Special Need-such a relitive term....

On Aug.11th, Jordan will be in the orthodontist again. This time an hour and a half appt to get braces on her teeth. Jordan actually has very straight teeth, no large gap in the front, but what she has is a cross-over bite. She was born with a crooked jaw. Over the past 4 years we have had many ortho appointments, appliances put into her mouth etc. I also get a large sum deducted from our checking each month to cover said ortho.
Shortly, Jay will begin this also, he has other orthodontic issues, one being the very large gap between his front teeth.
Next week, Tim goes in for eye surgery. He has a form of ptosis, however in most cases the eyelid has skin that droops, in Tim's case he cannot open his eyes very far. In fact since I have known him, he looks like he is squinting most of the time. It is starting to affect his driving and vision in general. He was born with it and it really never effected him until now.
A few weeks ago he was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. All seems fine, just something for us to be aware of.
My dear friend gave birth to a sweet baby girl 10 years ago. In the hospital she failed the infant hearing test. This awesome pre-teen now wears hearing aides for her moderate hearing loss. No real way to fix it, just make it manageable, but looking at her, there is nothing that she can't or doesn't do! Appts. for her hearing molds every few years, keeping up with the latest device to help her hear her ipod more effectively etc, however I think right now her mom is busier with her orthodontist appts for her teeth!
My best friend since childhood, has 4 children. 2 of them have been diagnosed with Asthma and one of her children has aspergers. Did she choose for them to have these 'needs'? No. Did she know while she was carrying then that they would have this? No. Did she know in the first few months of life that they had this? No. Her son is 10 and just diagnosed aspergers.
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Gabe Xulu was born with congenital glaucoma, right now we have less interventions for him than we do for Jordan's Ortho.
Gabe's friend Julia was born with one 'normal' ear and one little ear.
Both of these precious kiddos born in China, both had files that were barely looked at. 2 sets of parents who are so thankful that they waited until their families found them!
Can anyone see where I am going with this? No ones knows what needs will pop up at anytime. Ortho, hearing loss, vision loss, etc.
Children and adults can develop problems right at birth or later in life, there are no guarantees. Having babies, bio or adopted is a leap of faith. As parents God has given me the gift of raising his kids, only mine on loan. So, for that I am so grateful for the trips to ortho and the ophthalmologist. And I am going to love on my little ones as long as I can!