Resilience

When I think of the word resilience, I think of Angie.  I also think of many of my foster children who have experienced profound grief and loss and have rose above their circumstances to show strength and courage beyond their years.

This as been an eventful Christmas break for us.  Angie has been sick for over 10 days now and she is still not completely well.  Even so, she has embraced the magic of Christmas this year, and has also been aware of the true reason we are celebrating.  She insisted that we make cookies for Santa, so we did:

Angie has brought the joy of the season to our family with her enthusiasm and her wonder at the meaning of this time of year.  Despite not feeling well, she has laughed her way through each and every day and she has loved the fact that I can be home with her every day for now.

Our holiday season has been filled with ups and downs and through it all Angie's resilience has been apparent.  This girl rolls with the punches like no other.  In fact, we could all take some lessons from her.  And then, this happened:

Acupuncture.  A friend told me about her son's success with acupuncture so I scheduled a session for Angie.  The acupuncturist told me that she felt she could help with Angie's sleep issues and help her regain some mobility on her right side.  My friend talked about her son having needles placed in his back so I was surprised when I learned that Angie's would be in her head.  No worries, though.  She didn't even flinch and she left the needles in for almost 30 minutes without complaint.  Resilience, I tell you.

I actually believe most children possess a certain amount of resilience, but many are never tested to have it exposed.  For my children, it seems, there have been numerous challenges and they have amazed me with their responses.  I am encouraged that this innate strength exists for children, and hopefully for adults too.  Life is hard and uncertain and we need all the help we can get.