Feeling thankful

This month on a social networking site, many people that I know do a daily status update about things they are thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving.  I love reading them and this year decided to participate. 

There are some things that gets mentioned by everyone at some point over the course of the month - family, spouse, friends, a warm home, freedom, Salvation, and many more.  I love to see people stop to be thankful for these things that are sometimes taken for granted.  And I am also extremely thankful for that list of things.

I am also thankful for some things that very few people ever have to think about.  Things that many people don't know that I've had to think about. 

The past couple of weeks have been filled with some extreme behaviors from Mr. Adventure.  As difficult as he was for us to handle, he has become almost impossible, even for the trained staff, to manage.  In the past 2 weeks, he has become increasingly aggressive toward the other boys living in his residence. He has been kicked off the school bus for fighting.  He has destroyed property, punched holes in walls, raged for 2+ hrs, ran away mulitiple times.  In the last 2 days, he has attacked an adult leaving multiple bruises, grabbed a butter knife and threatened to kill himself, and had to be physically restrained.  He has been taken to the ER twice (once waiting for 11 hrs in the middle of the night).  He is currently in a psych hospital and the boys' ranch staff drives 90 minutes each way to visit him every other day. 

I cannot put into words how thankful I am for the staff that has handled these situations.  I am beyond thankful that this time, I wasn't the one sitting in the scary psych ER all night with him.  I am so thankful that my other kids didn't have to witness his current behavior.  I'm thankful that we weren't the ones being physically attacked by him.  I'm thankful that I can go to sleep knowing that the people in my house are safe and that Mr. Adventure is being cared for by trained staff. 

I would have never guessed that these people would be involved in my life, but I am so thankful for their commitment to helping my son and my family.