Joshua Salberg Update

For those who are also friends of my parents, or ask how they are doing from time to time, they are doing well. But, they have had their hands full in trying to find the correct medical treatment for their son Joshua.

For those who don’t know, my parents adopted three children about ten years ago (after the original five of us left the ranch). My parents had the children as foster children almost from birth and were considered “special needs” children by the adoption agency. For the most part, the children have grown out of a lot of their initial “problems” they had as infants. A lot of that had to do with my parents spending a lot of time (and money!) getting them the right treatment, therapy, and medical help - and a lot of prayer! There are still some ongoing things - but then again, don’t we all have our little “problems”?

But Joshua has had the toughest time of all. He’s a great kid, but he has some severe medical problems - a lot of them going back to his birth in which his natural birth mother did not do all the proper things a mother should do when pregnant.

So, if you’d like to be kept up to date on Joshua, or see if there are ways you can help - either by prayer, support, or just writing some thoughtful comments, my parents have started a website over at CaringBridge to give updates on Joshua’s status. Currently, he’s hospitalized (I think for the 3rd time in the past few months). Sadly, a lot of the medical issues spill over into his behavior and his mental state. You almost wish it was the regular kind of medical stuff, but when it affects his ability to relate to people correctly and cause him to be violent, it is heartbreaking. They have been torn over this. One chief reason is the danger Joshua (at times) poses to his other siblings (not to mention himself and my parents). For a ten year old, he’s about as tough and strong as a 15-year old. Keeping in mind that my dad is over 60 years old (and my mom not far behind - oops! Sorry mom!), that has got to be a real challenge. I’ve got six children (who are not special needs) and I can’t imagine having even a few of them running around at the age of 60, much less so if they were special needs.

But my parents were chosen for a reason, I figure. Their children would be a 100 times worse off with anyone else, but that thought probably doesn’t help get them through the dark times. So, head over to the site and read the latest updates. I’m closing comments on this post, because I’d rather you comment over at Joshua’s site so my parents will see it.

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