefully you all read the email from Sandra and it stirred something in your hearts. When I first read it, it made me cry. A sharp reality pierced my heart. Not everyone cares enough to understand. Not everyone can embrace something that is different. People do indeed fear what they do not understand.

The email also brought about another fear for Ivey’s future. What if that was Ivey? What if someone were petitioning to keep Ivey out of their neighborhood? What if Matt and I reach a place in time where we cannot care for Ivey, either because of age or our own illnesses? They are all scary thoughts. And of all the scenarios that my mind has laid out for Ivey’s future, neither of those had ever crossed my mind. Sure we run into rude people, but petitioning to keep someone out of a neighborhood because of disabilities? I can’t imagine it, but obviously it happens. Fearing that one day I can not care for Ivey is even worse. These are the thoughts that I have to turn over. They are too much. I do not know the future nor should spend my time planning something that may or may not ever happen. Enjoy today.

This is all pretty much like Halloween. My mind planned for a second first Halloween – Ivey had something else in mind. Tami - you were right. Ivey was almost a Georgia cheerleader. However, our middle son decided not to be a football player after days of wanting to be a football player and well, Ivey ended up going as Ivey. Knox has his dad’s red and black blood flowing through him, no changing that mind.