My Three Sons 
(July-27-2002)
Fall of 1999........ Family Pictures........ Future Nittany Lions........ May 2000........ Our Trip To Chuck E. Cheese's........ Fall 2000........ Christmas 2000........ October 2001 ........ X-mas 2001
Some Trying Times In Our Lives
Cora, Kevin, Jordan, Joshua and Justin.
Lissencephaly was such a foreign word to us when we were told that our precious child had it. Our Neurologist had given us such a grim picture of what our son would become. The Neurologist said that he WILL NOT be able to do anything, He said that Joshua will be TOTALLY dependant on us. BUT the one thing that he said that was most disturbing was that My Joshua had an average of 8 yrs to live. I was and still am very devastated to think that my child might die.
I would like to take the time to tell you a little bit about us..... My name is Cora, my interests are my family, shopping and the outdoors. My husbands name is Kevin. His interests are family and PENN STATE FOOTBALL. He is a wondeful man. He tries his best even when I am so hard on him. He is a good father and until recently he thaught that raising the children was the mother's job. He is always saying that I am a good mom, but I must add that he has done much more than most men would do. Not all men just most of the men I KNOW. He does the dishes, laundry, bathroom, vaccuming, ect, You name it he does it. My children are WONDERFUL. Though my 3 yr old Jordan has his moments, he is an overall well behaved little boy. He is a very bright little boy. He walked at age 8mos and has been running ever since. He has developed some very good manners. He is such a big helper with his little brother Joshua. Jordan loves Joshua very much. Jordan is always kissing and hugging Joshua. I am so proud of all of my children and my husband for putting up with me for this long. My son Joshua is 2 yrs old and has Lissencephaly. We/He has been very fortunate , because for the 1st yr of his life things had been going pretty well considering what I have heard from other families, Well on his 2nd Birthday we spent in the hospital with his first bout of serious pnemonia and since then he has had a feeding tube placed and a Trach put in. The Tracheotomy was done around May 13th and he just turned 2 on July 6, 1999. That has been such a trying year for us. Joshua does experience many minor seizures, takes alot of meds ( 6 to date). Joshua can smile spontaniously ,laughs alot, and over all has been very healthy. We just pray everyday that he stays healthy and we thank GOD everyday that he is with us! We have been so blessed with our lives, though at times I can't figure it out. Now for our newcomer, Justin. Like Jordan and Joshua ,Justin is such a blessing to our family. There isn't much to say about Justin since he is very young, but I can tell you that he too is an angel. He has had his 2 mo check-up and things seem to be going great. Though things seem to be going great and he is developing normally, I am always wondering if and when he will say is 1st words, or if and when he will walk. Although I know that things are going well, I am just not jumping to conclusions or taking anything for granted! Having Joshua makes you treasure every day and take things one day at a time, because you don't know what the next day will bring, IF there is a next day!
I have met many people and have made so many friends since my precious little angel has been born. Our experience is and has been shared by many other families that I will never feel alone. I can't imagine what it will be like the day God says it is time to take his angel home. All I know is that I will treasure the time he has on earth and make him as happy ,comfortable and most of all LOVED as possible. We shall overcome and conquer !!!
Just to update some info for our site to date. My 3 little angels are becoming my 3 little men. They are growing up so fast. Jordan is now 4 1/2, Joshua ia now 3 1/2 and Justin is now 1 1/2. It is so amazing to watch your children grow. I keep updating thier pictures on this site so that all who check out this site can watch as I do. Joshua has been hospital free for over a year now "KNOCK ON WOOD!!". His last visit was in November of 1999. I think that is in part by the fact that we as his parents have become so familiar with most everything that Joshua goes through, that we don't jump to conclusionsand rush him to the hospital everytime something happens. We are now pretty equiped with all the medicines and breathing treatments and such to deal with and head off most of the things that put him through Hell (pardon me)! But that is the only way to describe it when Joshua get sick. He is so drained and sad when he gets sick. I thank God everyday that he is with us! I just have to keep praying that he will be with us many years to come.
Well things have been going pretty well. Joshua has just gotten over a VERY bad coughing spell. He was so drained, sleeping all the time and no smiling! It is very hard on him when he gets sick. We hurried up and put him on a better medicated nebulizer treatment that helps him with a bad cough. It lasted about 2 weeks and now all is well. Jordan just had a birthday party in March now he is the BIG 5. It is so amazing how fast children grow! Other then that We can't wait until spring time. Justin is becoming a big boy. He will be 2 in May and he is talking alot more. He is enjoying his brothers very much. He loves to play with cars and is fasinated with School Buses, he get so excited when he sees one. Jordan and Justin have been playing together like brothers should. And they both LOVE Joshua very much. They are always kissing and hugging them. They always play in Joshua's room with all of his switch toys when he is playing with him. It is nice to involve Jordan and Justin into Joshua's life as much as possible. It is always nice to involve Joshua into his brothers life no matter what it takes to achieve it. For example I help Joshua do what ever his broters are doing so that Joshua is included in thier playtime. Well that is all for now I hope to keep these updates coming every couple of months.
SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!! I am so excited about it! We can final go outside to play. I can move Joshua's swing outside on the porch, so he can swing outside while they are playing baseball down in the field 100 yds away. Jordan and Justin were in the little pool yesterday because it got up to 90'. Joshua was out soaking up the rays in his muscle shirt. We LOVE it!!! Jordan has been playing T-ball. He has been practicing at home and does VERY well hitting the ball when pitched to. He gets SOOOOO excited when he is playing a "real" game, that his shyness just disappears! He has so much fun. My family has been very fortunate to have so much help available when we need it. My mother and father-in law lives next door to us that is always there when we need them. My sister lives about 20 mins away that will come down and either go with us to a game or stay home with Josh and Justin. I try to be at every game so that I can be there to support Jordan. I like to try to give him some "normalsy". I try never to say I can't "because of Joshua". He does hear "wait" alot of the time, but we end up doing what ever he wants to do! Either way I try to make our lives as "NORMAL" as possible. Well you know as I just wrote that last sentence something just hit me. GOD made our lives like this so I guess this is normal, it is just the way it was meant to be!
Well it is the middle of winter and all is well. My boys have gotten some colds so far. I hope that is all they get. Jordan will be 6 in march, He is enjoying Kindergarden very much. He has been chosen to be Student of the month for the month of December. He has also just taken his first spelling test yesturday and got 14 out of 14 correct. All of this has made us very proud parents and very proud of him. Joshua has been doing very well. We were asked if we were going to enroll him into Kindergarden next yr and that made me realize how grown up he is getting. Even though we are not going to send him to school, he is still getting bigger and older. We are not sending him to school for health issues. We were told that sending him to school will be worse than better for his health. He has been enjoying his new toys he got from santa. He as also been very well with occational sniffles and snezzing, Thank Goodness!!! KNOCK ON WOOD!!! Justin has been doing great also. He and his big brother Jordan have thier scobbles but they love each other. Justin is now 2.5 and is ready to go to school. Everyday we walk Jordan to the bus stop he ahs to wear his backpack too. I think it makes him feel a bit closer to going to school. We as a family have been doing pretty good, a bit stressful at times but mostly happy and healthy.
Wow I can't believe that a whole year has past and things are going pretty well. Jordan is now in 1st grade and loves it. Justin is getting ready to go in a couple of years. Joshua has been very healthy with the exception of those stuborn colds that don't seem to go away. Other than that all the boys are just growing up so fast and I am trying to slow that process down but have not been able to. It is worth a shot.
I wish I had the time to work on this web-site and keep it updated much more. I get so busy with the boys with school and sports and such like that. I don't have much spare time to do things like this. I was going over this site and realize that it has been over a yr since I have updated it. Well things are great and winter is here now. We have been out sled riding alot. We have all had some sort of cold since the cold weather set in. Jordan is in 2nd grade. He gets good grades and is a very good boy at school. Joshua is still growing big and strong. We chose to keep Joshua at home and not send him to school. It would put his health in jepardy with the trach and all the germs flying around. I figured with my other two bring them home would be enough, at least at home I can try and control it more than at a school. Justin is in Pre-School now and he LOVES it!!! All of my boys' teachers say how well behaved and good they are at school and Joshua at home with theropy. I am so glad!!
Here a some wonderful Lissencephaly sites to check out...
Lissencephaly Network
Thanks for visiting our site,
